Ebay returns

[ryn947]

We have been selling on eBay for several months now, and so far have had a very positive experience. Recently we sold a pokemon card to a guy on Thursday who asked us if we could change the shipping to overnight. We happily accomidated him, and shipped out the card over night UPS a few hours after he ordered it. 

The guy is now messaging us telling us he needed the card for Saturday, and that he doesn't need it now and wants a return.

We were discussing refunding shipping two days ago, to which he didn't respond.

He urged us to drive 40 miles to pick it up, at its currently location (it's delayed for some reason) I'm not really willing to do that. 

We have refunded two people so far for situations outside of our control, and our feedback reflects that we have been awesome with communication and customer service. 

I know I'm going to take a feedback hit, but if this guy opens a claim with eBay am I going to have to refund him the $700? We legitly went out of our way to accomidate this guy from the get go, and literally shipped instantly. I feel like we honored our part of the sale as a seller, and went above and beyond. 

This whole transaction has become a nightmare for us 😞 

[redlinear]

Sorry, I cannot expidite shipments (eBay policy).  I can ship it out first thing in the morning though. Or I can cancel/refund if you need me to.

Learned 30 years ago.  Anybody needing anything overnight, is making a mistake that's going to cost ME.   OR, the transit company is going to screw up and it's going to cost ME. OR, I'm going to screw up and it's going to cost ME.

As for course of action.  I would ignore the buyer. Only respond to requests for delivery (with the tracking number only.
And/Or respond to requests for return with a shipping label.
WHEN the item has been returned to you, Refund.
And, don't do it again.    
    

[ittybitnot]

asked us if we could change the shipping to overnight. We happily accomidated him, and shipped out the card over night

@ryn947 

That activity ^^^^^^^ was indeed under your control.  You are allowed to say no, and not provided services not provided in the listing especially at your own expense.  It is best never to make business decisions based on whether or not you "might" get a red donut review.  They don't count for your seller ratings anyway, and personally I'd rather keep the money than worry about a neg you have a chance to have removed anyway.   

Did you "buyer" file a return?  or are they just messaging you?  You do not have to do anything until they make their claim.   I got a feeling you are being played, and this is not their first rodeo.   What sort of feedback do they leave for others?  They have any complaints posted even though buyers can only get positive reviews?  

Just about ANYTHING can be had on eBay for free (at the seller's expense) with the right kind of phony claim.  It will include shipping both ways and a refund for the amount paid. It won't matter in most cases if you get YOUR item back or not if a return is in order.   Has the item arrived to the buyer yet?  I would be recalling that package.  Try anyway, they might not do anything if you bought the label on eBay.   It is worth a shot though, do it now. I really don't see this situation "improving" in your favor.  

To what city/state did you ship this product? 

[ryn947]

It was going to Arizona. 

The buyer claims they were flying to see their brother tomorrow and this was a birthday gift. 

We tried to intercept tonight at the drop off point but it has already left there Unfortunately.

We are going to try to call the next location tomorrow and see if we can get the package back. 

Lesson learned. 

Thank you for the advice. 

[redlinear]

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@ryn947 wrote:

It was going to Arizona. 

The buyer claims they were flying to see their brother tomorrow and this was a birthday gift. 

We tried to intercept tonight at the drop off point but it has already left there Unfortunately.

We are going to try to call the next location tomorrow and see if we can get the package back. 

Lesson learned. 

Thank you for the advice. 

---

If it was a Next Day Air, it'll get delivered pretty quick (and show delivered when tracked).
This means an INR case will fail if the buyer goes that route.
Once delivered.  IF the buyer opens a return request, just approve it and refund once the item is returned.
BUT, at this point, it's best to just ignore all direct messages from the buyer.

[bdmh-enterprises]

This thing is still in transit? You need to get on to seeing if you can get it sent back to you.

If it gets delivered: wait for the buyer to open a return, if they open a remorse return or do it beyond the 3 days you can deny it per your no returns policy. If they open a NAD return accept it and provide a shipping label. You will need to refund ONLY upon return of the card.

[onefootflipper1]

You learned two lessons combined here.

Block any customer who asks about shipping speed or wants to upgrade it, you end up losing money nearly every time.

Block any customer who messages you related to a pokemon item, these are the ones who return the stuff.

[bdmh-enterprises]

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@ryn947 wrote:

It was going to Arizona. 

The buyer claims they were flying to see their brother tomorrow and this was a birthday gift. 

We tried to intercept tonight at the drop off point but it has already left there Unfortunately.

We are going to try to call the next location tomorrow and see if we can get the package back. 

Lesson learned. 

Thank you for the advice. 

---

Was it sent signature confirmation? If no one's there to receive it may get sent back, which would be ideal..

[bonjourami]

On eBay, trading cards are subject to a 3-day return policy if the seller doesn't offer returns, according to eBay. If a seller does offer returns, the buyer must initiate the return within the seller's specified return window, which could be longer than 3 days, says eBay. If the card is damaged in transit, a return request must be made within 3 days, regardless of the seller's return policy, according to eBay. 

[baydealz]

Agreed, know the rules and play by them, 'customer service' is dead in here, other than prompt fulfillment and safe packaging - anything else is a red flag.  Bad actors know the propensity of trying to go above and beyond and/or to get good positive feedback (another naive mistake), and they exploit it.  Also, I think part of the problem is more impulsive purchases due to the app - later complaining about stuff that was fully described, they just didn't read the description...I may start a top thread on that, I think it's something.  

[baydealz]

"you are allowed to say 'no'!" - that's my line....

[baydealz]

"your inability to plan properly does not create an emergency to me"

[onefootflipper1]

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@baydealz wrote:

Agreed, know the rules and play by them, 'customer service' is dead in here, other than prompt fulfillment and safe packaging - anything else is a red flag.  Bad actors know the propensity of trying to go above and beyond and/or to get good positive feedback (another naive mistake), and they exploit it.  Also, I think part of the problem is more impulsive purchases due to the app - later complaining about stuff that was fully described, they just didn't read the description...I may start a top thread on that, I think it's something.  

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I somehow recently ended up fully refunding a customer whose item arrived the day after I was required to ship because they ordered late at night on a week that included a holiday and were on an unreasonable mental clock for delivery time and didn't bother to message me about it until it was too late for me to make it get there faster.  At least they held up to their end of it and refused the package so I did get it back without paying return postage.  

[gone.c-33]

Not saying this is the case here, but requests for expedited/overnight shipping for non essential high ticket items is often a red flag: scammers using stolen credit cards will ask for it so they can quickly receive the item before the real cardholder realizes their card has been used by someone else. 

[onefootflipper1]

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@gone.c-33 wrote:

Not saying this is the case here, but requests for expedited/overnight shipping for non essential high ticket items is often a red flag: scammers using stolen credit cards will ask for it so they can quickly receive the item before the real cardholder realizes their card has been used by someone else. 

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I go over the various reasons never to expedite for anyplace other than a movie / television studio in one of my youtube videos.

But basically they are.

Stolen or unauthorized Credit Card doesn't care how much shipping costs.

Item simply will not get there on time no matter what you do, then the customer returns it and you eat that overnight shipping. The kind of people who want stuff overnighted for birthday parties and such never understand concepts like business days or handling time. They will order next day air at 10PM at night and expect the item to be there in time for that birthday party at 3PM on the next day. 

Customer selected the faster shipping option by accident and did not actually want it. If you offer shipping speed options you will find that this will be the most common reason people get faster than normal shipping.

Your movie / tv studios are your safe exception because they will order strange items, they understand shipping time and they won't try to return it after.