Item carded, not collected, returned to me, where do I stand re paypal?

[letscleanupmycupboards]

An item I sold and posted in early May has been returned to me yesterday. It was paid with paypal. Address was correct and matched paypal and ebay details supplied to me at the time. It was carded multiple times according to the scan records from Australia Post but remained uncollected by the buyer. The worst part is that I have had to pay a $14 fee to collect the article (cover for the return delivery I suppose).

Where do I stand with paypal? Is all the documentation showing it was not collected enough to protect me? I've emailed the buyer but not heard back yet.

If they want it resent is it reasonable to expect they will pay postage again and cover the $14 return to sender fees?

What's the "item not recieved" time limit with PayPal? Is it still 45 days?

[i-love-my-sheep]

If they want it resent, they pay the postage cost. If they want a refund, refund them minus the postage cost, eBay fees and the $14. I didn't know you got charged a RTS fee if an item was unopened. That's a bit steep!

[merfar2107]

No, I didn't either! I wonder when that started?

[cathyjoyjoy]

Like a lot of things with Australia Post, it's not consistent for each post office. I have experienced that once (not with an eBay item) & I asked why on this occasion and was told "sometimes you can be unlucky and get charged like this, most times you won't" - the returned item had a barcoded sticker on it to charge me before they could hand it over. Had a similar thing happen since, and no charge.

[letscleanupmycupboards]

What seems odd is that it arrived there in early May. Now if it was me I would have been asking the seller where it was by mid May if it hadn't arrvied. But here it is mid June and no reply or request for where it is. It was only a $30 item and set another $17 or so to return post plus the $14 fee it's almost not worth it for them. I'd need to resell for at least $14 to cover the costs.

As for the charge they return letters free of charge but not parcels.

[janeababe]

This all seems a bit odd to me...

Im wondering if your buyer is no longer at that address OR is possibly suffering from *life happens*  and collecting this parcel was the least of their worries.

 I think a courtesy call might be the way to go here.

[letscleanupmycupboards]

I've emailed. It's their only contact method through ebay.

[queenslander-1]

You could also send a copy of your email sent to the email address they used to pay by Paypal in case they are reading their Ebay emails.

[springyzone]

Contacting via ebay messages is the logical way to go, then you have a record.

No way would I be calling anyone interstate, that would be throwing more money at soemthing I don't think is going to work out anyway.

A normal person would have contacted you by now.

If they don't respond to your message, just put the item aside for a while and forget about it. If they do get in touch within the next couple of months, then explain what happened and how you were charged extra. I doubt they will want to go ahead if it means paying another 2 lots of postage.

[beautbots01]

Is there any activity on their account that would indicate they are still buying.  As said previously there may have been an incident in their life that has stopped them from collecting their parcel.