How long before refunding on Ebay?

becky004

Hi
I sold an item on 2nd December (not huge value but not what I can afford to lose it was £30). Had a gut feeling for some reason and for the first time in months got a COP.
Item was posted on the afternoon of 3rd December via Standard Parcels. Received an email this morning stating she was very concerned that it had not arrived yet, when had I posted it and what service did I use. I sent a polite email back giving her the information, and also details from Royal Mail website which states her area is experiencing delays because of the severe weather conditions.
Have now received another email stating that her mail is getting through and items she purchased on 6th off another seller have been received so mine should have arrived too, and she wants an immediate refund!
I don't expect buyers to wait 15 working days before refunding, but don't feel 3 working days after postage is reasonable especially with the adverse weather conditions. When would others refund?

cyberbob

I would normally refund after 10 days. I live in Scotland I have had a few things recently within normal periods but today I received something posted 1st class on the 1st. Also it's not just snow delays but volume of mail due to Christmas.

Normally when customers ask me I tell them when I will refund as this gives them a time period and they then know getting a refund wont be a problem if it doesn't turn up.

Personally I would contact them and tell them you will refund Friday (as that's about 10 days) if it doesn't arrive. Just be ultra polite and apologetic. 99% of customers are fine with it and realise we don't control RM. Just tell her it may not be delays in her area but other areas effecting it. I don't give into demands very well.

Crowqueen

Agreed with Bob. Some people do expect too much but given the time of year and the conditions they may be starting to worry prematurely. Also people in places without a lot of snow - all melted here and it's actually fairly mild considering what it was like at the end of last week - may know there's issues but it's not immediately obvious to them. Even when we did have a carpet of snow everything was still functioning properly.

Because of all this I'm doing my shopping in the high street this year for the first time in goodness knows how long. I do have my eye on one item on Amazon but may just go with the person I'm supposed to be combining the cost with to the high street again because it's in your hands immediately.

Always be polite. It's better to moan and vent here than in an email to them.

greenoo000

Hi do you mean parcel force standard parcels, I was told at the post office today they are taking at least 10 days, they are lower priority than 1st or 2nd class.

becky004

greenoo000 wrote: »

Hi do you mean parcel force standard parcels, I was told at the post office today they are taking at least 10 days, they are lower priority than 1st or 2nd class.

Hi
It was Royal Mail Standard Parcels, double checked with Post Office today and they say under normal conditions this service is 3-5 working days (and not to count Saturdays even though this is a Royal Mail working day). So today is the 3rd working day since I posted it! They also said there are backlogs everywhere because of the snow and this could add another 3-4 days onto the expected delivery date.
Explained all this politely to the lovely lady and that delivery may not be until Monday or Tuesday of next week, and that I was sorry for the delay (even though it is beyond my control! Though I didn't put that in my email) and received a third email from her telling me she is going to open a dispute tomorrow if it has not arrived! I have 100% feedback with 4.9 stars on all areas of seller dashboard so she must realise I'm an honest seller, I just feel she is being totally unreasonable. Have not responded to the last email as I don't know what else to say to her, well I do but it wouldn't be polite :eek:.

Crowqueen

Don't reply in the heat of the moment. The last thing you want to do is stoop to her level.

That does sound pretty unreasonable . You did your best. It is your responsibility still (even though you have no control over RM, it's technically you paying them to deliver, which is a sub-contract), but that's not really fair.

Still, you may have to live with it.

If you get a neg, chances are it'll be a stupid shouty one, to which you can calmly reply "Buyer was impatient and item was only posted ...." to show that you can handle this properly. That will help prospective buyers tell which person is in the right and give them confidence that you respond to criticism, however unjustified, well. If you just start arguing with them in a feedback follow-up, for other buyers without the proper context, it may do more harm than good.

becky004

Crowqueen wrote: »

Don't reply in the heat of the moment. The last thing you want to do is stoop to her level.

That does sound pretty unreasonable . You did your best. It is your responsibility still (even though you have no control over RM, it's technically you paying them to deliver, which is a sub-contract), but that's not really fair.

Still, you may have to live with it.

If you get a neg, chances are it'll be a stupid shouty one, to which you can calmly reply "Buyer was impatient and item was only posted ...." to show that you can handle this properly. That will help prospective buyers tell which person is in the right and give them confidence that you respond to criticism, however unjustified, well. If you just start arguing with them in a feedback follow-up, for other buyers without the proper context, it may do more harm than good.

Have just checked their feedback, this person is a regular seller as well as a buyer so must realise the issues with Royal Mail at the moment. Has recently left a neutral for another seller as item took a week to arrive so am probably looking at the same sort of feedback if it does arrive tomorrow. If not I guess she will open dispute and judging by their correspondence today even if does arrive over the next few days she isn't going to admit it.
Have never claimed of RM before, will she need to fill in any paperwork to confirm it never arrived? As I can't see her doing that either.

Crowqueen

I have never done a claim (only thing that went missing of mine was a £2 postcard that I thought wasn't worth claiming) - perhaps Soo could take a look at this one.

Some people are just ridiculous, so if they do leave you hostile feedback, hopefully it will be the kind that makes them look stupid.

Good luck with this one.

soolin

becky004 wrote: »

Have just checked their feedback, this person is a regular seller as well as a buyer so must realise the issues with Royal Mail at the moment. Has recently left a neutral for another seller as item took a week to arrive so am probably looking at the same sort of feedback if it does arrive tomorrow. If not I guess she will open dispute and judging by their correspondence today even if does arrive over the next few days she isn't going to admit it.
Have never claimed of RM before, will she need to fill in any paperwork to confirm it never arrived? As I can't see her doing that either.

RM do randomnly ask some recipients to confirm non receipt, but it is very rare. Usually the sender just submits piles of paperwork and then a feww eeks later gets a cheque back but always keep copies of everything as RM seem to be able to lose even claim forms.

They will usually pay out item cost plus actual postage paid for private sellers.

*Kat*

I'm still waiting for something that was shipped on the...27th November, the snow here is just causing so much havoc!! It's even a recorded and RM aren't tracking it.

I got some bits today which were sent after that though...so hpefulyl they're starting to catch up... :S

becky004

Just an update, no dispute has been started, no feedback has been left and no response to an email I sent Sunday asking if it had arrived yet. All very strange.