Issuing refund on 1 of 2 items that's printed shipping label but not yet shipped

[garageauto31]

I have a buyer who purchased two items at once, and after I printed shipping label but before dropping it off at post office, the buyer contacted me to cancel one of the two items.
This falls into a gray area/tricky situation; I could not find cancel order action on eBay. I went to PayPal to issue a partial refund, doing a manual calculation of the item price * tax. With this option, I will receive correct amount of fees refund from PayPal, but not sure if eBay's 10% final value fee would be refunded as well.
Should I wait until the buyer receives the item, and tell them to cancel one order, then issue a refund? What would be the best option for me without having buyer to do anything? The buyer is appreciative, responsive and cooperative.

[orangehound · Accepted solution]

I've never encountered this situation, so perhaps others with experience could chime in, but here's how I would navigate it:

1. You are correct ... the eBay interface will not allow the seller to cancel one item from an order.  They only allow the whole order to be cancelled.
2. If the buyer is indeed cooperative, you could cancel the entire order (Buyer Requested), relist both items, and have them re-purchase the item they want.   This will automatically get your eBay fees refunded, but you'll lose the PayPal feels.  (PayPal stopped refunding fees in Fall 2019).
3. [I think this would cost you more, but the buyer does not have to do anything]  Alternatively, you could do a partial refund through PayPal, but eBay does not credit back fees for a partial refund ... you'll still lose the PayPal fees on the item that was refunded.
4. Cancel the label that was purchased ... purchase a new label for the smaller shipment.

[edwedw8383]

The eBay-will-understand way @garageauto31 is to have your buyer

- start a return request (even though it hasn't shipped) on that item, and

- you'll select the second option on the list to refund without requiring a return.

This will avoid a defect and get you FVF credit for that one item. And you won't pay PayPal fees on 3 items: First on 2 items, then again on 1 item.

[garageauto31]

This really helps, greatly appreciated it. I chose #2, canceled the transaction and had the buyer purchase my relist. Don't I still get the PayPal fees, minus non-refundable PayPal fee $0.3, though?

[garageauto31]

This helps a lot. Greatly appreciate your input!

[pjcdn2005]

Paypal was keeping all fees but I think that I read that they are not going to do that right now because of the Covid 19 crisis. I don't know if that was for all refunds or just full refunds.