Buyer received refund + late delivery of item

[mags-4397]

Hi, 

I sold an item for $320.00 and posted via A Post.

The item went missing, the buyer opened a case and Ebay refunded the buyer.

Now the item has been delivered, 6 weeks late, so the buyer has the refund and the item.

I have tried to explain the situation to Ebay without success, can anyone give me any advice please?

Is there a standard procedure for these situations please?

[twyngwyn]

I would have marked RTS without even opening it....after all AP lost the damn thing....they can pay for return postage

[gutterpunkz05]

I would like to know who funded the refund, if the seller sent the item with tracking, within there handling time and one tracking event (lodgement) was recorded, then surely the refund should have been funded by ebay, not the seller,  in which case the buyer is entitled to the item and refund.

[countessalmirena]

gutterpunkz, that is a very good point. If the seller hasn’t suffered any loss, and the onus of refunding was borne by eBay, clearly the OP wouldn’t be entitled to a second lot of payment.

[twyngwyn]

...so....OP....were the funds debited to your account?

[domino-710]

As I read the OP - the buyer was refunded by eBay - seemingly out of the seller's funds - why else raise the question - if not out of pocket.

Why try to contact eBay - if the funds were sitting - as a sale in the seller's account - and not withdrawn for a refund.

[gutterpunkz05]

Maybe, but we don't know, maybe the OP does not know who funded the refund, and highly unlikely the buyer knows, after all, as far as they know they are covered by ebays buyer protection.

If the seller was not covered by ebays seller protection, why not.

If the  seller paid the refund, it is now a civil matter between the OP and buyer, so the OP would be best to reach an arrangement with the buyer and foot the bill for the return and any costs incurred by the buyer.

[springyzone]

---

@domino-710 wrote:

Having said this Springy - just a question - if you were in this situation as a buyer - what would you have done/would do - having been refunded & also received the item - for which you were refunded. ??

---

I think in this scenario, I would need to know when I received this delivery.

It's possible, if a person has bought several things on ebay recently, that they could open a package without knowing exactly what was inside. Otherwise, returning to sender would be the easiest way to go.

But if the package had arrived and been opened and I had only received it eg yesterday, I might not have done anything yet.

If I had received it eg a week ago, then a seller would have the right to suspect I might not be going to do anything about it.

In real life, I would contact the seller and offer to return it if they paid postage. I am assuming the refund came out of the seller's account as why else would they be worried?

To me, $320 is a fair bit of money & I would assume the seller would want the item back.

In the cases I mentioned where friends just let it ride without contacting the seller, their items were under $5, I think, and not sent with tracking. Still not honest but touch and go to know if the seller would have wanted to pay return postage, I suppose.

But just suppose a buyer thinks that they have the right to keep the $320 item because the claim is done andd dusted.

An initial message that is friendly but firm and allows them 2 choices-refund or opt to return with postage paid by the seller-lets them know that the transaction hasn't fallen into some black hole, that the seller (and maybe ebay) is aware it has been delivered.

It is not, as yet, accusing them of anything, it is just laying out their options.

Ideally, the message should be sent asap after delivery of the item.