What happens if buyer doesn't complete return?

[piccolola]

I had a buyer buy a pair of sunglasses from me. I said in the listing description that they had demonstration lenses, but the buyer was upset that I didn't *specify* that the lenses had engraving on them that read "demonstration" so they wanted to do a return.

So I agreed, went through ebay's channels, and issued them a return label.

It's been like five days and they haven't yet mailed the return. What happens when the clock runs out and ebay closes the return? Are they going to be allowed to demand a refund in another way, or leave negative feedback?

[pjcdn2005]

If they haven’t shipped them 5 business days after you issued the label you can phone ebay and ask them to close the return.  If you don’t phone the return will be closed by eBay after 30ish days unless the buyer mails it before then.

The buyer can still file a claim with PP after the eBay returns closes but they would have to pay for return shipping.

Yes the buyer can leave negative feedback whether or not he sends back the sunglasses.

[piccolola]

I see. So in the return detail it says

"If the buyer doesn't send the item back by May 07 we may close this return."

So I approved the return and issued the return label on April 29th, which is 5 business days ago (7 days total.)

You're saying if I phone ebay right now, they will close the return? And if eBay is going to wait 30ish days, why does it say May 07? Just confused on the details here...thanks!

[packratville]

Be very, very careful if you call eBay. Last month a buyer opened a return request because the item didn't fit. When it wasn't received and no tracking to show it was on its way after five days I phoned eBay to see if it could be closed per eBay's "we may close in five days" statement. Phoning resulted in it being escalated to a case that was then closed in the buyer's favor, with the reason suddenly changed to didn't match item description, and I nearly got a defect. I don't know what the answer is, as I don't trust what I'm told by eBay reps now, but I would say definitely do not call eBay on a weekend about this. Here's a link to my previous post about it, and you can see towards the end how it all went downhill after I phoned eBay to have it closed.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/Return-Shipping-question/td-p/28394081

[missjen831]

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@piccolola wrote:

I see. So in the return detail it says

"If the buyer doesn't send the item back by May 07 we may close this return."

So I approved the return and issued the return label on April 29th, which is 5 business days ago (7 days total.)

You're saying if I phone ebay right now, they will close the return? And if eBay is going to wait 30ish days, why does it say May 07? Just confused on the details here...thanks!

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The buyer has until 5/7 to ship the glasses back so it’s too early to call eBay. Requests automatically close after 30-ish days if the buyer hasn’t sent the item back. But you can call and possibly get the request closed on 5/8. 

[pjcdn2005]

It says May 7 because the buyer has until the end of the day to send the item back.  eBay does not automatically close the return on the following day though...you have to request them to do that, otherwise they wait the 30 or so days.  Personally, I have always waited for it to close but many people do phone time get it closed earlier.

 If you decide to wait, eBay does send an automatic message out after a certain amount of days saying that the buyer indicates the item was sent back, that you should have received by then and to refund by xx day but that is a generic message that they send out regardless if the item was shipped or not.  If tracking does not show that you have received the item back, you do not refund.

[castlemagicmemories]

If you sell any more of these, you need to specify exactly what you mean by demonstration lenses.

Most would think you are selling samples.  I don't know how large or obtrusive the word, demonstration, engraved on the lenses is, but it clearly caused an issue here, so to avoid this happening again, either don't sell them or be very specific in your description, but even then, someone might miss it and you could be in this same situation again.