Refunding shipping - Local pickup

[unitrode]

I am a seller on ebay. I sold an item and didn't list local pickup as an option. The buyer paid bid plus tax plus shipping through ebay. I printed a UPS label. Then the buyer contacted me and asked if he could pick up in person. I said OK, and he did pick up the item.

I tried to cancel the shipping label, and it said that unused shipping labels won't be charged. Good. 

What is the right way for me to refund his shipping? I want to be fair to the buyer. I also don't want to pay ebay a commission for shipping that was not used.

Thank you for your help.

[mtgraves7984]

You can issue a partial refund by using the drop-down menu to the left of the Order. (It should still be in your Seller Hub/Orders/Paid and shipped.) Unfortunately, you don't receive a refund of FVFs on partial refunds.

Another issue... by allowing the local pickup (without it being in the listing), eBay will still see the order as not shipped. I hope for you that your buyer is honest and doesn't open an Item Not Received claim later.

You can void the shipping label... at least mitigate those damages. Good luck to you.

[bonjourami · Accepted solution]

You can Paypal him. You realize if this buyer claims item not received, you have no delivery confirmation with tracking to prove it was delivered? Next time, its best to cancel the transaction at buyers request, then relist for him with local pick up.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote: ... You can void the shipping label... at least mitigate those damages. Good luck to you.

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There is no need to void a UPS label.

[unitrode]

Thanks for the tips. Fortunately, buyer was nice enough to sign a receipt. In the odd case of a buyer forgetting that he picked it up, will that protect me?

From what you say, I guess there is no official procedure for doing this other than cancelling the whole deal and starting over. A paypal or partial refund is a valid but imperfect work-around.

Lesson learned. 😞

[mtgraves7984]

@nobody*s_perfect 

Dang. I knew that. Heck, the OP even explained it again. Must be time for my afternoon nap. 😣

[bonjourami]

"Thanks for the tips. Fortunately, buyer was nice enough to sign a receipt. In the odd case of a buyer forgetting that he picked it up, will that protect me?"

Unfortunately, that wont protect you at all, since you listed with shipping, the only protection would be  tracking with delivery confirmation. Hopefully your buyer is not a scammer.

[unitrode]

I got lucky. The buyer just left positive feedback, explicitly commenting that the merchandise is good. We've all had bad experiences, but thankfully, most people are very nice. I sent the buyer a partial refund as you recommended.

Special thank you to mtgraves7984, bonjourami, & nobody*s_perfect.

[aproudparent2010]

Not in the clear yet.....

Buyer could still claim they didn't get it and if you point out the feedback say they left it in error