Buyer made error and wants to return an item.

[ms.rodriguez*]

Under my main selling account,  a buyer won a diecast car for 4.97.  I shipped rightaway, he emails me 5 days later and tells me that he is going to return the car because he only collects 1:24 scale cars and he bought a smaller car by mistake.  I tell him fine but he has to pay the return shipping.  I explain to him that he is on the hook for paying the return and also he loses the initial shipping.   

     He writes back and tells me  sorry EBay's buyer protection rules apply.  He then opens a request to return and writes that he made a mistake.  He did not use the SNAD option.   I OK the return looking carefully that I am NOT going to generate a return label.  

An hour later, I see that tracking shows delivered on Sat. April 27 but he took it to the post office on Monday , April 29 and the post office scanned it REFUSED.  Now his address is a po box and he could have refused it right there at the post office.

So now , I am probably dealing with a guy that quite possibly swapped out the car and/or  he ripped off the postal service to avoid paying the return postage.    It would NOT be necessary to open the box to know that the car inside is small and NOT 1:24th scale.     The case he opens actually  says that I have to refund 4.97.     So I wonder how mad he is going to get when I do the 4.97 refund.

So do I call ebay now to let them know about this guy and to hopefully have them remove the negative (assuming I get it when he doesn't get his return shipping.)   

If he did commit postal  fraud, would calling his post office and speaking with the supervisor  to let them know about this person make a difference in the future. At the very least , the supervisor needs to speak with the person that accept the package (assuming it's been opened.)  I never had a buyer refuse a package before too .  I use a lot of tape and you would need a hair dryer and patience to open up one of my boxes and close it again . 

If he did open the box,  will I get stuck paying for the item when it gets back to my post office?   My post office is quite strict and will notice if the box has been opened?

I know that by refusing ,he lost his buyer protection but I won't keep the money and the car.  I will gladly refund his 4.97 and definitely block him.

[inhawaii]

If the package is marked "returned" i assume the buyer never took possession of it.

He may have realized he bought it by mistake before accepting/receiving it.

If the customer did not file an "not as described" claim, and this is a remorse/mistake return, you are not obligated to refund the original shipping or pay the return shipping.  If you are charged for either of those, contact ebay.  The customer just gets back his purchase price. 

Good luck!

[ms.rodriguez*]

The package is coming back REFUSED. My beef is if he opened it, he is supposed to pay to return it. Otherwise, he is ripping off the post office and every person that uses USPS. This is theft of service if he opened it. Makes me wonder if he does this all of the time. I know that I only have to return the bid price. Idiot buyers like this is why I do NOT use free shipping.

[hillbillymedia]

When something similar happened to me I did not have to pay the usps for it to be returned to me but I may have just gotten lucky.

[wastingtime101]

Until the package comes back you have no idea if it was opened or not. Why are you assuming the worst? The buyer could have realized the size error without opening it then refused it so they wouldn't have to pay return postage.

Wait until something comes back before you stress over it.

[dhbookds]

agree with Wasting..........wait til it comes back..........

[nmemoryof]

Since you are not out anything but time and frustration, I would probably not do anything.  It's not your job to see that he obeys the postal rules.  Of course that assumes you get the car back OK.

I believe it is wise to not worry about what has not yet happened.  Wait and see if it is anything worse than the size of the box made him realize his mistake.

[escuintla]

If you described the car with laser precision, the buyer didn't need to open the box. He knew he had made a mistake. 

And, do not despair, not for that amount. Life is too short for things like that. 

[crimsonred123]

Give the buyer a hard time for his $4.97 toy with the buyer he lost his MBG after refusing. I would.  If you can keep the money keep it.  It would teach them not to mess around.

[wastingtime101]

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@crimsonred123 wrote:

Give the buyer a hard time for his $4.97 toy with the buyer he lost his MBG after refusing. I would.  If you can keep the money keep it.  It would teach them not to mess around.

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The buyer was honest and chose a remorse return reason instead of SNAD. There is no evidence at this point that the buyer did anything wrong. They refused the package to save money on return shipping.

And you want to punish them? Tell the seller to keep the item and the money?

It's premature to make that kind of decision. Until the seller gets the package back in the mail there is no basis to say the buyer did anything wrong - other than order the wrong size which they were honest about.

[crimsonred123]

I still stand with what I said.  Take advantage of your position the policy favors you now.

[minibangbus]

If the auction stated size and ever detail I’d say that’s on him and make him pay shipping