Buyer request return before item shipped

[blueberriefrog]

Buyer purchased item on Friday 6/18. Today, 6/20/21, I received a return request on this item. eBay automatically approved the return and sent the buyer a return label and all I can do is give the buyer a refund but no option to cancel the transaction. The item is still in my shipping que to be shipped by Jun 21. I have no problem giving the customer a refund. My question is if I refund the customer will that "cancel" the order? It seems silly to ship an item a customer does not want.

[rebell45 · Accepted solution]

Don't ship. You can try to cancel it due to buyer request but you may want to contact eBay about the return label, since they'll try to charge you for it..  Click Contact Us at the bottom of this page and click See More in the pop-up until you find the Contact Agent option.   https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handle-return-request-seller?id=4115&st=1...

[blueberriefrog]

Thank you for the link. I will try that next.  

There is not an option to cancel which I found very odd.

[postingid7659]

The label will time out if not used. 

[blueberriefrog]

Follow up: 

If customer request a return on an item not shipped you can refund customer in full and it will close out the entire purchase.  

Thank you both for your advice.