How to initiate a return/refund from the seller side.

[clu3]

A buyer is considering returning and item and will let me know by monday.

However, I don't accept returns and she's emailing me from a new account she's created (not the one she initially ordered on) stating she had used that account as a guest. 

For the life of me, I can't find a way to begin the return process from my end.

Should I ask her to go to the original account she ordered from and request a refund?

It seems unecessary to go that route when I'm perfectly willing to send her a return shipping label - I just can't find a way to do it from my end so it reflects against the original sale.

[hafoster]

https://community.ebay.com/t5/7/9/qaq-p/27665840

https://community.ebay.com/t5/7/9/qaq-p/25852051

@jtzvwbug

[femmefan1946]

Tell her to return the item for a full refund.

Don't offer to send return shipping.

If she thinks the item is Not As Described, she can go to eBay and her original purchase and open an NAD there.

EBay will tell you to send return postage (a label if you are both in the same country) and when you get the item back, you refund.

In the long run, a No Returns policy is pointless.

If you sell on eBay you make Refunds.

If you accept Paypal you make Refunds.

All a No Returns policy does is make an unhappy buyer more likely to open a Dispute than to deal with you directly where you can control the situation.

Politely-- Captain Malcolm Reynolds.

If she bought as a Guest, it is possible that she must go to the Paypal payment and open the Dispute there.

PP will tell her to pay her own return postage, and when you get the item back you do a PP refund.

[clu3]

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@hafoster wrote:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/7/9/qaq-p/27665840

https://community.ebay.com/t5/7/9/qaq-p/25852051

@jtzvwbug

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Thank you.  That's a helpful start but it doesn't resolve the issue.  I'm starting to think Ebay doesn't allow sellers the option of initiating a return at all.  100% control is on the buyer end.  Which is ludicrous.

1.  Ebay would prefer sellers to offer good customer service but doesn't allow them the option of begining a return without the seller essentially beginning a dispute?  Which is further complicated when...

2.  The buyer has purchased as a guest and is having difficulty locating the sale record.

Ideally, I should be able to go my seller page or resolution center, begin a return and issue the return shipping label.  As it stands now, I can only report a non-payment or cancel an item. 

[lacemaker3]

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@clu3 wrote:

A buyer is considering returning and item and will let me know by monday.

However, I don't accept returns and she's emailing me from a new account she's created (not the one she initially ordered on) stating she had used that account as a guest. 

For the life of me, I can't find a way to begin the return process from my end.

Should I ask her to go to the original account she ordered from and request a refund?

It seems unecessary to go that route when I'm perfectly willing to send her a return shipping label - I just can't find a way to do it from my end so it reflects against the original sale.

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Seller's can't initiate returns. The buyer has to do it, and it has to be done from the original transaction.

If the buyer did not contact you from the original transaction and account, then you have no way to know if it is your buyer or a scammer. There have been multiple reports recently of scammers who contact a seller from a different account, pretending to be the buyer, and ask the seller to ship to a different address, in order to steal the item. That's not exactlyl the same as your situation, but you can see the difficulty.

[jtzvwbug · Accepted solution]

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@clu3 wrote:

Thank you.  That's a helpful start but it doesn't resolve the issue.  I'm starting to think Ebay doesn't allow sellers the option of initiating a return at all.  100% control is on the buyer end.  Which is ludicrous.

1.  Ebay would prefer sellers to offer good customer service but doesn't allow them the option of begining a return without the seller essentially beginning a dispute?  Which is further complicated when...

2.  The buyer has purchased as a guest and is having difficulty locating the sale record.

Ideally, I should be able to go my seller page or resolution center, begin a return and issue the return shipping label.  As it stands now, I can only report a non-payment or cancel an item. 

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Hi @clu3

Send this link to your buyer: 

Get help if you bought as a guest

 

[clu3]

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@jtzvwbug wrote:

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@clu3 wrote:

Thank you.  That's a helpful start but it doesn't resolve the issue.  I'm starting to think Ebay doesn't allow sellers the option of initiating a return at all.  100% control is on the buyer end.  Which is ludicrous.

1.  Ebay would prefer sellers to offer good customer service but doesn't allow them the option of begining a return without the seller essentially beginning a dispute?  Which is further complicated when...

2.  The buyer has purchased as a guest and is having difficulty locating the sale record.

Ideally, I should be able to go my seller page or resolution center, begin a return and issue the return shipping label.  As it stands now, I can only report a non-payment or cancel an item. 

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Hi @clu3

Send this link to your buyer: 

Get help if you bought as a guest

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Thank you!!  That appears to be the best solution.  I truly appreciate the help. 🙂

But Ebay - if you're listening - you SHOULD allow buyers to begin the return process even if just as a courtesy to the buyer or a higher level of service.

Ebay sellers are terribly cynical.  I wasn't being scammed, the buyer wasn't 100% satisfied when I followed up on the sale, so I offered to take the item back and pay the return shipping.  I'm fully aware of the NAD policy and returns, why be difficult about it and force them to escalate the issue?

But I did NOT know that buyers could check out as a guest. 

[clu3]

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@clu3 wrote:

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But Ebay - if you're listening - you SHOULD allow buyers sellers to begin the return process even if just as a courtesy to the buyer or a higher level of service.

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[jtzvwbug]

"But I did NOT know that buyers could check out as a guest."

@clu3

Yes. All they have to do is select "Check out as guest:"

[lacemaker3]

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@clu3 wrote:

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@clu3 wrote:

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But Ebay - if you're listening - you SHOULD allow buyers sellers to begin the return process even if just as a courtesy to the buyer or a higher level of service.

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I understand that you are just trying to be a good seller, and that you would not abuse the process if it were available.

Unfortunately, not all sellers are good, or honest. There have been many reports of sellers dishonestly cancelling transactions because their dropshippers were out of stock, and falsely claiming that the buyers had requested it, even when the buyer explicitly refused the suggestion. I have experienced this myself. 

It is also possible that buyers would use process this to cheat sellers, by tricking the seller into starting a return, and then sending back the broken item which they just replaced for free at the seller's expense.

It's better to let the return request be made by the person who has the item in their possession.

[robot-hands]

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@clu3 wrote:

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Thank you.  That's a helpful start but it doesn't resolve the issue.  I'm starting to think Ebay doesn't allow sellers the option of initiating a return at all.  100% control is on the buyer end.  Which is ludicrous.

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You want MORE return dings.

Just throw your money in the lake and be done with it.