Item never received / Refunded and item turns up a month later. What do I do?

[4bytes]

Hello, a month ago nearlly around this time I purchased an item from a seller located in the same state as me and it was *estimated that the item I purchased would arrive the next week (I purchased on a Wednesday in June, item said it wasn't going to arrive until the next wednesday / Thursday comes around). I was provided with a tracking number two days after I ordered but unfortuantly it never updated outside of "Shipping infomation received by Australia post". The day it was due to arrive came and gone, I got in touch with the seller opening an INR case (Item not received) and I'd said that I had been watching the provided tracking number and it hasn't updated since two days after I purchased the item and fearing the item was lost or not coming I decided to go for a full refund. 

The seller got in touch with me 3 days later and apoligised for the delay and said they'd check with the post office (Australia post) and it was "missing scan" and I was asked by the seller to wait until the middle of the week to see if it would arrive then which I'm happy to do. Things happen.

The middle of the week again comes and goes, tracker is still saying "Shipping infomation received by Australia post" and I respond to the case again saying it still hasn't arrived and I'd waited more than enough time for it to be sent to me. Seller apoligised again and then issued me a refund (as requested) and asked if It was to arrive could I send it back, all the while the day I got the refund the tracker still hadn't updated. Case was auto closed after I got my refund and thought that'll be the end of that (I'd since gotten a similar item from another seller and it arrived without fuss) 

I'd stopped looking at the tracking number not long after I was refunded. But today while checking my emails I got an email from Australia post that my item is being delivered, I was puzzled at first what was going on and what it was but luckilly I'd kept the tracking number on a sticky note on my PC and put two and two together and it was the item I'd been long refunded on that I thought was never going to come.

Note: When I purchased this item I opted for Click&Collect at a retailer near me. As I'm about to finish this post I got another email saying it had been delivered to my C&C retailer of choice. 

I'm a honest person, I'm not out to rip rip anyone off but I am a newbie to this side of things and have had 99% of my ebay purchases go well (this being the 1% fluff up).  

What do I do?

The case has been closed, it's not right of me to keep an item I've been refunded on, how do I get the money and or item back to the seller and make sure I don't get bent or screwed over? 

I've read on sending them money through paypal and explaining the item turned up but not sure if that's the safest thing to do. Don't want Paypal or Ebay coming back and biting me. But if that's what needs to be done, that's what needs to be done. 

Any advice? 

[lyndal1838]

Just send back the item you have received....you have the refund and the seller is going to send you a return postage label.

For all you know this could be the replacement item, not the first one.

Don't look for futher problms.....it sounds as though you have a seller whose priority is making you happy.

[4bytes]

It would have to be the first one since It used the exact same tracking number as the first and I got the Click & Collect code for it. Since I originally made the purchase for 1 and set it for Click&Collect I don't know if this "resend item" their going on about if it arrives will also send me a collect code since Ebay only knows I ordered 1, not two.

Also a newbie (please no shame) but once they send me the return postage label do I print it and put it on the parcel (taking off the original sender label or leave it on there) what about tracking to make sure it get's sent to the seller?

If I can't print it out is there some other way I can get the return label put onto parcel packaging?

[springyzone]

I think the key thing here is that you have been refunded and you don't want this item, you have already bought a replacement.

As for the seller telling you a replacement was sent, I find that very odd as the time to tell you that was a month ago, not now. I would also find it strange that not one, but supposedly two items, didn't make it through the system. Australia Post items occasionally run late but it is usually a one-off. It's not your responsibility or worry, in any case and you certainly don't need to be considering a paypal refund or anything like that.

It seems to me that we're talking a fair bit of rigmarole for you if you go out, pick it up, wait for a return label then have to go out and repost it. If the shop it went to only keeps the item for about 7 days then it gets returned to sender, then that would seem the most logical thing to allow to happen.

No running around for you and no extra expense for the seller, who gets the item back. Win-win. Doing nothing here would seem the best course.

[4bytes]

Yeah purchased a replacement / similar item from a different seller (which arrived without fuss or trouble)

For all I know they could say their Australian based but really off shores and have a warehouse here but we don't know if that's the case and don't want to make any assumptions.

What I was intending to do was tell the seller it's there and I won't pick it up so it get's RTS after 7 days but since their responded and said they'd send a return label through I don't know If I can do that now as much as it'll simplify things for me. This also hasn't been marked as a "I'd like to return the item" through ebay. I did try that yesterday when I was notified it arrived but Ebay wouldn't allow me to select it.

Is it a good idea just to leave it and have it RTS after 7 days even through they said they'd send a return label through?

[davewil1964]

You're overthinking things.

It is doubtful the sender will send you a return address label, or they would have sent it attached to the email.

Just let it RTS from C&C.

You have your money back, you have an item from another seller, stop stressing and overcomplicating things. eBay can't and won't take any action against you, and the seller can't.

[digital*ghost]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

You have your money back, you have an item from another seller, stop stressing and overcomplicating things. eBay can't and won't take any action against you, and the seller can't.

---

Quoting this to repeat it - there is no way anything can go wrong for you here (unless, of course, you pick up the item(s) and keep them, and in that scenario the seller would need to be prepared to initiate proper legal proceedings against you). 

I'm guessing the seller wants you to pick it up because the return address on the package is not the same as where they want it to go to - either that, or their eparcel contract has higher return postage costs than initial postage costs. Re: the replacement, they may have initiated a replacement package if they thought there was a chance it could arrive in enough time to be taken as the original shipment (hence asking you to wait a bit longer, and never mentioning it). Bottom line, though - not your problem. 

Maybe try telling them this, if you are actually prepared to pick it up - send me the return label, I'll go in, whack it straight on the package and send it off. Done in one trip. 

[4bytes]

I went to the Click & Collect store I had the item originally sent too and had them mark the item as "Return to sender". I didn't pick it up or collect it, simply told them to mark & return it to the sender. 

I've messaged the seller telling them I had the retailer mark it as return to sender. I've recived no further messages from the seller today, last message was yesterday. 

[4bytes]

The store I selected for C&C was a BigW store

Okay I know we've gone through the whole "don't collect it and you'll be fine" thing which I still haven't, I have a day left to collect it before who knows what happens with it and I have no intentions of doing so. I went to BigW last week and asked them to Return to Sender and no problems about it came up and they put the package back out back or something. I'm not sure what they do from that point onwards. 

Since Friday, Saturday and this morning I've been getting automated messages from EBAY saying my item is to be picked up followed by collection code. I'm not sure if BigW have RTS yet or they have but Ebay still thinks it's sitting there. As long as I don't collect it I'm fine right?

I never also received any further details for the "replacement / resend item" and they said their warehouse wasn't told I had a refund or whatever and sent another out (I'd say that's on them for their failure to communicate with their warehouse and themselves, I still won't be collecting it if it were to arrive) 

I've read up on some fineprint Click&Collect and it says this; (Parcelpoint / Woolworths but not sure if the same applies to BigW)

If the buyer fails to collect the goods or if the package is unidentifiable or otherwise unable to be delivered, you authorise eBay and Woolworths/ParcelPoint to donate the item to charity or dispose of the item. In such circumstances, you agree that title to the item shall automatically transfer, and you acknowledge that you will not be reimbursed.

And in my collection email it says;

Collection locations are unable to assist with returns, so please contact your seller with any questions regarding your purchase and check the listing for details of the seller's return policy.

So as long as I don't collect am I fine from here onwards? 

And can the seller see that I haven't collected it from Click&Collect (Bigw) on their end? 

[*tippy*toes*]

Reading that fine print, you need to go and get the parcel and manually RTS, otherwise it will be disposed of, not returned to the seller. It says collection points can't assist with returns. That means, unlike the post office, they aren't going to return the parcel to the seller after 10 days.

I know it's a pain in the proverbial to have to go back and get it, but it needs to be sent back to the seller, not sent to a charity bin, or worse, in the skip bin. They aren't going to return it.

[countessalmirena]

@4bytes,

It is probably as tippy*toes says - that you would need to pick up the item, and then take it (unopened) to the post office and briefly explain what's happened and that you wish to RTS.

Alternatively, it's possible that the BigW staff aren't aware of the fine print (or haven't done as the fine print says), and that they have returned the parcel to sender.

The only way to be sure is to go to the BigW store with the collection code, and ask if the parcel is still there.

You're quite right when you talk about "failure to communicate". In my opinion, the whole Click & Collect on eBay is a confusing mess, and should be renamed to something like Sent&Collect. Even that wouldn't resolve messy situations such as this.

Just remember that the automated eBay messages are just that - automated.

If you do nothing, the seller cannot take any action. eBay also will take no action.

However, since the seller refunded you with the request for you to return the item when/if it arrived, the right thing to do is to ensure that the item is RTS. I can tell that you're torturing yourself with that fine print, so to ease your mind as much as anything, I would suggest that you just go to pick up the parcel if it's still there, and bring it to your PO and ask that it be returned to sender.

Once you've done that, reward yourself in some way - chocolate? Manicure? Long black coffee? Yoghurt? Whatever takes your fancy...! You'll have deserved it.