Seller has ignored my email, handed over to debt collector.

[cooperplace]

I bought an item in December 2020 from a seller in Germany. By February 2021 it had not arrived and I bought the same item elsewhere. I complained to the seller who refunded my money. So far so good. Then the item arrived. The seller then contacted me saying it had arrived, they wanted their refund back. They didn't say where to send the money. I replied saying I had bought another, I had no use for their item, and offered to pay half. They replied saying they hadn't been paid and they were starting legal action. I again replied offering half. No reply. Today I get a letter from a debt collection agency in Germany demanding the cost of the item (EUR23.73) plus about EUR65 in debt collection fees. 

The Ebay dispute resolution center won't let me commence a chat because the item number has now dropped off the system.

I don't think I have any responsibility towards the seller's debt collection fees. What should I do?

[max-power-models]

They don't drop off the system, they are achieved. Throw the letter in the bin. If you got this through ebay  Australia they have to abide by our rules. How they going to make you pay?  For piece of mind contact your state Fair Trading Dept.
The only hard thing about this is the painful process of live chat  thru the ebay rep. I had a similar experience here in Australia. 
They found the item number the same way Aust Post. found the tracking.

[imastawka]

Sorry Max, but if the OP has the item and has received a refund for said item, he can't have both.    That's theft.

OP look for the sale through Paypal.  Find the seller's email address and ask for an address to send it back.  Or use their email address to repay.

If you repay for the item, you can sell the one you don't want yourself.

[jellybirddesigns]

I'm not sure a German debt collector will be able to collect payment in Australia - I'm not even sure this would qualify as acceptable debt to be chased under our Australian laws.

Does the letter appear  truly legitimate, or cobbled together to appear legitimate?

I'm surprised the seller would really pay an agency to collect such a small amount.

How are they asking you to pay?

[papermoon.lady]

Yes, as imastawka said, you can ask them for their email address and then use PayPal to send the money (there is a "send money" link). I have done it a couple of times with items that arrived after I had received a refund and was actually surprised that we could exchange email addresses. Every time when I told the sellers that the item had arrived, they gave me their email address and asked me to send the money via PayPal, and their messages came through fine...

Regrettably, it is not the seller's fault if you bought the item from another seller, although I understand that you needed it. Maybe you can sell one of the two...

[jellybirddesigns]

Just to add, I do agree with the other posters, that you should have reimbursed the seller when the item turned up and made an arrangement to sell the item or give the unwanted item away.

I had a situation last year where I had to refund on an item as it was long overdue to the USA. The buyer contacted me when it arrived and did arrange repayment so I was not out of pocket.

I think that ethically I would not be comfortable keeping something and getting a refund for it as well.

[papermoon.lady]

Sending the item back would probably be very expensive, depending on its size and weight.

Australia Post is much more expensive than Deutsche Post. Before the pandemic I used to buy quite a lot from Germany, and I was surprised as how cheap it was... Maybe if you registered with PayPal free returns you could send it back for free, but you have to register BEFORE a transaction in order to be eligible for free returns.

[digital*ghost]

Did you recognise the package when it arrived, or at least guess what it was? I ask as it's super easy (and free) to RTS unopened parcels (i.e. return to sender), which would have been the ideal thing to do under the circumstances - if the package remains unopened, that is still an option; offering to pay half is a little on the iffy side, I mean yeah the seller gets some money back, but you're not entitled to dictate the terms (of re-purchase) here, even though you are in a significantly better position than the seller right now, being that you're in possession of their item, and they have nothing. That being said, the seller should have provided more than just repaying for the item as an option, as in asked for it to be returned or repaid). 

They clearly did the right thing by you when they refunded, maybe just return the favour and their item.

[imastawka]

Offering to repay half is more than a little iffy.

It's downright cheeky and insulting.

I bet they wouldn't have settled for half the refund.

[gutterpunkz05]

You do not get to dictate how much you are prepared to repay and if the matter is now in the hands of a collection agency, any fees are your responsibility.

What you do now, depends very much on how much you value your ability to obtain credit in the future, as international collection agencies can have details added to your credit files, just as easily as Australian collection agencies.

Note, your small debt + fees, can very quickly run up many hundreds and indeed thousands of dollars in additional fees and interest, if not attended to in a timely manner.