Item is 302023173242

[frankie-four-fingers]

Hello,

Please help to me.

I sold an item.

The buyer paid for the item.

I sent the item to the buyer with a tracking number.

Australia Post site showed - the parcel was delivered

The buyer opened a case "Item not received"

The case was closed "This case was found in your favour"

I contacted Australia Post, tryed to help to the buyer to find the item.

Today the parcel (the item) has returned back to me.

I would like to refund to the buyer for the item but NOT for the postage.

After the refund I would like to get back the eBay fee.

Is it possible?

Also I don't want to get negative feedback because that was NOT my fault.

Australia Post didn't work well.

Regards,

[kopenhagen5]

Is it possible Aust Post did a good job and the buyer refused delivery and told AP to return to sender ?

[justkidzbiz]

once you refund the buyer the fees should be credited back. Do a cancellation with the reason there's a problem with the buyers address. You won't get a defect. As for neg feedback, it's up to the buyer.

[clarry100]

If you go to the original transaction and issue a cancellation part of that process will be that the buyer will be given a refund and you will be credited back your FVF. I think this will be a full refund tho. Meaning you will still be out of pocket the original postage cost. Not too sure how you can recover that part of it. Perhaps contact Australia Post about that one. Go to the Postal Ombudsman if you have to.

When you do the cancellation make sure you select the reason "...problem with the buyer's address".

This should not give you any defect.

The buyer needs to confirm the cancellation by choosing to accept it. If they do nothing then after 10-days you will still get back your FVF.

The buyer can still leave Negative Feedback but since the case was found in your favour ebay may remove this if you call them and request it.

[springyzone]

I'm not really getting it as how could the tracking number show it was delivered if it had not been?

Maybe kopenhagen is right & buyer refused to accept it, although it doesn't sound that way, as the seller says he tried to help find the package for the buyer.

It does sound like a possible Aust post mistake, but taking it from a buyer's point of view,(if the buyer is legit), if he/she paid for an item, then the item was never delivered but the buyer was left out of pocket for postage costs, that would be, in my opinion, a very negative buying experience and the buyer should be entitled to mark it as such.

If a buyer is given a full refund, including postage costs, then it would be fair enough for ebay to block any neg.

[thecatspjs]

The tracking can show an item was delivered where:

-  the item has been delivered to the wrong address, or

-  delivered to a previous address that a buyer is no longer at and has not updated,

-  or through an incorrect scan by Aust Post (had a few of those).

Whilst the buyer may have had a negative experience, if the fault is clearly not the sellers, but 100% the delivery service, then IMO it would be very unfair indeed to allow feedback based on circumstances that are outside of a seller control. 

[bluebudgies]

I know someone who's had this happen a few times. In every case the buyer has been happy to repay the postage to have it sent again. I can't remember what he said about why they came back but I suspect there was a problem with the address. I'd suggest contacting your buyer first and checking that they put the right address in, and ask do they still want it (making sure you tell them they'll have to re-pay the postage). If they don't want it you could go to paypal and refund them just the item price but this won't get your fees back. You could always deduct the fees and the postage from the refund but I don't know how your buyer would feel about that. If they messed up with the address they probably couldn't do much about it but I'd start by just confirming the address and not mention refunds until you find out whether it was their fault.

[bluebudgies]

Sorry, I forgot to say in my friend's case I don't think the items showed as delivered, just that they'd ended up being returned to them.

[clarry100]

Some time back my next door neighbour had ordered a plant from an online seller (not ebay).

As it happened the tracking showed delivered but he certainly had not seen it.

He initially lodged a complaint with Aust Post (the carrier). The seller told him that since the tracking showed delivered it was the recipient's problem to chase it up.

As a part of that process the delivery driver came knocking on my door as we had happened to have received a delivery on that very same day. He was asking did I recall him going next door. I did not as when he left our place he did a U-turn and went back the other way.

He then admitted to me it looked like he had delivered it to the wrong house. But the package was never found. Someone scored themselves an expensive ($200+) Bromeliad plant. We never saw that driver on our delivery round after that.

Australia Post initially refused to compensate my neighbour who then took it up with the Postal Ombudsman.

It took a full 6-months to resolve but eventually he was compensated by Aust Post for the full loss.

[springyzone]

Okay, I hadn't thought of all those scenarios.

Obviously, if it turns out to be buyer error, where the address given was not correct or current, then I would expect the buyer to either pay to have the item resent or else accept a refund minus the original postage cost.

But if the buyer did everything right, yet Aust post returned the item to the seller, then I think the seller should give the buyer a full refund, including postage.

I completely understand it might not be the seller's fault either but if they don't refund it all, then I would expect them to get a neg. Right & wrong doesn't always come into it as far as I can make out with feedback, it is perceptions.