Item lost in mail for a week, refunded, found and delivered. Radio silence from buyer

[atpreacher87]

I'm a relatively new seller to ebay, and not sure how to deal with this situation:

I sold item for about 70 bucks 3 weeks ago. I dropped off the package for USPS, and they proceeded to lose it for a week. After about 5 days with no shipping update, the buyer opened a case with ebay asking for a refund. I granted the refund the same day he asked for it, thinking it would be unlikely for the package to turn up, and also that it would help my feedback rating (in hindsight I should have waited a few days). The package re-appeared in USPS's tracking system 2 days later, and was delivered 2 days after that. Since the refund had already been granted, I sent a message to the buyer asking if he wanted to keep the item, in which case he should please pay the winning auction price, or let me know if he no longer wanted it, in which case I'd send him a shipping label to return the item. I haven't heard from the buyer since granting the refund, despite sending several messages. 

I called ebay customer service, and was pretty much told I was out of luck if I wanted to force the guy to give them money back--the best they could do was send a message to them asking for payment. They also said I could report the buyer for abuse of the refund policy. Are these really my only options? I googled this issue before writing this post, and no other thread mentioned reporting the buyer for this sort of behavior.  

One weird thing: on my seller hub page, the item appears as eligible for an upaid item cases, but when I try to send the notification, it fails, with no reason given. Don't know if this means anything but figured I'd make a note of it. 

[bonjourami]

Unfortunately, you gave your buyer a gift..you really jumped the gun on that refund,especially if it was before the estimated delivery date. All you can do is send a payment invoice..but its probably a waste of time..make sure you block this 'buyer'.

[ed8108]

Report the crook for abuse of the refund policy and block.

[missjen831]

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@ed8108 wrote:

Report the crook for abuse of the refund policy and block.

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It wasn’t abuse of the refund policy. The latest delivery estimate had passed if the buyer filed an INR. The OP is the one who jumped the gun and issued the refund prematurely. 

[missjen831]

It wasn’t abuse of the refund policy. The buyer can only open an INR once the latest delivery estimate has passed. He didn’t abuse the policy here. He used the protections eBay made available to him. You did not need to jump the gun and issue a refund. You had 3 full business days to refund or prove delivery before he could have asked eBay to step in. What you needed to do was call and get the case put on a hold to allow more time for delivery. 

[atpreacher87]

Not really familar with what happens when you report someone. Would it be worthwhile to send a message before I do it on the lines "please respond to this in 48 hours or I'm reporting you for abuse of the refund policy" or should I just do it? And after I report is there incentive on the part of the buyer to pay me or send the item back to clear the issue with ebay?

[atpreacher87]

Well so the tricky thing is that there was no delivery date specified at all. The package got lost before it was in USPS's system, so there wasn't even an estimated delivery date. Once it was found and put into the system there was, but at that point I had already refunded. In this particular case I could have benefitted from waiting on the refund, because it was found before the 3 day window ended, but I can imagine a situation in which it took longer to recover than that. If it had taken USPS say another week to find the package, in which case the refund window would have closed, would I just have been straight out of luck no matter what?

[fab_finds4u]

Don't threaten to report.  Just do it.  eBay doesn't let them know who reported.  They just make a note of it and if a history exists for the same type of abuse eBay will deny them buyer protection.  

[southern*sweet*tea]

I know this won't help you now, but if this happens in the future, as soon as you realize the package is lost, file a lost package report with USPS and have the package sent back to YOU if found. https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm

I've had a package go missing ONCE in 15 years. As soon as I found out about it (buyer negged out of the blue, then opened an INR) I filed the report and had the package redirected back to me.  In the interim I refunded the buyer fully, since I would have been forced to anyway.  The package was found a few days later and sent back to me. I relisted it for $5 more and it sold shortly thereafter, so neg not withstanding it all worked out in the end.

[couldabeenworse]

How long has it been since you contacted the buyer? 

Keep in mind that this situation is a hassle for the buyer as well.  He may well have already purchased a similar item, or just spent the money on something else.  Hopefully, your email was very polite and gracious, as the buyer is in the driver's seat.

In hindsight, it would have been wise to use Parcel Intercept once you issued the refund.

Good luck....

[atpreacher87]

I actually did file a missing package report. But it only lets you do it 7 days after the package is "lost", which in my case was after he opened the case with ebay. Should I have just said the package was lost sooner to get it started sooner?

I also specified for the package to be sent back to me if found, but of course USPS totally ignored that and sent it to him anyway. I think the issue may have been caused by the fact that it hadn't been scanned into their system yet. 

[atpreacher87]

Yea I thought about doing an intercept, but it would have been 15$ and whatever the return shipping fee would be, which is a non-trivial percentage of the sale price. I sent him a message asking him what he wanted to do while it was still in transit, and it was ignored. I was hoping the guy wouldn't be a dick about it, but it turns out my hopes were misplaced...

[atpreacher87]

I sent him a message and invoice last Saturday, and had ebay also send him a message. I've been polite thus far, but my patience is wearing thin at this point.

[couldabeenworse]

Would it be worthwhile to send a message before I do it on the lines "please respond to this in 48 hours or I'm reporting you for abuse of the refund policy" or should I just do it?

Seriously? 

And after I report is there incentive on the part of the buyer to pay me or send the item back to clear the issue with ebay?

Oh, I'm sure that would be an incentive for the buyer to do something, but I doubt if it's what you want.

[atpreacher87]

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@missjen831 wrote:

It wasn’t abuse of the refund policy. The buyer can only open an INR once the latest delivery estimate has passed. He didn’t abuse the policy here. He used the protections eBay made available to him. You did not need to jump the gun and issue a refund. You had 3 full business days to refund or prove delivery before he could have asked eBay to step in. What you needed to do was call and get the case put on a hold to allow more time for delivery. 

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I'm still a little unlcear on whether my buyer has acted in a manner that merits reporint to Ebay.  Did he violate the refund policy or not? Even if he didn't violate any specific ebay policy, he certainly acted in bad faith and I'd like to know the best way to tell ebay/other ebay users about it.