Should I refund full amount if buyer didn't collect the item?

[liquidationhouseffi]

On 13th, I received a buyer's message saying she didn't receive the item. I checked the tracking which showed the item had been waiting for collection since 1st March. So I sent 2 messages asking her to go to collect asap, but she didn't reply me. Today I checked the tracking again, it shows the item has been returned due to nobody picking up. In this case, do I have to refund the full amount to the buyer (my item is free of postage)? It cost me $8 to post it, it seems it will be unfair if I refund the full amount for doing nothing wrong. Can any one give me suggestions? Thanks.

[digital*ghost]

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@keythisin3 wrote:

sorry but you asked how it was a scam not for me to explain it, if your going down thr route of i can try this when i didnt do it... wel it just aint gunna work.

id did underline part of your text and i did copy and paist another members comment... guilty as charged.

i used that comment in reply to your question of how was it a scam (not an explanation but lets not confuse it) 

not at any point have i said its a scam to hold funds to cover fees incurred as part of the transaction, the issue is withholding funds that are rightfully owed.

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Ok, this is just (an attempt at) semantics.

It's ok if you can't (or don't want to) answer any of my questions, but it would be nice if you didn't try to obfuscate the questions themselves as a way of avoiding them - I'll respectfully withdraw from the discussion if those are your tactics.  

[keythisin3]

and you didnt you ask me how it was a scam, i answered that question.

what i didnt answer was the explinatiin you some how asked for but didnt, you didnt ask for one, and by implying im refusing to still futher answer the non existing explanation is just (or an attempt) at Latinate fallacy (i can use big words to)

[imastawka]

But not very well, it seems.    

[davewil1964]

Punctuation would appear to be a step too far, though.

[gewens]

Hello,everyone. To be respectful is very important in your interaction with other members here. I'd like to remind you that content that is harmful, hostile, threatening, abusive, baiting, vulgar, defamatory, harassing, or includes hate or racist speech, name calling, or profanity will be edited or removed. Please read about our policy here: https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Feedback/Updates-coming-to-eBay-com-au-Discussion-Boards/... Thanks very much. 🙂

[digital*ghost]

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@keythisin3 wrote:

and you didnt you ask me how it was a scam, i answered that question.

what i didnt answer was the explinatiin you some how asked for but didnt, you didnt ask for one, and by implying im refusing to still futher answer the non existing explanation is just (or an attempt) at Latinate fallacy (i can use big words to)

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There has been no attempt to mislead in my replies to you - the whole purpose of the questions I have been asking you is to understand your reasoning behind the accusation that it was a scam.

I wasn't asking you to prove it was a scam, I wasn't asking "how did chameleon scam someone" (which is the question you actually answered, by virtue of copy / pasting what you see as the method), I  was asking you to explain why you think it is. 

Yeah, sure I didn't put the word "explain" before the word "how", but context clues made the question I was asking quite clear, and you still could have gone off on the same tangent even if I did have the word "explain" there. 

Case in point:

How is this a scam? vs Explain how this is a scam?

-and-

How did chameleon scam the buyer? vs Explain how chameleon scammed the buyer?

Maybe it would help me to understand where you're coming from if you could explain to me the difference between the questions with and without the word 'explain' prefacing them? 

[chameleon54]

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@keythisin3 wrote:

sorry but you asked how it was a scam not for me to explain it, if your going down thr route of i can try this when i didnt do it... wel it just aint gunna work.

id did underline part of your text and i did copy and paist another members comment... guilty as charged.

i used that comment in reply to your question of how was it a scam (not an explanation but lets not confuse it) 

not at any point have i said its a scam to hold funds to cover fees incurred as part of the transaction, the issue is withholding funds that are rightfully owed.

from my point it seems that the member has deliberatly withheld funds because the buyer is a numpty (i use that word as it seems to crop up time to time) and one can conclude that funds are owed because of all the hassle in replying to the case, phone calls (ebay offer call back service and i think there is a free phone number to call?? not 100% on that, but call back is free) then the time taken costs money accoring to the member, thats a lot of free stuff going for $$$... see the point?

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Claiming I " from my point it seems that the member delibrately withheld funds " insinuates I somehow owed money. Ebay policy is very clear on this. A buyer who changes their mind after purchaseing an item and that item has been mailed can request the seller accept a return. The seller has the right to refuse the return, but in my case I always accept returns. In this situation the buyer is required to pay both the initial postage cost and the return postage cost.

The only scam here is that the buyer refused to collect a carded parcel from their local post office, instead claiming item not recieved. Had they been succesful with this, I would have been left to pay all of the postage costs for a buyers change of mind. That is the scam.

If a buyer attempts to scam a seller by claiming item not recieved when the item has been sent and tracking shows it has been delivered to the buyers Post office, ebay will decide the case in the sellers favour and award costs in the form of no refund required. This is similar to a court case where the judge ( in this case ebays dispute resolution team ) award costs to victims of vexatous claims. Are you suggesting victims of crime awarded costs to them by a judge to cover their medical and legal fees, return that money to the offender ? because that appears to be your argument in this case. I was the victim of an attempted scam, ebay found in my favour and awarded me costs.

On top of this, as already mentioned the item was very low cost ( less than $10.00 ) and there simply was no surplus funds after managing the sale and defending the false claim where taken into account to return. There was actually a loss. 

" Time taken costs money according to the member, thats a lot of free stuff going for $$$......See the point ? "

It would appear from your comments, you have very little going on in your life and dont value your time at all. Everyone is different and good luck to you if you dont have to work to support yourself and others. I recognise and respect that many people who sell a few things on ebay are either retired or unable to work for health reasons. Ebay is a hobby for them and if they make a bit of money on the side it helps to supplement the fairly disgraceful levels of social security payments offered by our governments. Rules around social security payments mean these people are not able to " work " on ebay and so they may not place a value on their time spent on the site. Fair enough.

I,m not going to share my personal position with you, as frankly you dont deserve that courtesy, except to say that due to health & disability circumstances, I have to directly support both myself and a number of other adult family members. It is quite a difficult task, taking a lot of planning, juggling and using up all of my time, resources and energy. ( I,m typeing this at 4.30 am as that is the only free time I have to myself today and why I did not respond to your inane posts earlier ).  For this reason, unlike you, my time is my most valuable asset and must be rationed, accounted for and put to profitable use. I cant give it away for free to a scammer.

[liquidationhouseffi]

I am still waiting for it, but that will be a bad news if I need to pay extra to collect them.