Package Forwarding Return

[leellio-sxcgjvp]

I recently sold a mouse to a buyer who told me he was from Ukraine. I don't ship internationally. My first thought is to cancel the order, but when I check the address, I realize he is using a shipping forwarder in NJ. I figure I'll just try it out as it's a relatively cheap item ($40). I ship the mouse to the forwarders address. When the buyer recieves the mouse, he tells me it is working great and excellent quality. A couple of days later, he says the mouse is dead and that he deleted the firmware. I know the mouse had zero issues when I shipped it. Anyways, now he opened a return request saying it is defective. What should I do from here? Should I wait for eBay to step in or should I accept the return and just hope he doesn't want to ship it back to the forwarder? Also, am I right in thinking he loses buyer protection as soon as it's shipped the second time?

[myangelandmyprincess]

Buyer protection is lost when an item is forwarded but you’d need to be able to prove to eBay it was forwarded.  

If you can’t prove to eBay that it was forwarded you still likely will come out fine.  You are only responsible for shipping from the address you shipped to the buyer would need to pay shipping back from where they are with tracking which may not even be worth the cost for them.  Plus someone not too long ago on here was able to show the item was being returned from a forwarded place based on return tracking and still got it closed in their favor after the return had been approved already 

[daw365]

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@leellio-sxcgjvp wrote:

he says the mouse is dead and that he deleted the firmware.

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In addition to voiding the eBay Money Back Guarantee by reshipping after the original delivery to the forwarder @leellio-sxcgjvp since the buyer deleted the firmware, it is no longer at the train station from which it departed.

[orangehound · Accepted solution]

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@leellio-sxcgjvp wrote:

I ship the mouse to the forwarders address. When the buyer recieves the mouse, he tells me it is working great and excellent quality. A couple of days later, he says the mouse is dead and that he deleted the firmware. I know the mouse had zero issues when I shipped it.

What should I do from here?

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The buyer is violating multiple policies that void the Money Back Guarantee and the return.

1. Used a package forwarder
2. Modified the item
3. Used the item

However, eBay does not have a clean way to "win" a return when a buyer is blatantly violating policies ... using the eBay interface, if you protest/object then the automated decision processes of eBay (or the lowly trained customer service minions) could just mindlessly refund the buyer, and then you'll have to go through an appeal process.

However, since your return process is "no returns", you might have an opportunity to get this closed out.  Don't approve the return, and call customer service and demonstrate via eBay messages that (a) you have a no returns process, (b) buyer used a forwarder violating the MBG, and (c) buyer used and modified the product resulting in a product failure, which also voids the MBG.  All these reasons should cause the return request to be cancelled, and ask the customer service agent to close the return without a refund.

Keep in mind, that sometimes the customer service agent will agree with you, but rather than closing the return without a refund, they (a) escalate this into a case, and (b) then rule the case is in favor of the buyer ... ugggh ... it happens ... then you'll need to go through the appeals process.

[leellio-sxcgjvp]

Thanks for the helpful reply. So if I don't want to deal with eBay, then I should accept the return? That way either he doesn't want to ship it back and I don't pay a refund, or he does ship it and I get the mouse back. If I had the mouse back then I could at least try to repair it. I just want to avoid eBay giving the buyer a refund, me not getting the item back, and possibly getting a defect. The buyer also informed me that it's pretty costly to ship it back to the forwarder.

[orangehound]

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@leellio-sxcgjvp wrote:
Thanks for the helpful reply. So if I don't want to deal with eBay, then I should accept the return? That way either he doesn't want to ship it back and I don't pay a refund, or he does ship it and I get the mouse back. If I had the mouse back then I could at least try to repair it. I just want to avoid eBay giving the buyer a refund, me not getting the item back, and possibly getting a defect. The buyer also informed me that it's pretty costly to ship it back to the forwarder.

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If you don't want to deal with eBay customer service, then just accept the return ... it may never get returned because it is too much of a hassle/expense for him to actually return it ...

[leellio-sxcgjvp]

Alright, I'll try that. Thanks for all of your help.

[a_c_green]

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@orangehound wrote:
If you don't want to deal with eBay customer service, then just accept the return ... it may never get returned because it is too much of a hassle/expense for him to actually return it ...

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I was thinking the same thing. Accept the return and see if he actually ships it back to his reshipper in New Jersey.

(How you do even delete firmware, anyway? More likely he lost its drivers on the computer, and simply needs to download them again.)

[leellio-sxcgjvp]

I have no idea. The buyer keeps contradicting himself. At first, he told me that he used a combination of buttons that deletes the firmware, but then he said that just resets it to factory defaults. Then he said that it started with a firmware update that somehow bricked the mouse. In another message, he told me he wasn't using the official SteelSeries Engine, which you need to use to recieve firmware updates. The only consistent thing is that it was working until he started messing with it. Also sorry about my previous reply, I accidentally hit post with no text and now I can't edit it.

[dare-2046]

Cease communication with your buyer (do not respond to further contact), click Accept the return and issue a return label (the reshipper address), wait 5 business days and if tracking has not started moving, call eBay the next day and have the case closed in your favor, you get no defect, and feedback is blocked/removed.

It's possible your buyer may move on to PayPal or a credit card chargeback, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.