Buyer started return outside of return window for pants that didn't fit, under "Arrived Damaged"....

[09*comet]

So a buyer bought a pair of jogger pants about 40 days ago, outside of my 30-day return window under the reason "Arrived Damaged". Yet, in his comments he included with the return request he simply wrote, "not correct size." If he meant that the pants were not the size I advertised them for, he is wrong as I included pictures of the size tag saying there was a Large and in the title and description, I put that they were a Large as well. Regardless, what do you guys advise I do? Should I decline his request, and risk a probable negative feedback and try to get that taken off with eBay? If I do decline his request, will eBay be able to punish me in some way even when he said himself that the reason he provided did not match what he said he was returning it for? These pants were over $50 so I don't really want to pay for return shipping and then risk getting returned the pants that end up being damaged by him.

Thanks for any feedback.

[moo*cow*corner]

If it's past your 30 day return window, simply decline the return with that being the reason. Ebay will not punish you, but your buyer can still express his dissatisfaction in feedback. If he does, simply reply calmly and professionally. You'll be fine.

The 30 days for returning starts when the tracking shows delivery, not the date of sale.

I'm not sure if ebay will count these types of cases in the new seller metrics or not. Maybe someone who has more info will be along shortly.

[fern*wood]

They buyer has 30 days after delivery to file a not as described case through ebay.  Those can't be denied.  When were they delivered?  Arrived damaged sounds like a SNAD reason was used even though not the right size sounds more like remorse.

[parkersparrow]

You could decline since the return time frame has passed. Ebay won't penalize. They could still try through paypal. You can report them for trying to abuse the money back guarantee. They can leave negative feedback if they want, but you can always write a follow up stating something like "buyer tried to claim false return reason for remorse well after return period" 

[moo*cow*corner]

Yes. A buyer has 180 days from delivery to open a return with Paypal, but the buyer will have to pay return shipping.

[09*comet]

It was delivered on November 10th. And they did not send a return request until today, December 11th. So they were 1 day over the return window. And the reason was not SNAD, it was "Arrived Damaged", and there is an option for me to decline the request so I don't think eBay counts that under the SNAD.

[09*comet]

Ok, thanks for the reply parker. And they shouldn't be able to go through PayPal since I am using the new eBay Payments system so none of my orders in about the past 2 months have gone through PayPal. Which is very nice, since about a couple weeks ago a buyer filed a claim through PayPal 3 months after they bought a brand new $400 CD receiver from me (when I was still taking payments through PayPal) with the claim that they "did not authorize the purchase". I provided all my shipping information that PayPal requested but they still ended up refunding the buyer for the entire purchase without even asking him to return it or anything so I lost out on that $400 without being able to do anything. So I am very glad that I do not have to deal with PayPal anymore.

[sam9876]

Arrived Damaged is SNAD.