How long to leave before refunding for missing item

jwil

Hi all,

This is curiosity more than anything, how long do you leave before refunding a buyer for an item that has gone missing in the post?

I recently sold a t-shirt on ebay to a buyer in Portugal. He e-mailed a couple of weeks later to say it hadn't arrived. It was sent airmail so it was about a week later than it should have been. I asked him to wait a few more days to see if it turned up, which he was fine with, and then when I didn't hear from him I e-mailed again to see whether it had turned up. He had been on holiday which is why I hadn't heard from him, but when he got back let me know it hadn't so I sent a refund. This meant it was probably 4 -5 weeks after the purchase date.

Ironically, the day after I sent the refund, the t-shirt turned up having gone via Jamaica!! The buyer confirmed that the address was correct, and happily repaid - I like his honesty :T

But it got me wondering, what is a realistic time to wait if something goes missing, within the UK and abroad? Would it be realistic to say whatever RM say for putting in a claim? Or is that too long?

Thanks in advance!

Jwil

kprigg

If I were a buyer in the UK & had to wait 15 working days from a refund from a seller I would not be too happy & it would be reflected in any feedback left.
Personally I would ask then to wait a maximum of 2 weeks from date of postage then cut my losses & refund.
As far as international postage goes - I dont venture that far! Im pleased to hear you buyer was honest, a big thumbs up for them!

frivolous_fay

kprigg wrote: »

If I were a buyer in the UK & had to wait 15 working days from a refund from a seller I would not be too happy & it would be reflected in any feedback left.
Personally I would ask then to wait a maximum of 2 weeks from date of postage then cut my losses & refund.

So 14 days is ok, 15 days is not?

kprigg

frivolous_fay wrote: »

So 14 days is ok, 15 days is not?

You know what I mean - cheeky

pursestring

I agree with kprigg to wait up to 2 weeks before refunding a buyer in the UK. With international buyers within the European Union I usually wait up to 3 weeks. I don't sell to addresses outside the EU so maybe somebody else can advise there.

cyberbob

I normally refund after about 10 days (it depends on the method i sent it though). As for international it depends on the country. The US, Ireland, France and Australia seem to get airmail packets between 5 and 10 days so normally 3 weeks for these countries. I dont ship to other countries as I have had problems with postal systems in Italy, belgium and the like so decided it wasn't worth the hassle