Item Returned as Undeliverable by USPS - How to Refund Buyer but get back eBay Final Value Fee

[dmr612460rv]

I sold a $99 item to a buyer in CA on a BIN transaction.  Total was $131 with postage.  Tracking shows the item was delivered on the 9th and then on the 28th RETURN TO SENDER was initiated.  The Post Office rep tells me that the address is a large apartment complex.  For a large parcel, the procedure is to leave a notice in the recipients mail box and leave the parcel at the property manager office.  USPS suspects that the customer ignored or misplaced the notice and never went to collect his parcel.  On the 30th, the parcel arrived back here.

USPS won't refund the $32 in postage.  Buyer wants me to resend, which means I would need to pay for postage again.  This seems unfair since in no way am I at fault.

I think the thing to do is refund the buyer the $99 and relist.  I can't seem to find an option to refund just the purchase price, not the whole $131.  And if I initiate a refund in Paypal, I doubt I will get back my Final Value Fee.

So what is the best option for me?

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@monster-deals wrote:

A rare occasion where a buyer is willing to eat the cost of their mistake, indeed.

Not many people would willing be into an item for that much with nothing to show for it.

Make sure they have alread opened an INR and you have closed it. They can still leave negative feedback.

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No seller should be encouraging one of their buyers to open a claim.  If the buyer has not opened one that is in the seller's best interest.  Anything a buyer may be having a problem with can be handled through emails with the buyer.  A seller should NEVER require their buyer to file a claim to work with them on an issue.

It is important to remember that starting this month the mere fact that the buyer opens a SNAD or INR counts against a seller, no matter the outcome.  So it is NOT in your best interest to have them open any kind of claim ESPECIALLY when they are willing to work with you just via emails.

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The SNAD will make the fees go up but the INR will just make ebay extend your handling time from my understanding so I wouldn't worry much about INR cases being opened.

[mam98031]

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@robot-hands wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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No seller should be encouraging one of their buyers to open a claim. 

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All sellers should be using the very few concrete protections ebays gives us.

It would be absolute foolishness not to.

...but if you like negative feedbacks, that's a good way to collect them.

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As long as that works for you, great.  But to recommend it to others without also telling them how these will count against you isn't fair at all to the person you are giving advice to.  As they may not know how it can actually harm them and potentially create a situation where their FVFs take a significant jump.

There is no good reason to create a situation where you require a buyer to open a claim to give them good customer service.  That can be accomplished without a claim but of course the seller has to be willing to provide it.

[wolfbyte]

You can file a case at USPS.com for shipments that, for whatever reason, are not being delivered as they should. They're pretty good at responding. In such cases, I will message my buyer and include that case number in order to keep them in the loop. 

[robot-hands]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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There is no good reason to create a situation where you require a buyer to open a claim to give them good customer service.  

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You're not creating the situation, the buyer did.

The good reason is to keep from getting a negative feedback. No one said you couldn't help them further after the case is closed...even though you really can't and the person in the best position to help the buyer is themselves.

...again purposely NOT using the few tools ebay gives sellers to protect themselves is absolute madness

[mam98031]

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@robot-hands wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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There is no good reason to create a situation where you require a buyer to open a claim to give them good customer service.  

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You're not creating the situation, the buyer did.

The good reason is to keep from getting a negative feedback. No one said you couldn't help them further after the case is closed...even though you really can't and the person in the best position to help the buyer is themselves.

...again purposely NOT using the few tools ebay gives sellers to protect themselves is absolute madness

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No It would be you as the seller.  If the buyer felt the need, they would have opened one.  But they felt they wanted to work with you via emails to get their issue resolved.

I understand the concern over negative FB, but a Claim does NOT protect you from that UNLESS it is escalated and closed in your favor.  Speaking only for myself, I've never had a Request for return escalated as I've always handled it while it was in the Request stage.  And there in no FB protection on a resolved Request for return.

You seem to have a misunderstanding of what protections are and aren't available to sellers.

Now certainly if this is how you prefer to run your business, you have every right to do so.  But for many other people it is not the best of advice.  To risk getting you account flagged as having to many SNAD requests filed against you, no matter the outcome, will put you in the penalty FVF phase and you will be paying 40% more in FVFs while you are in this penalty phase.  It is ALWAYS in a seller's best interest to give your buyer the best possible customer service and prevent a SNAD from being opened whenever you can.