Help with amazon marketplace order cancellation after item dispatched.

competitionscafe

Hi,

I sold an item on amazon marketplace - the item sold email was sent to me at lunchtime yesterday but as I would not make it to the post office before 16:30 yesterday I posted the item today at 15:44.

When I got back from town today the first thing I did was confirm dispatch via the amazon site at 17:25. Only after having done that I was then checking my emails and noticed an order cancellation request sent at 16:07.

Can somebody tell me what the procedure is please? I had a look on the amazon site but am still unsure. I assume the buyer can refuse to accept delivery (although it was sent to an office address, so likely to be signed by reception??). In which case I will be out the £7 special delivery charge. But amazon also charge upon dispatch so they probably have already charged the buyer?

Obviously I need to get in touch with the buyer (although they will have by now received an item dispatched email from amazon) - but was wondering what the best way to handle this is and if anybody had had a similar experience? I am not a business seller, just private - have sold 1 item a week or so ago and this one this week - but prior to that only 3 or 4 small items (books, dvds) a few years ago.

Should I just tell the buyer that the item has already been dispatched (25 minutes before they emailed to cancel) and ask them to send it back?

Thanks for any help/advice.

soolin

You might try calling seller customer support they can be helpful. However they work very short hours so you've probably missed them today.

Difficult situation though.

sgh1976

competitionscafe wrote: »

Should I just tell the buyer that the item has already been dispatched (25 minutes before they emailed to cancel) and ask them to send it back?

Thanks for any help/advice.

Pretty much all you can do to start with

teeb

competitionscafe wrote: »

Should I just tell the buyer that the item has already been dispatched (25 minutes before they emailed to cancel) and ask them to send it back?

Thanks for any help/advice.

I did this once before, and had to ask the buyer to send it back.

As it was my fault I didn't spot the cancellation I sent her the money for postage, although I don't know if I was technically obliged to or not.

competitionscafe

Thanks for the replies - have sent an email informing the buyer that the item was posted shortly before they sent their cancellation request email and therefore they will need to return the item to me so I can request a refund via amazon marketplace.

Looks like I will have to refund the postage charges quoted (charged) by amazon on the order (which were lower than the actual cost to me) and the buyers return postage costs as well?

Hence leaving me out of pocket by £14 (£7 postage each way) and £4.59 (amazon charges to buyer for postage) - for a total loss of £18.59? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_ln_rr_rmi/?nodeId=1161010

Not ideal but not much I can do...

I assume I will not have to pay the amazon fees though?

soolin

The double whammy is of course that all cancellations count against a seller when you check your seller metrics, even when it is the buyer who initiated the request.

competitionscafe

Correction - it seems the buyer has to pay the postage costs to return it to me?

Where you are withdrawing from your purchase within the first 7 working days after delivery and there has been no error on the seller's part, the seller will refund the cost of the item and the cost of sending the item to you as follows: (1) where you are returning an item that was part of a larger order, the seller will refund the per-item charge for delivery that you incurred, (2) where you are returning an entire order, the seller will refund the applicable per-item delivery charges and the per-delivery charge that you incurred, (3) sellers are only required to refund standard postage charges for items delivered outside the UK, (4) where your seller collects an item from you, the seller will have the right to recover the costs of collection from you, and (5) if you use a personalised pre-paid return label, the seller is entitled to deduct the return postage from your overall refund. Please note that, with respect to returns initiated during the first 7 working days after delivery, sellers are not required to refund the cost of giftwrapping, returning the item to the seller, and other services provided to you in connection with your purchase unless you return the item to the seller because of an error on the seller's part or because it is defective.
From: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_ln_rr_rmi/?nodeId=1161010

F&L

You do not need to refund the buyer's return postage cost. As per the DSRs you have to refund the full order including the postage cost but only standard postage. If the buyer requested express delivery then only the normal standard postage rate has to be refunded (I'm assuming they selected standard postage so their full postage needs to be refunded). An item does not have to marked dispatched for it to have been dispatched, as is the case here, and buyers will generally understand that you posted an item before you saw their message. This has happened to me before and I've never had a buyer demand their return postage costs under such circumstances and have never offered it.