How do I get refunded for shipping when buyer asks to cancel order?

[jems-n-junque]

I sold an item with free shipping, After I purchased the label (deducted from the proceeds of sale) I dropped the item off at the Post Office. Then when I got home I noticed buy sent message asking to cancel. So I went back up and retrieved the package. 

So now I marked the items as not shipped but when I go to cancel order it doesn't show that i will receive a refund for shipping, which I paid for. 

Will I not be refunded for shipping? I want to do the right thing and refund the buyer but I shouldn't be charged for a shipping label that didn't ship. Do I have any recourse?

[aproudparent2010]

Did the label get scanned before you could retrieve the package?

[jems-n-junque]

Yes, when I dropped off the package it was scanned and i received a receipt. When I went back to retrieve the package I explained the situation to the person behind the counter and gave them the receipt. He wrote a note on it and gave me back the package.

BTW, this is like a drop-off center for the Post Office. It's inside a gas station and a mail carrier comes and gets the packages twice a day. But they do have official scales and scanners and you can buy shipping labels and stamps. 

I'm thinking he probably shouldn't have given me back the package, now that i think about it. 

[aproudparent2010]

---

@jems-n-junque wrote:

Yes, when I dropped off the package it was scanned and i received a receipt. When I went back to retrieve the package I explained the situation to the person behind the counter and gave them the receipt. He wrote a note on it and gave me back the package.

BTW, this is like a drop-off center for the Post Office. It's inside a gas station and a mail carrier comes and gets the packages twice a day. But they do have official scales and scanners and you can buy shipping labels and stamps. 

I'm thinking he probably shouldn't have given me back the package, now that i think about it. 

---

If the label was scanned it is now considered used so you can't get refunded for it

[jems-n-junque]

Yes, I went  to Manage shipping labels but when I go to the Actions column and select Cancel Label, it tells me:

This shipping label can't be cancelled because it has already been used.

Looks like I'm on the hook and won't be refunded for the shipping costs. So the buyer really screwed me on this. 

[aproudparent2010]

---

@jems-n-junque wrote:

I went  to Manage shipping labels but when I go to the Actions column and select Cancel Label, it tells me:

This shipping label can't be cancelled because it has already been used.

Looks like I'm on the hook and won't be refunded for the shipping costs. So the buyer really screwed me on this. 

---

When this happens I always just tell the buyer the buyer it has already shipped. And provide the tracking number that shows that

[tobaccocardyahoo]

---

@jems-n-junque wrote:

Looks like I'm on the hook and won't be refunded for the shipping costs. So the buyer really screwed me on this. 

---

You went overboard on trying to please the buyer and honor his request to cancel. You should have notified him you could not cancel the order because it had already shipped or expected that you were going to pay for the shipping in order to please your customer.

The buyer did not screw you.  You were trying to be the best seller you could, and over did it.

[jems-n-junque]

You're correct. I over did it. But there's a reason I did.

I know that buyers have the upper hand on eBay and if a buyer wants to cancel, I'm going to do what I can to accommodate them. 

However,  the order was received yesterday at 7pm. I always try to ship quickly and purchased a shipping label last night, around midnight. So today I had it ready to ship. It shows that the message sent by the buyer to cancel was received at 8am this morning. But I didn't notice it until after i shipped the item.

In hindsight, I should have checked my messages before heading to the post office. It wasn't until I got home that I seen the cancelation request. So had I notified the buyer I could not cancel the order because it had already shipped, they likely would have got angry because it would looked as thought I shipped the item despite receiving the request to cancel beforehand.

Shipping cost: $7.59 so it's not like I lost a lot. 

-Lesson learned 

[44012]

If it helps, it has happened to me only once before and I never let it happen again.😁

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I haven't sold electronics on Ebay for years so the buyers might have become spawns of Satan in the interim. But my experience has been that cancellation requests are uncommon, after the sale problems are uncommon, and the buyer advantage is really not in the forefront of my thinking.

I admit to having eliminated selling categories which created conditions which I found unpleasant, but I have not experienced the anxiety I felt when I sold on Amazon since I returned to Ebay.

[kalyoth]

Once the carrier scans the label, the label is actively in transit & thus consumed. If you retrieve the item from the carrier, it still counts as a delivery regardless of reason. The shipping is consumed & no refund will be possible. It is now a business expense - a writeoff upon your taxes. 

I find that, unless a cancellation request is time stamped withing 15 minutes of payment for the order, it ships & it plays out from there. I have dealt with 2 cancellation requests within 3 years time. They do not occur enough for me to be concerned any more than that.