Has anyone ever been unable to do a partial refund through paypal?

[englishrosegardens]

I quite often do partial refunds of overpaid postage for combined items through paypal but at the moment I have a buyer who paid without waiting for an invoice and when I click on the link to refund it has the whole amount pre-filled in and I can't change it to a smaller amount.  None of the other payments I've received in the last couple of days are like this and I could do partial refunds on all of them if I wanted to.

Has anyone else had this happen?  Does anyone have any suggestions or know why it might have happened?  The buyer has feedback in the hundreds so they're not a guest buyer, and I've done partial refunds to guest buyers in the past anyway.  I don't want to do a Send Money payment through paypal because if something goes wrong I'll end up refunding that amount twice. 

The amount I want to refund is only $1.55 so I might have to tell the buyer that I can't do it but if she buys from me again to wait for an invoice and I'll give her a discount on the postage.  I'm not sure she'll believe me, of course.  I have a bit in my descriptions and on my shop home page explaining that I can't do full refunds on overpaid postage and to wait for an invoice, but lately 90% or more of buyers pay immediately.

[clarry100]

We don't encounter this kinda thing as all our listings are "free" postage anyway.

But if its not possible to do the partial refund I'd be inclined to send out the two items in separate packages which your buyer has paid for really without waiting for you to discount for them.

[van_werkhoven]

Check it isn't an echeque or something

OTOH, I actually don't refund overpaid postage for buyers who pay before combining, and I definitely wouldn't be going to excessive trouble for $1.55. If it was a considerable amount, $5 or more, that's one thing. But honestly? I've never once had a buyer complain about me not refunding postage after they paid individually. I figure they bought it without the expectation of conbining, and if I charged 'free postage' they wouldn't get combined postage anyway. I doubt they will even realize you didn't refund it if you don't say anything.

[digital*ghost]

I just did some quick research and it seems to occur relatively often, with most suggestions as to why being related to the buyer's payment method (a lot of US threads, so some of them won't apply here, but things like eBay gift cards, Bill Me Later (the old name for PP credit), and other coupon-related funding sources seem to get the blame).

I know there's a service available to some Australian buyers where PP send the money instantly to the seller, but deduct the payment from the buyer's bank account a couple of weeks later, which would possibly function similar to some of the above, and may prevent a partial refund from being processed. I don't think using a discount code would prevent a partial refund as I'm pretty sure I've read in the T&Cs for those that partial refunds are disbursed between the buyer and eBay (eg say a buyer used a 10% coupon, and the seller issues a partial refund for $10, the refund should go through but the buyer only gets $9 and eBay gets $1). 

[davewil1964]

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@englishrosegardens wrote:

I quite often do partial refunds of overpaid postage for combined items through paypal but at the moment I have a buyer who paid without waiting for an invoice and when I click on the link to refund it has the whole amount pre-filled in and I can't change it to a smaller amount.  None of the other payments I've received in the last couple of days are like this and I could do partial refunds on all of them if I wanted to.

Has anyone else had this happen?  Does anyone have any suggestions or know why it might have happened?  The buyer has feedback in the hundreds so they're not a guest buyer, and I've done partial refunds to guest buyers in the past anyway.  I don't want to do a Send Money payment through paypal because if something goes wrong I'll end up refunding that amount twice. 

The amount I want to refund is only $1.55 so I might have to tell the buyer that I can't do it but if she buys from me again to wait for an invoice and I'll give her a discount on the postage.  I'm not sure she'll believe me, of course.  I have a bit in my descriptions and on my shop home page explaining that I can't do full refunds on overpaid postage and to wait for an invoice, but lately 90% or more of buyers pay immediately.

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I would just chuck $1.50 in with the goods. I've only ever once had an acknowledgement, but I've never had a defect.

[twyngwyn]

ditto

[englishrosegardens]

To clarry - The buyer didn't make separate payments so there was no reason to post the items separately.  I always refund the excess minus the extra fees incurred.

To davewil - I'd already posted the items before I realised I couldn't refund them anything, so it's too late to put the money in with the items - and it may nothave fitted anyway because the envelope only just went through the slot as it was.  Also, if I did that it's no different to sending a personal payment to the email address they used in paypal.

To digital*ghost - thanks for all those ideas.  I hadn't thought of coupons and I know there are some being offered at the moment because I have a couple.  I hadn't heard of the other payment scheme before, though I have seen pp advertise their credit scheme (not sure about in AU though). 

It was an instant payment so definitely not an e-cheque.  I'll ask the buyer how they funded their payment - may as well get it from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

[spottymeg53]

Why dont you just send the $1.50 to them via paypal to their email address using Send Money Family or Friends.

Gayle

[lane-ends]

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@spottymeg53 wrote:

Why dont you just send the $1.50 to them via paypal to their email address using Send Money Family or Friends.

Gayle

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Rember they will get a fee deducted from any money you send this way

[englishrosegardens]

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@spottymeg53 wrote:

Why dont you just send the $1.50 to them via paypal to their email address using Send Money Family or Friends.

Gayle

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As I said in my opening post, if something goes wrong I'd end up having to refund the full amount plus the amount I sent using Send Money.  Why should I risk losing twice because someone else didn't wait for an invoice?  Yes, it's more convenient to pay immediately, buy why should the seller pay for the buyer's convenience?