Sold item, buyer returned but item damaged in transit?

chancesare_2

Hi MissShal, you certainly don't come across as argumentative

I think katsu's suggestion is a good one. If you are on good terms with the buyer, email them and thank them for returning it, (making sure you in no way imply the damage was theirs) and ask if they would be prepared to claim for the damage. You will have to refund and make sure they know you will be refunding. At least this way the buyer may cooperate and you may get some recompense. You will have to keep the packaging and the claim may not be successful, but it is worth a shot.

Crowqueen

MissShal wrote: »

About 99% of our stuff has stock numbers written on, but this one doesn't. Unfortunately though it doesn't prove anything as it may just mean that it was removed from the vehicle specifically to be packaged up and therefore wouldn't have been marked up.

Surely if I order something from M&S, return it and they received a damaged item they wouldn't refund me?!

If, by law, it states that the item must be received back in its original (unbroken) condition to qualify for a refund, how can we be obliged to refund when those conditions haven't been met?

They probably would, actually. Also, your buyer has extra rights, given that this is a sale at a distance. The buyer's reasonable care of the item legally ends with delivery to the postal services.

If you're a business, you have to refund in full, and return postage depends on what your terms and conditions are. All businesses factor in some losses into their accounting - you are never going to have a 100% success rate and should build that assumption into your cost modelling. It's the price you pay running a business online - you can't compare this with offline shops and the legal bits apply to all businesses, from your no doubt fairly small enterprise to the biggest high street shop out there.

terra_ferma

as a business it makes much more sense to just refund and take the loss (and learn any lessons), than worry about it, get upset, waste time thinking about it, and erm... post about it.

OP your business mind, your time and energy are best spent thinking about your next sale, and ways of improving your business, and make more ££££

(saying this to myself as much as the OP, and next time I do the same as you did feel free to remind me of my own words )

babyfruitella

MissShal wrote: »

But it wasn't our courier that damaged it - they returned it via Royal Mail Standard Parcels, and that is where it has (possibly) been damaged.

We sent it out via Parcelforce and when they opened the return request there was no mention at all of any damage, they just said they'd changed their mind.

How can we be expected to refund someone when the part wasn't returned in it's original condition?

They should have sent it by a trackable means for a start......

Crowqueen

babyfruitella wrote: »

They should have sent it by a trackable means for a start......

They have no obligation to do so. Recorded doesn't insure packages, and although they can't claim from Paypal without tracking, sometimes if the seller is honest it's not really necessary to do so.