When does a return case expires?

[sai83her]

I have a buyer who bought my item back on July 18th. I quickly sent out the item and within 4 days, the buyer stated that they bought it by mistake since it did not fit. They open a return request for "doesn't fit" and I gladly hit accept to accept the return. So all I need to do was to wait for the item to come back.

So after 3 weeks past by, ebay sent me a email reminding me to refund the buyer if the item have already been returned. After that, two days went by and I got the same email message from ebay again. Then 2 days after that the status in the return case changed from "return started" to "return delivered".  But I never recieved a return package, and when I click on the "return detail" All there is to the detail is "return started" with no tracking progress or anything.

So I wanted to wait until the full 30 days to give ebay a call to close the case. Well today 8/24/2018 I finally called ebay to try to close out the case. But the Rep. there was being rude and told me to be patient and the item may still be on its way back. She will not close to case, and if she does close the case for me, it will be only a refund. I ask her how can she refund the buyer when they never even sent the item back? She just told me to be patient and that the buyer may still send the item back. Wow, this was a U.S.A. sale. I tried to contact the buyer and so far after 3 message, they have no responded back to me over the course of the return.

At this point, what should I do? How long does a return case stay open? If I leave it to close by itself after such a period. Will they automatically refund the buyer?

[emerald40]

Call back and get a CS with a clue.

Unless something else has changed.

Once shipping label has been uploaded, buyer has 5 days to get that item in the mail back to you.

Like I said, call again and ask that the case be closed in your favor while you remain on thephone.

[sai83her]

Well I went back to give ebay another call. I had to wait 10 minutes to connect to a person. I got a hold of Chris, who I would say is a US base customer rep since he speaks very good english. He explained he couldn't close the case in my favor because of the new ebay return policy that has been in effect. Once a return request is opened, the buyer have up to 45 days to get the item read to return the item. Until the meantime, I would just have to wait and see if they person decide to return the item. After that, I'll have to call again and they can kindly close the case.

Wow? 45 days. That is NUTS!

[Anonymous]

The policy says a buyer needs to send it back within 5 days with tracked shipping.

If you don't have any tracking call eBay again to tell them there's no tracking and point them to the policy page.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/return-item-refund?id=4041

brian@ebay, is the above link accurate where it says a seller has 6 business days after receipt of the item to refund a remorse return?

CS told the OP they can't close the remorse return for 45 days. The policy page says a buyer has 5 days to mail back and upload tracking. The OPs buyer did not provide tracking and the return was opened on July 18th. Does CS re-coaching need to happen here? Why are they saying 45 days?

[emerald40]

So gla to have someone respond to this thread.

I am doing some searches, and I cannot find anything where it was changed to 45 days.

All I see is you have 5 days to upload tracking to seller to show that it is in the mail stream going back.

[monster-deals]

Call that back in and get a supervisor on the line.

5 business days is all buyers get once the label is issued or a return without a label is approved.

[hillbillymedia]

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@emerald40 wrote:

So gla to have someone respond to this thread.

I am doing some searches, and I cannot find anything where it was changed to 45 days.

All I see is you have 5 days to upload tracking to seller to show that it is in the mail stream going back.

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It`s definatly 5 days. These CS reps.....SMH

[brian@ebay]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The policy says a buyer needs to send it back within 5 days with tracked shipping.

If you don't have any tracking call eBay again to tell them there's no tracking and point them to the policy page.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/return-item-refund?id=4041

brian@ebay, is the above link accurate where it says a seller has 6 business days after receipt of the item to refund a remorse return?

CS told the OP they can't close the remorse return for 45 days. The policy page says a buyer has 5 days to mail back and upload tracking. The OPs buyer did not provide tracking and the return was opened on July 18th. Does CS re-coaching need to happen here? Why are they saying 45 days?

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Hi @Anonymous, I'm happy to clarify. The new refund timeframe is 2 business days, so it looks like that help page needs to be updated. I'll send that over right away!

Customer Service didn't provide accurate information in this situation. If a seller accepts a return and the buyer fails to ship it back within 5 business days, customer service can close the return in the seller favor. @sai83her, if you haven't already, I suggest contacting customer service again to have the return reviewed. 

[emerald40]

I hope this OP finds his way back to this thread, which may be a longshot with the occasional poster.

Hope he is not going to think he now has to wait 45 days to get his item back so the case can be closed.

And tyler@ebay

this is unfortunately far from the only time callers are getting wrong and in some cases dangerous to their account information from CS.