Orders That Arrive After Issuing Refund

[farnorthsid]

I recently issued a refund to a buyer who became inpatient with the pathetic delivery delays of the Post Office after they filed an Item not Received case.

When that order finally arrives how do you get payment from the buyer who has already received a refund?

[richard1rst]

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@farnorthsid wrote:

I recently issued a refund to a buyer who became inpatient with the pathetic delivery delays of the Post Office after they filed an Item not Received case.

When that order finally arrives how do you get payment from the buyer who has already received a refund?

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Well I judge by your question that the item has not yet been delivered. That being the case you can initiate an intercept order with the shipper to return the item to you instead of actually delivering it. There is a charge for that so it depends on the value of the item.

The actual lesson is when an INR case is opened you enter the tracking number in the claim but DO NOT issue a refund just because the buyer is impatient. Let it play out. The problem you cite is the reason why.

[mam98031]

When you get an INR filed against you, IMHO these are the steps to take.

Enter your tracking number into the INR.

Go to USPS website and review the detail tracking info.

On this tracking screen there is a place to file for email updates as there is movement on the tracking. Sign up for that so you get informed right away when something gets entered to the tracking.

Go and file for a TRACE, I don't recommend filing for Missing Mail just yet. The two are completely different actions. The Trace usually gets the job done quicker.
https://usps.my.site.com/emailus/s/package-inquiry

Contact your buyer. Keep all contact inside the INR filed so everything is recorded on the claim. Let your buyer know you are working with USPS to get their package delivered. Apologize for the delay. And let them know you filed a trace which takes between 48-72 hours for USPS to respond. As you get any information you will update the buyer right away. Assure your buyer that you are working this problem and will continue to do so until a proper resolution.

If there is movement on the tracking within the last 7 days, Ebay will keep the INR open. Do not voluntarily issue the refund yet. It is highly likely the package is going to get delivered, it is just late. Annoying for the buyer for sure. Just stay in touch with them and assure them you are working on a resolution.

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Now I realize it is too late for the advice above, but I thought I would give it to you for the future.

Now what you need to do is contact your buyer.  Let them know that you AND EBAY [not really true, but it can help to say it] have been notified that the item has arrived.  Ask them if they want to keep it and pay for it again or would they prefer to return it to you.  Let it be their decision.

If they want to keep the item, ask them to give you their email address so you can send them a PayPal invoice so they can repay you the original amount.  Ebay knows we have to do this, so it is not a risk for you or the buyer.

[sakic92710]

All you can do is cross your fingers & hope the buyer is an honest person.  eBay WILL NOT assist you in getting the money back.  I don't know how many INR claims I've dealt with in 24 years, but it had to average out to 1 - 1 1/2 a year?  Of those times, I know there is just 2 times the buyers were honest people.  Most will keep the money out of the 'inconvenience' of waiting.  The poor babies!  1 person had filed a claim, but it did not close yet.  They received their item & sent a message to thank me.  Soon after, they went to eBay to close the claim in their favor.  eBay refunded them.  I sent a complaint to eBay, telling them about the message.  I got my money back.  If he had not thanked me, I would have been cheated.  Another time, the buyer was refunded on a Thursday.  On Monday, their item arrived.  eBay told me SOL - "It's up to you to connect with the buyer to solve the issue."  All the buyer did was get upset about what a hard time he was having.  Thief!

[melusky]

This happened to me just recently.  Buyer intentionally ships using the slowest service (ground advantage) and then messages you two days later asking why it hasn't arrived.  I sold computer memory, it was a new listing and didn't open to capture details of each chip.  Buyer I'm guessing was prepared to swap out the chips, reseal and send back and make it seem that no changes were made to the item.  eBay agents need to be able to handle buyers like this better.

[slippinjimmy]

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@melusky wrote:

This happened to me just recently.  Buyer intentionally ships using the slowest service (ground advantage) and then messages you two days later asking why it hasn't arrived.  I sold computer memory, it was a new listing and didn't open to capture details of each chip.  Buyer I'm guessing was prepared to swap out the chips, reseal and send back and make it seem that no changes were made to the item.  eBay agents need to be able to handle buyers like this better.

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Buyer can only pick the shipping options you provide.

In my experience Ground Advantage is not a slow service, perhaps 1 - 3 days slower than Priority...you get what you pay for.

[kensgiftshop]

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@melusky wrote:

This happened to me just recently.  Buyer intentionally ships using the slowest service (ground advantage) and then messages you two days later asking why it hasn't arrived.  I sold computer memory, it was a new listing and didn't open to capture details of each chip.  Buyer I'm guessing was prepared to swap out the chips, reseal and send back and make it seem that no changes were made to the item.  eBay agents need to be able to handle buyers like this better.

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Buyer didn't ship anything.

They can only chose from the options you included in your listing.

[tools*]

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@farnorthsid wrote:

I recently issued a refund to a buyer who became inpatient with the pathetic delivery delays of the Post Office after they filed an Item not Received case.

When that order finally arrives how do you get payment from the buyer who has already received a refund?

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According to eBay, you're SOL.

[mam98031]

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@tools* wrote:

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@farnorthsid wrote:

I recently issued a refund to a buyer who became inpatient with the pathetic delivery delays of the Post Office after they filed an Item not Received case.

When that order finally arrives how do you get payment from the buyer who has already received a refund?

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According to eBay, you're SOL.

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That is not necessarily true.  Most buyers are honest people.    I posted the following in an earlier post.

Now what you need to do is contact your buyer.  Let them know that you AND EBAY [not really true, but it can help to say it] have been notified that the item has arrived.  Ask them if they want to keep it and pay for it again or would they prefer to return it to you.  Let it be their decision.

If they want to keep the item, ask them to give you their email address so you can send them a PayPal invoice so they can repay you the original amount.  Ebay knows we have to do this, so it is not a risk for you or the buyer.

[cityslickercreations2004]

I have a variation on the above scenario.  

My postman (a sub, I think) picked up my outgoing package.

The next day, buyer opened a case with ebay for package not received she bought on Jan. 21. Went to upload tracking and realized postman had selected "delivered" rather than picked up on Jan. 22.

So tracking shows as delivered to my address, not hers.

This is ebay so I refunded my buyer this morning to avoid penalty.

I am hoping she returns or tries to pay me because that has happened before. We'll see.