How refund buyer cost of item but NOT original shipping charges

[zztop11]

I received an item back for a refund. I want to refund her but it is only letting me do so with a refund of the original shipping charges also. I do not want to refund the original shipping charges. The reason for the return is item was too large for her.

[luckythewinner]

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@zztop11 wrote:

I received an item back for a refund. I want to refund her but it is only letting me do so with a refund of the original shipping charges also. I do not want to refund the original shipping charges. The reason for the return is item was too large for her.

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If the buyer made a return through the eBay return system, I do not believe the seller has the option of changing the refund amount by withholding the original shipping from the refund.

[lamber9347]

You accept returns in your policy, and the buyer changed their mind about a purchase, (a remorse return for item was too large falls under the same)

If you stated in your listing's return policy that you accept returns, your buyer can return the item to you, even if they've changed their mind.

Here are your response options:

Accept the return: The buyer will send the item back to you for a full refund. If you offered free shipping, you'll need to refund the buyer the full amount of the item, including the original shipping cost. You can't deduct the original shipping cost from any refund amount.

If you stated in the listing that you'll cover return shipping charges, choose how you'll arrange for the item to be returned.

eBay may automatically accept a return from a buyer on your behalf if an eBay shipping label is available, and the request was made within the return window permitted by your policy. Once received, you will have 2 business days to review the returned item and issue a buyer refund, or ask eBay to step in and help. 

If the item is returned used or damaged, you may qualify to issue the buyer a partial refund. See Partial refund guidelines.

How to accept a return

Offer a partial refund: You'll issue a partial refund to the buyer, and they'll keep the item. This can be useful when the buyer ordered the wrong thing by accident—for example, the wrong color or size—and you'd like to offer them a gesture of goodwill.

How to issue a partial refund

Give a full refund: You'll issue a full refund to the buyer, and they'll keep the item. This is a good option for low-value items.

How to issue a full refund

Send the buyer a message: If you have any questions regarding the buyer's request, you can contact them directly.

If you respond to the request but don't come to an agreement with the buyer after 3 business days, you or the buyer can ask us to step in and help.

If we're asked to step in to help, we'll ask the buyer to return the item to you. If the item is returned used or damaged, you will no longer be able to issue a refund to the buyer even if you qualify to issue partial refunds under our seller protections.

Looks like at this point your only option is to fully refund or eBay will refund fully on your behalf. You would need to offer a partial refund prior to buyer shipping it back. 

[mtgraves7984]

I've had experience with remorse Returns. IF the buyer listed a 'remorse' reason ('didn't fit', for example), you should be able to slide the toggle on the refund page (after they're returned) and remove the return shipping cost.

If the buyer listed a 'Not as Described' reason, the option to slide the toggle won't be there. If you don't do it in a timely manner, a full refund will be issued by eBay on your behalf.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

[caldreamer]

EBAY has automated return system.   Reason customer selected will determine if you must refund shipping.   Returns "will not close" until you refund the proper amount.

[chaos215bar2]

The question was about the original shipping charges. It's pretty annoying that eBay clearly states where you can't refund the original shipping charges (free shipping), but never seems to bother to clearly explain whether you're required to refund shipping charges otherwise.

Even the free shipping policy is inconsistent with most normal online retailers. Even with free shipping, most retailers will not refund the original shipping charges in the case of a remorse return. Requiring that a seller does so is a ridiculously one-sided policy, and exclusionary to small sellers who can't amortize the cost of an occasional return across a large number of sales.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@chaos215bar2 wrote:

The question was about the original shipping charges. It's pretty annoying that eBay clearly states where you can't refund the original shipping charges (free shipping), but never seems to bother to clearly explain whether you're required to refund shipping charges otherwise.

Even the free shipping policy is inconsistent with most normal online retailers. Even with free shipping, most retailers will not refund the original shipping charges in the case of a remorse return. Requiring that a seller does so is a ridiculously one-sided policy, and exclusionary to small sellers who can't amortize the cost of an occasional return across a large number of sales.

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You don't have "free" shipping so when you get the item back, you can refund just the purchase price of the item and not the shipping charge the buyer paid when they bought.