Best way to refund change of mind

[247newdeals]

I have all my listings as no refunded so I do not have to refund for change of mind.

However if a customer is polite and reasonable I will give it. A buyer asked if they could return an item which I agreed if they paid the postage costs both ways which they was happy to do. I just got it back and went to cancel the sale but that means EBay automatically gives the buyer a 100% refund. I thought of issuing a refund minus the postage via paypal but that would mean I would of not received my FVF unless I haggled with EBay which I would rather not do also last time I gave a buyer a refund from payal I got a strike for item out of stock which took me ages to get removed and I do not want that hassle. 

So in the end I decided to just wear the $12,50 postage cost this time but what would people advice doing in the future I can not afford to lose the postage cost if a buyer changes their mind but I would hate to start saying no, to reasonable buyers.

[digital*ghost]

There's really only a couple of whay you can handle these situations.

Do a partial refund via PayPal, and either retain a "restocking fee" (this would have to be mentioned up front, so the buyer has the opportunity to accept that), I do partial refunds via PayPal on an almost daily basis, often without any communication with the buyer at all (excess postage for those who checkout separately), and have not once been given a defect for anything, but I think one can be triggered by doing a full refund.

Or actually switch to accepting change of mind returns if you're prepared to accept them (the only COM request I've had, the buyer never followed through on returning, but if they had, the refund process would have only been for the item price - I'm not sure if the FVF is credited). 

It would mean you'd have to accept COM requests from buyers who may not be so polite and reasonable, but at least they'd be using the correct option and you can make them conditional on things like the package being unopened etc. Anyone else who incorrectly uses the other request options when it's really a COM, is likely to do so regardless of whether you accept returns or not. 

[phorum_junkie*]

I have had a couple of change of mind refunds however my policy clearly states that for change of mind I will refund item price only. The buyers messaged asking to cancel, the funds for the whole payment were held in Paypal, I agreed to the return for refund of item price only ticking the box to say seller changed mind then once I told ebay I had the goods back Paypal refunded the item price and released the postage back into my account.

[247newdeals]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

There's really only a couple of whay you can handle these situations.

Do a partial refund via PayPal, and either retain a "restocking fee" (this would have to be mentioned up front, so the buyer has the opportunity to accept that), I do partial refunds via PayPal on an almost daily basis, often without any communication with the buyer at all (excess postage for those who checkout separately), and have not once been given a defect for anything, but I think one can be triggered by doing a full refund.

Or actually switch to accepting change of mind returns if you're prepared to accept them (the only COM request I've had, the buyer never followed through on returning, but if they had, the refund process would have only been for the item price - I'm not sure if the FVF is credited). 

It would mean you'd have to accept COM requests from buyers who may not be so polite and reasonable, but at least they'd be using the correct option and you can make them conditional on things like the package being unopened etc. Anyone else who incorrectly uses the other request options when it's really a COM, is likely to do so regardless of whether you accept returns or not. 

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I did give a full refund when I got the defect.

If I had given a refund through paypal think I would of lost the FVF which is close to $8, may of been able to get that back but would of been a hassle dealing with EBay. I decided I would rather get the money off ebay rather than the buyer as either way I lose out.

Not to keen accepting COM the items I sell once they are sold can not be resold the one I got back a neighbour is going to buy it so I want lose to much but I still lose money on returns with losing the postage as well this has been a fairly costly return for me. Which is ok as long as it is not to often 🙂

I am wondering if I charge postage seperate, rather than free postage, I could refund just the item amount when I cancel a sale?

[247newdeals]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

I have had a couple of change of mind refunds however my policy clearly states that for change of mind I will refund item price only. The buyers messaged asking to cancel, the funds for the whole payment were held in Paypal, I agreed to the return for refund of item price only ticking the box to say seller changed mind then once I told ebay I had the goods back Paypal refunded the item price and released the postage back into my account.

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So you have your postage cost seperate rather than offering free postage? I may have to do that

[digital*ghost]

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@247newdeals wrote:

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I am wondering if I charge postage seperate, rather than free postage, I could refund just the item amount when I cancel a sale?

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No, a cancelled transaction = a full refund for the buyer, no matter what postage options, reason for cancellation etc.

I do get why you don't want to accept COM returns, and I'm not saying you should accept them, just trying to suggest a couple of ways to retsrict them so you don't find yourself being obligated to refund in other circumstances. For example, by only accepting COMs on unopened items and then using a tamper-evident security seal on packaging, you can at least minimise requests after the items have been opened / used. 

You can also retain the 'free postage' model you have now, and nominate a restocking fee instead, which will be automatically deducted from the refund by eBay (the buyer always gets a full refund of the item price when the refund is initiated by eBay, unless you use - and the buyer accepts - the partial refund option, but then they officially get to keep the item, so with free post, even on a COM return, the full amount will be refunded unless you have a restocking fee set in place, I believe it can be up to 20% ? and can also be waived at the seller's discretion). 

[247newdeals]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@247newdeals wrote:

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I am wondering if I charge postage seperate, rather than free postage, I could refund just the item amount when I cancel a sale?

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No, a cancelled transaction = a full refund for the buyer, no matter what postage options, reason for cancellation etc.

I do get why you don't want to accept COM returns, and I'm not saying you should accept them, just trying to suggest a couple of ways to retsrict them so you don't find yourself being obligated to refund in other circumstances. For example, by only accepting COMs on unopened items and then using a tamper-evident security seal on packaging, you can at least minimise requests after the items have been opened / used. 

You can also retain the 'free postage' model you have now, and nominate a restocking fee instead, which will be automatically deducted from the refund by eBay (the buyer always gets a full refund of the item price when the refund is initiated by eBay, unless you use - and the buyer accepts - the partial refund option, but then they officially get to keep the item, so with free post, even on a COM return, the full amount will be refunded unless you have a restocking fee set in place, I believe it can be up to 20% ? and can also be waived at the seller's discretion). 

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May have to look at a restocking fee damn EBay makes it hard to do the right thing 😞 Thankfully it is only a small percentage of sales it matters 

[allfixelectrical]

The ebay return process is inadequate, flawed and skewed extremely in the buyers favour. The process is also designed to make it as difficult as possible for sellers to recoup fees without penalty.

A workaround is to refund the partial amount via paypal or whichever other method the item was paid by and then open a normal "The buyer & I agree to cancel the transaction" dispute using the old original process which can be done via the resolution centre on eBay India.

http://resolutioncentre.ebay.in/

eBay India still has the original process for cancelling transactions and opening disputes so if the option is used for buyer and seller have agreed to the cancellation you will be provided with the original options including "The buyer is returning the item for a refund".

If that is chosen and the buyer does not dispute it, then you will receive your fees back if they agree to the request, or if they ignore it altogether and it eventually times out.

The buyer will also not receive any penalty.

Once opened on the India site, the case will show in the normal reslution centre list.

As you have discovered, there is no option in the Australian eBay resolution or cancel transaction processes to offer a partial refund and if done any other way it can result in a defect for out of stock which although most likely would be removed if contested is a big waste of time.

[247newdeals]

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@allfixelectrical wrote:

The ebay return process is inadequate, flawed and skewed extremely in the buyers favour. The process is also designed to make it as difficult as possible for sellers to recoup fees without penalty.

A workaround is to refund the partial amount via paypal or whichever other method the item was paid by and then open a normal "The buyer & I agree to cancel the transaction" dispute using the old original process which can be done via the resolution centre on eBay India.

http://resolutioncentre.ebay.in/

eBay India still has the original process for cancelling transactions and opening disputes so if the option is used for buyer and seller have agreed to the cancellation you will be provided with the original options including "The buyer is returning the item for a refund".

If that is chosen and the buyer does not dispute it, then you will receive your fees back if they agree to the request, or if they ignore it altogether and it eventually times out.

The buyer will also not receive any penalty.

Once opened on the India site, the case will show in the normal reslution centre list.

As you have discovered, there is no option in the Australian eBay resolution or cancel transaction processes to offer a partial refund and if done any other way it can result in a defect for out of stock which although most likely would be removed if contested is a big waste of time.

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That is an intresting work around thank you

[allfixelectrical]

One thing I forgot to add is that if you open the cancellation using the eBay India resolution centre, you do need to keep an eye on the case because if the buyer does not respond to say that they are happy to cancel and instead the dispute simply times out, you do need to then end the case yourself to be able to recoup your fees. The refund of fees is not automatic unless the buyer indicates by responding to the cancellation agreement request that they agree.

If they ignore it, then after about 2 weeks the case will timeout and show that the buyer didn't respond and at that point you need to cancel the case manually and choose "I want to end communication with the buyer" so as to get your fees refunded.