I sold and shipped an item to a lady who after 22 days, told me today, it was at her post office but she didn’t know about and it was returned in the mail to me. (Haven’t received it back yet). And is requesting a full refund.
Am I supposed to just lose the $7.8 shipping costs here and refund in full once I receive it back? She acknowledges the item arrived but she didn’t pick it up in time. For a person to return an item they must pay return shipping costs. I assume I ask her if a partial refund is acceptable minus the shipping costs?
Was the item sent by a tracked method? (In other words, do you have proof of delivery to the post office?)
Under eBay MBG, the buyer should not be covered if the item was deemed delivered but was not collected. However, if the buyer lies in a dispute by claiming that the item wasn't delivered, you would have some difficulty in proving delivery if you don't have the evidence in the form of delivery status from a tracking number. (I don't believe it would be impossible to prove... but difficult, yes. You have the evidence from the buyer's message in which she acknowledges that the item arrived and that she did not collect it in time from the PO.)
In those circumstances, the buyer should be refunded the item price less any associated fees, as I assume you can't get any fee credit at this late stage. It's never pleasant to be in the situation of losing money without getting the item, so I would expect the buyer to be upset... and you would need to be fair and tactful in how you handle this. As long as you can prove that the parcel was awaiting collection at the PO and that the buyer failed to collect, you're covered, but simply saying so bluntly to the buyer would probably lead to stress and an unhappy situation.
Perhaps you can leave the ball in the buyer's court by offering several options.
❝Dear [buyer]
We are sorry to hear that you missed the timeframe for collecting the [item] from your post office. We can offer you the following alternatives for whichever outcome may be best for you.
Once the parcel is returned back to us, we will be happy to re-send to you. The additional postage amount for re-sending will be $x.xx.
Alternatively, upon receipt of the parcel back to us, we can refund you less our non-recoverable costs and fees, which would include the original postage cost and seller fees. This refundable amount would be $xx.xx.
Please let us know your preferred option. We will inform you once the parcel has been confirmed returned to us, and you are welcome to wait until then to confirm which option is best for you.
Best regards,
[seller]❞
Try to avoid getting pulled into an argument about it... Just state your policy and the available options. You could mention (if you're sure of your ground about being able to prove that the item was delivered but the buyer didn't collect) that the MBG doesn't cover this circumstance, but avoid making it sound accusatory... Also, once you've received the parcel back, and you let the buyer know, I strongly suggest that you include a default option and deadline, along these lines;
❝Dear [buyer]
This is to let you know that the parcel has been received back by us, and we await your confirmation about which option you prefer - that is:
We will be happy to re-send the parcel to you. The additional postage amount for re-sending is $x.xx, to be made payable by PayPal to PayPal account [xxxx]. (Please include note stipulating that this amount is for re-sending item no. xxxxx, so that we can process the re-sending as swiftly as possible.)
Alternatively, we can refund you less our non-recoverable costs and fees, which would include the original postage cost and seller fees. This refundable amount is $xx.xx, payable to the same funding source that you used for the original payment.
Can you let us know within 48 hours? If we do not hear from you after this time, we'll automatically process your refund.
Best regards,
[seller]❞
No negotiation or change of terms... Stick to your guns, as long as you have evidence to demonstrate delivery to eBay's requirements.
If the buyer opens a case, you may well be best off getting in touch with eBay via "Have us call you". eBay's "Have us call youu" option is by far the best way to get in touch with eBay. (Emails are useless, for a number of reasons, but primarily because the responses, when they are finally sent, are bot-generated. Chats are useless except for anything completely straightforward and able to be handled as per eBay's automatic processes. Phoning eBay is better, but you'll get more enabled CS reps by using the Have us call you option.)
eBay say: We'll call you at the phone number registered to your account, or you can enter a different number.
We’re available from 8am to 10pm AET, 7 days a week.
@gamer_empire wrote: I assume I ask her if a partial refund is acceptable minus the shipping costs?
Not quite - don't ask if something is ok, because most (if not all) people who have already indicated they want more will automtically say no.
You have to remain firm but polite, say something like "this return qualifies for a full refund of the item price, so a refund of [item price amount] will be processed to your account as soon as possible after it has been delivered back.
If they query that further, clarify that customers are only entitled to a full refund of the original purchase amount, including postage, in limited circumstances, and non-collection of a purchase that results in the package being returned to sender does not qualify (or you can include that in the original message).
Was the item sent by a tracked method? (In other words, do you have proof of delivery to the post office?)
Under eBay MBG, the buyer should not be covered if the item was deemed delivered but was not collected. However, if the buyer lies in a dispute by claiming that the item wasn't delivered, you would have some difficulty in proving delivery if you don't have the evidence in the form of delivery status from a tracking number. (I don't believe it would be impossible to prove... but difficult, yes. You have the evidence from the buyer's message in which she acknowledges that the item arrived and that she did not collect it in time from the PO.)
In those circumstances, the buyer should be refunded the item price less any associated fees, as I assume you can't get any fee credit at this late stage. It's never pleasant to be in the situation of losing money without getting the item, so I would expect the buyer to be upset... and you would need to be fair and tactful in how you handle this. As long as you can prove that the parcel was awaiting collection at the PO and that the buyer failed to collect, you're covered, but simply saying so bluntly to the buyer would probably lead to stress and an unhappy situation.
Perhaps you can leave the ball in the buyer's court by offering several options.
❝Dear [buyer]
We are sorry to hear that you missed the timeframe for collecting the [item] from your post office. We can offer you the following alternatives for whichever outcome may be best for you.
Once the parcel is returned back to us, we will be happy to re-send to you. The additional postage amount for re-sending will be $x.xx.
Alternatively, upon receipt of the parcel back to us, we can refund you less our non-recoverable costs and fees, which would include the original postage cost and seller fees. This refundable amount would be $xx.xx.
Please let us know your preferred option. We will inform you once the parcel has been confirmed returned to us, and you are welcome to wait until then to confirm which option is best for you.
Best regards,
[seller]❞
Try to avoid getting pulled into an argument about it... Just state your policy and the available options. You could mention (if you're sure of your ground about being able to prove that the item was delivered but the buyer didn't collect) that the MBG doesn't cover this circumstance, but avoid making it sound accusatory... Also, once you've received the parcel back, and you let the buyer know, I strongly suggest that you include a default option and deadline, along these lines;
❝Dear [buyer]
This is to let you know that the parcel has been received back by us, and we await your confirmation about which option you prefer - that is:
We will be happy to re-send the parcel to you. The additional postage amount for re-sending is $x.xx, to be made payable by PayPal to PayPal account [xxxx]. (Please include note stipulating that this amount is for re-sending item no. xxxxx, so that we can process the re-sending as swiftly as possible.)
Alternatively, we can refund you less our non-recoverable costs and fees, which would include the original postage cost and seller fees. This refundable amount is $xx.xx, payable to the same funding source that you used for the original payment.
Can you let us know within 48 hours? If we do not hear from you after this time, we'll automatically process your refund.
Best regards,
[seller]❞
No negotiation or change of terms... Stick to your guns, as long as you have evidence to demonstrate delivery to eBay's requirements.
If the buyer opens a case, you may well be best off getting in touch with eBay via "Have us call you". eBay's "Have us call youu" option is by far the best way to get in touch with eBay. (Emails are useless, for a number of reasons, but primarily because the responses, when they are finally sent, are bot-generated. Chats are useless except for anything completely straightforward and able to be handled as per eBay's automatic processes. Phoning eBay is better, but you'll get more enabled CS reps by using the Have us call you option.)
eBay say: We'll call you at the phone number registered to your account, or you can enter a different number.
We’re available from 8am to 10pm AET, 7 days a week.
I sold and shipped an item to a lady who after 22 days, told me today, it was at her post office but she didn’t know about and it was returned in the mail to me. (Haven’t received it back yet). And is requesting a full refund.
Am I supposed to just lose the $7.8 shipping costs here and refund in full once I receive it back? She acknowledges the item arrived but she didn’t pick it up in time. For a person to return an item they must pay return shipping costs. I assume I ask her if a partial refund is acceptable minus the shipping costs?
Thanks for any input you can give.
Matt
Matt, If you have a good postmaster you may be able to get them to resend the parcel at AP's expense.
The delivery was obviously not carded as it should have been so the buyer was unaware of the PO diversion.
I had a similar incidence a couple of years back and we had to resend twice to Vic from Qld.
Aus Post may be helpful and it never hurts to ask, just stress the point that the buyer had no idea the delivery was attempted.
