Free postage, refunds

[tteddykm]

Item purchased at $39 with FREE postage.
Item received damaged.
Seller contacted informing them of damage and asked what to do.

They refunded me $24.99..
"I've refunded you the price of the item minus postage cost (you should be able to claim a postage refund through Australia Post) "

This process is ever so time consuming and inconvenient.  I was happy to return the item, them paying for postage. As far as I'm concerned, the item was not packaged appropriately to avoid damage in transit.

How do I handle this ??

[papermoon.lady]

I think that if an item arrives damaged it is basically "item not as described".

If you used PayPal and registered for free returns, they apparently pay for returns, so you would not have to pay.

[jellybirddesigns]

They have to return the full cost of the purchase, not a pro rata. 

This is a problem that sellers that offer "free shipping" have to face, as technically, you didn't pay for shipping - the seller did. The fact that they built it into the price is irrelevant.

Just open a case for Item Not as Described and do not continue to communicate back and forth about it. If the seller wants it back, they will have to issue you with a postage label. If they don't want it back, they will need to refund the full cost as they should be making sure that their packaging can handle all sorts of transit mishaps.

[papermoon.lady]

Yes, the seller has to pay.

Look at this page: https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/returns-refunds/start-return/return-postage?id=4066

[tteddykm]

Thank you for replying.. I wish I had oepened a case now for Item not received as described. I wasn;t sure which option to choose tho... Anyway, thats what I thought, I wasn't expecting them to refund me without getting back to me. I'll take your advice, thanks again

[jellybirddesigns]

Your post above is a bit confusing.

Did you actually open a case? 

If not, you can still open the case for "Not as Described", even if you've been partially refunded.

Do NOT open a case for "Not Received" (especially if the item had tracking).

[domino-710]

Technically - there is no such thing as ' Free Postage ' - it really is misrepresentation and should read - ' Postage Included '.

The postage having been ' included ' in the price by the seller - means nothing more than the buyer has paid for postage.

There are no grounds for the seller to claim - they paid for postage  - then refund partially - they cannot have it both ways - either the postage is FREE - or not.

Refund in full - they stated Free Postage.

[tteddykm]

To begin with I didn't, but I have now

[tteddykm]

Ok, so it seems i can't edit my post, so will give an update here. 

The seller gave me a refund of $24.99, which apparently was the item price and told me to get a refund of $15 through AU Post. I could have done that but its inconvenient for me here.
So I opened a case using "Item Not As Described" and without hearing back from them they refunded me the $15.
A good seller.

[davewil1964]

Not particularly a good seller. More a seller between a rock and a hard place.

 I could have done that ... AP will not refund unless it can be demonstrated that the item was adequately packaged and the damage was due to their handling. Very difficult.