Issues With Buyer

[mcblodgett]

I am a new seller. Shipped a product to a buyer. Post office could not deliver item, then they told me it was lost. In good faith, I issued a refund to this buyer. However, I have received confirmation that the buyer has picked up the package from the post office and is now in possession of the item.  The buyer was never responsive to my contact attempts to discuss the problems with delivery. So now I have not been paid, the buyer will not respond and ebay will not assist. Are there any recourses I have other than to report the item as stolen?

[heckofagame]

You refunded voluntarily as there was no case opened requiring a refund. There is no recourse. An honest buyer would offer to pay for the item, but the buyer is under no obligation to do so. 

And the item was not stolen. It went to the intended buyer. Once again, the refund was your decision. 

Chalk this up to experience and move forward.  

[lakefor94]

You got ahead of the game by refunding. Nothing was stolen. The buyer picked up a shipment you addressed to the buyer. 

If there is a next time, the buyer has to file a Item Not Received case a day after the latest estimated delivery date provided by eBay. Then there are several days after that for the item to be delivered before a seller is forced to refund.

[cstpos · Accepted solution]

@mcblodgett  ebay used to limit new sellers to no more than $500 total listed at any time until they received 10 feedbacks so they wouldn't get taken advantage of like you just did. Limiting the # of items and the $ amount gives new sellers time to learn. It looks like you've sold over $2000 in just over 2 weeks of selling.

Did the buyer tell you it was lost, or did the the USPS tell you it was lost? As others have mentioned, don't issue any refunds until a buyer has opened a return request on ebay. Send your higher end items as fully insured for the entire amount. Factor that cost into your shipping and/or price of the item.

Ebay can't intercede on your behalf if you refunded the buyer when they didn't open a return on ebay. It's a hard lesson to have to learn.

You might be able to file a police report in the buyer's town. Make sure you have printed all of your messages, shipping and tracking, refund, and ebay sales record as the case could drag on past the time these documents are available to you online. You could message the buyer first and let them know that you're giving them one last chance to repay you before you file a police report based on their messages and the package being signed for by them at the post office. Make sure you have confirmation from the USPS that the buyer did pick it up.  Did you send them an invoice via Paypal or tell them how they were supposed to repay you?   No guarantees, but it might be worth it depending on how much the item was. Best of luck!

[m60driver]

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@mcblodgett wrote:

 Are there any recourses I have other than to report the item as stolen?

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No, and technically it was not stolen.  Just move on, there is nothing to be done.

[mcblodgett]

Thank you so much - this is actually  helpful. The post office told me that the package was lost, and because the buyer wasn't responsive, I wanted to make a good faith effort to return the buyer's money. I do have confirmation from the post office that the order was picked up. When I refunded the money, I selected "problem with address" - not sure that's the exact phrasing. I can't even report the buyer because technically he hasn't done anything wrong. it's shady AF, but lesson learned. Definitely going to try to file a police report - the worst the can do is say no.  thank you again 🙂

[cstpos]

@mcblodgett  Yw! We almost always purchase shipping labels on ebay. Make sure you upload your tracking number if you don't use ebay labels. Problem with the Buyer's address is usually the reason you use if the address is a place you don't ship to, the address is incomplete, or it's a PO Box and fedex doesn't deliver to PO boxes, etc. Usually used before you have shipped an item. If any buyer asks you to ship to a different address than what is on the ebay order tell them it is against ebay policy. Tell them they can cancel the current order, then repurchase after they've updated their ebay account with the Ship to address that they want to use.

If a buyer ever opens a return on ebay, they will list the reason for the return, not you. You can always come back here for help. I did when I first started selling, and I got so many helpful replies.

[dbfolks166mt]

     As others noted since you refunded of your own accord you are probably out of luck. As a new seller with high value high target items listed you are a scammers dream. As a new seller you should have come to the board before you did anything. Did you receive some type of notification from the post office that they could not deliver the item? 

     Never unilaterally refund a buyer without some type of official claim being opened by the buyer through eBay. In this case the buyer should have filed an INR. You would have then checked the tracking on the package. If the carrier could not deliver the package and they were returning it to you then you are under no obligation to refund them anything even after you have the item back. 

[lovvbugg]

You are probably out of luck but you should go ahead and file a report on the buyer. If they pulled this trick on you and ''won,'' they will probably try it on another seller. There are several scams out there on the internet telling people how to get free stuff on ebay. This is probably one of them.

[buzzapparel]

Never ever refund a buyer unless you absolutely have to and you are at your last opportunity to do so. I don’t understand why so many occasional sellers will so quickly refund. 

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

I do t there is anything you can even if the buyer filed an INR.  The  INR gives you a date to either deliver or refund. You conveying that date and they refund and you get a defect. Really not much you can do to force a buyer to pay after the case is closed.

I experienced one of these recently due to the North Houston sorting facility debacle. Customer filed and I had to either refund or have eBay refund. The item was still delivered but not expecting the customer to feel guilty and pay