Am I required to give the buyer a refund?

[teriosullivan]

Just a quick one.

As a seller am I required to give the buyer a refund when their items arrive outside of the estimated delivery date? I post my items in plenty of time for them to be delivered in teh estimated time. I have proof of postage and Australia Post is taking in excess of 10 days to deliver sometimes. I know its Christmas time but postage has been extremly slow. Looking at the tracking sometimes Australia Post is sending this back and forth between states and other times I can't tell why there has been a delay.

When we have proof of postage and tracking details are we required to give a refund?

Thanks

Teri

[joethenuts]

springy you are 100% correct  , it does not matter should the buyer order earlyier , of course they should but they dont have too as when they order and it states delivery by bla bla date, thats what they see. as i have said it would not matter if it was a pair of socks or what , a few days late no problems  i had my last item come 3 days late , in still gave the all clear on my feedback, but these products from the op , time is everything.  because a lot of there products are only $10 with free postage  i would asume tracking is not an option.   now the op has to realise if you use aus post  maybe most will get there in time but there is going to be problems , so be prepaired to refund or cop a red card, 

ps   a buyer asking for a refund and not getting it will and could give you a red card quiet easily. 

the problem with a lot of sellers is , when they post or send an item  [they rub there hands as if its finished]  well until my buyer has the product in his hands its finished in my mind.

[Anonymous]

It appears in the wording of Ebay's money back guarantee that if an item isn't delivered once the latest estimated delivery date has passed, the buyer can put in an item not received and then escalate for a refund.

Ebay can refund the buyer once the item is late even if a query is underway with the courier service.

From http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html#timelines

"Item not received

• A buyer can report in My eBay that they didn't receive an item once the latest estimated delivery date has passed, and for 30 days after the latest estimated delivery date.

• The seller has 3 full business days from the report date to respond to the buyer or offer a solution. If the seller does not respond or offer a solution, the buyer can ask us to step in and help.

• If the buyer doesn't ask us to step in within 30 days of reporting that they didn't receive an item, the request closes automatical"

  Once the buyer asks Ebay to step in - it seems if the item isn't scanned delivered then Ebay Refund whether the seller has been trying to help the buyer locate the item or not.  

This has just happened to me - Ebay refunded while the query with the courier was still in progress, and despite an unanswered email from me to the buyer a week earlier asking if they had received their order, or needed additional follow up with the Courier.  At the time the buyer escalated to Ebay and Ebay refunded, the buyer was still on the phone to the Courier requesting the item be located and delivered.

Refunding when an item has definitely gone missing is one thing, refunding just because it is late is completely different and is within Ebay's terms and conditions.

[joethenuts]

you are correct green   its in black and white.  better off refund  than cop defects and bad feedback. 

[*tippy*toes*]

The difference is, the buyer received the item. Therefore, they can't claim item not received.