mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
I just had a first time buyer from India purchase a collectible silver spoon. After waiting 4 days for payment I opened an unpaid item case and the buyer paid the next day. While preparing to ship I reviewed India's customs rules and discovered that articles of gold and silver are prohibited. I sent a message to the buyer saying that it would need to be canceled and went to my seller hub to cancel it. Clicked on cancel order and it sent me to a page that said the order cannot be canceled since a case was opened. I've called customer service and they told me that they would not be able to cancel it because "A case was opened and the buyer ended up paying". CS said I would have to ask the buyer to submit a cancellation request and then I could approve it. Since I have one day handling time my first thought was that I would get a late shipment ding because it would take more than 24 hours for the buyer to reply and the item would not be marked as shipped, but the buyer was very prompt in their reply... it's okay to ship it, they do it all the time! No way am I going to ship an item to India that their customs says is prohibited.
Oh I'm sorry. Customer service had a couple things right and a couple wrong. You need to call them back.
What they had wrong was that a buyer CAN NOT request a cancellation formally from a seller except within the first hour after a purchase. So that is out. They could just send you an email requesting a cancellation, but that would not do you any good.
It is customer service that needs to help you. They can help. They are right that since you had the UID opened another form can't be opened. But your UID should now be closed because you received payment. So customer service needs to help you with this one.
As for the problem with shipping it to India, I don't know if the information you have is correct or not. You may want to do more research. It might be fine to ship.
@mhmorningstar wrote:Thanks for the reply. Today's CS rep was much more helpful. I just had to issue the buyer a refund through PayPal and provide the transaction id as proof.
As far as shipping the item to India, I double checked the USPS International Mail Manual and it specifically states a mailing prohibition of "Articles of Gold or Silver". The buyer said he mails gold and silver all the time but he had just signed up on ebay and had zero feedback, so I wouldn't take that as legal advice. Indian nationals and anyone with a valid passport can declare and carry up to 100kg of silver but I'm not going to hand deliver a $35 silver spoon 🙂
Needless to say India is now on my shipping exclusions list.
I am so PLEASED this worked out for you. I think all of us reading this thread learned something new about India. I'm very glad you came here with your issue.
I hope your Holiday Season is the best ever!!!
