Item never received / Refunded and item turns up a month later. What do I do?

[4bytes]

Hello, a month ago nearlly around this time I purchased an item from a seller located in the same state as me and it was *estimated that the item I purchased would arrive the next week (I purchased on a Wednesday in June, item said it wasn't going to arrive until the next wednesday / Thursday comes around). I was provided with a tracking number two days after I ordered but unfortuantly it never updated outside of "Shipping infomation received by Australia post". The day it was due to arrive came and gone, I got in touch with the seller opening an INR case (Item not received) and I'd said that I had been watching the provided tracking number and it hasn't updated since two days after I purchased the item and fearing the item was lost or not coming I decided to go for a full refund. 

The seller got in touch with me 3 days later and apoligised for the delay and said they'd check with the post office (Australia post) and it was "missing scan" and I was asked by the seller to wait until the middle of the week to see if it would arrive then which I'm happy to do. Things happen.

The middle of the week again comes and goes, tracker is still saying "Shipping infomation received by Australia post" and I respond to the case again saying it still hasn't arrived and I'd waited more than enough time for it to be sent to me. Seller apoligised again and then issued me a refund (as requested) and asked if It was to arrive could I send it back, all the while the day I got the refund the tracker still hadn't updated. Case was auto closed after I got my refund and thought that'll be the end of that (I'd since gotten a similar item from another seller and it arrived without fuss) 

I'd stopped looking at the tracking number not long after I was refunded. But today while checking my emails I got an email from Australia post that my item is being delivered, I was puzzled at first what was going on and what it was but luckilly I'd kept the tracking number on a sticky note on my PC and put two and two together and it was the item I'd been long refunded on that I thought was never going to come.

Note: When I purchased this item I opted for Click&Collect at a retailer near me. As I'm about to finish this post I got another email saying it had been delivered to my C&C retailer of choice. 

I'm a honest person, I'm not out to rip rip anyone off but I am a newbie to this side of things and have had 99% of my ebay purchases go well (this being the 1% fluff up).  

What do I do?

The case has been closed, it's not right of me to keep an item I've been refunded on, how do I get the money and or item back to the seller and make sure I don't get bent or screwed over? 

I've read on sending them money through paypal and explaining the item turned up but not sure if that's the safest thing to do. Don't want Paypal or Ebay coming back and biting me. But if that's what needs to be done, that's what needs to be done. 

Any advice? 

[twyngwyn]

I would contact the seller (do you still want the item?)....either pay them through PayPal or return to sender?

[4bytes]

No I don't want the item as I've since purchased something else similar to it from a different seller so no point in ending up with duplicate items.  (what I got was going to be a gift for a friend, too bad the first arrived late after all this time and I had to get a 2nd similar item only to now have the first arrive) 

I was also told by someone else (not on here) to not pick the item up and it'll get "returned to sender" after 7 days if it isn't picked up from the Click&Collect point Is that the safest option to do? (besides also notifying the seller it turned up after all this time?) 

I want to go down the safest routes making sure at the same time I & the buyer doesn't get fuffed over since they were nice enough to refund me after it hadn't turned up after waiting ample time. 

[digital*ghost]

Just out of curiosity, does the seller sell a decent amount of items, and are they registered in Australia? (The item location isn't necessarily the same as the seller's location - seller location can be found on their profile or feedback page). 

I don't think ebay can or would recover the funds from you at this point. Usually if the seller appeals a decision that was made in favour of the buyer based on new info, any discretionary refund to the seller is paid for by eBay, but I agree contacting the seller and asking what their preference is, would be the best way to go. As a seller in similar circumstances, I tend to offer the buyer the option to repay a discounted amount (not that I'm suggesting you should expect this, many sellers will invoice for the original amount), or to mark it as return to sender.

I did have one buyer who contacted me once to notify a package had arrived but was awaiting collection at their PO and they couldn't be bothered going in to mark it as return to sender and getting it back on its way sooner, so I had to wait 10+ days for it to get back on its way. I didn't argue with them, just accepted it, but if I'm honest it really annoyed me at the time because I'd never get away with that as a seller lol,  plus it was actually a replacement package I'd sent for an order they said never arrived, so I'd already gone out of my way to ensure they got the order - slightly different circumstances there, I guess, and part of the annoyance came from just telling me rather than just asking out of courtesy if it would be ok (if they had, I would have just said it was cool). In your case I wouldn't necessarily expect you to go out if your way to go in and RTS the package. 

[4bytes]

Yeah the seller sells a decent amount of items, has an Ebay store and what not. The sellers profile said Based in Australia and item location said Strathfield NSW or somewhere near there

I haven't picked the item up yet to see the sellers address is on it but their Paypal account name was a Chinese name of some sort but I don't think that means anything.

Unless I need too, I don't know if I feel comfortable picking up the item (I don't want to fluff anything up)

I was thinking of doing one of the following;

Sending the seller a message saying it's at the C&C point where I had it shipped too but since you've refunded me what would you like me to do, wait until 7 days expires and have it RTS (if it works that way)

Or have myself collect it still and find some other way to get it returned to the seller.

Can I still pick it up and mark it "return to sender" and drop it off at the post office?

[digital*ghost]

You can RTS a parcel as long as it is unopened - as soon as it is opened, then technically it requires a new postage service (a lot of sellers actually get charged return postage on parcels by Aus Post anyway, but it will depend on a few things, and isn't really of concern to buyers in most circumstances, IMO generally only if they [the buyer] have full control of the circumstances and therefore responsibility for the package being returned, like they just changed their mind and returned it that way. i.e. in this case you weren't in control of the circumstances). 

I'm guessing the seller isn't going to mind about the package being returned, they've probably already written off the loss so getting it back will just be a small bonus, and I doubt there's any urgency to it for them either (so I'd be surprised if they had a problem with the package being held until the store mark it as RTS themselves. At least if they know the package is there, they might be able to call in and expedite the process, anyway). 

One other question out of curiosity - did the tracking ever have "customer enquiry lodged" as a status? 

[4bytes]

"did the Tracker have customer enquiry lodged" - No not as far as I am aware of, after the seller said they'd contact the "post office" the tracker still never updated. To be honest I don't even know if the seller did contact AP or the post office, I only have their word to go on that part.

I wrote receiving this item off in the first place because I'd paid for it instantly after ordering it and after the tracker still hadn't updated a week after it was suppose to arrive. Fearing I'm the one going to be out of pocket on an item I have a feeling wasn't going to arrive (or was possibly lost) I decided to open an "item not received".

I've just contacted the seller asking them what they'd like for me to do. I went to click "return item" when I went to contact the seller about the item but ebay was saying "Item can't be returned" right now or something like that.

[digital*ghost]

I'm only asking the q's as it's really common for some big sellers to use a system called "just in time fulfilment", tracking never updating beyond label creation (or not for a week+) is a red flag for that, but not wholly damning evidence. JITF is kind of a cross between the practices of dropshipping and pre-ordering. eg The items aren't necessarily held in stock by the seller (as in, not physically on hand), they could be located overseas, or imported regularly according to sales volume (actual or projected) and already on their way. The items land here and go to a distribution warehouse, where the Aus Post label that was initially created not long after the sale, gets applied to the packaging - this means some will get posted almost immediate after purchase, some might take a week or so. Obviously if something goes wrong in this chain, i.e. the shipment takes too long to reach Aus, or never does, the impression that it's in Aus Post's network doesn't hold up. 

I've received parcels before where the tracking never updated after the label was created, so that's definitely not impossible, and I wouldn't assert for sure that's what happened with your purchase, but I do choose to suspect (no status updates until weeks later, no apparent inquiry with Aus Post about the missing package being the primary reasons). 

I guess it's neither here nor there now in this particular case, but the info might help in some way, or explain things, on a future purchase that has similar anomalies. 

[4bytes]

Okay so something weird is going on, the seller message back and said yes it's fine to collect the parcel and they'll send a return shipping label through but... they claim they sent another replacement item out but I never asked for it. The day I opened the case I selected "I want a refund" not "I want a replacement item" or whatever and made it clear I just want a refund, not a replacement. 

Why would the seller send out a replacement unit when I never asked for one and why am I only being told this now?  Not once was I informed they'd send a replacement out, no mention of that during the INR case and no mention of it yesterday in my question to them besides asking me what they'd like me to do with the package. 

Again this is C&C and I doubt ebay is going to send me a C&C code when this supposed "replacement" I never asked for arrives. 

What do I do again? 

[4bytes]

Since the "Edit" button isn't coming up (don't know if that's normal or not)

The seller said that this is the original package that arrived and a "resend package should arrive soon and when you get the two can you let us know". This is how I'm seeing it. That for some reason they possibly may of sent out a replacement item which I never asked for, never wanted and was never told about until I got up and checked my emails this morning.

I haven't got tracking yet if the seller is sending out a 2nd item and I have a feeling I'm going to be screwed over. Ebay can clearly see the messages right as well as the INR case (although closed) so if I get screwed over can I show them the INR case and show them I only wanted  full refund and made no mentions or intentions of a wanting a replacement item?