Should I give a refund?

Lally

I posted weeks ago saying that a buyer hadnt paid me. He won the item on 9th March.

After several emails Ive finally got the money. But its annoying as he only responded after I lodged a complaint with ebay (he said he would send a cheque, an option not offered by me but I accepted), and then secondly when I emailed him yesterday to say I wasnt letting him have the item any more. He paid me via somebody elses account.

In my final email I told him the item was no longer available to him, then hey presto the money goes in my account today. Im thinking of just giving the payment back and sticking to my guns, I dont really want to send it to him now. Can I do this? I understand it may result in negatice feedback. Dont know what to do.

soolin

Hi Lally,

Firstly exactly how did he pay, you say he paid by cheque yet you also mention that the payment went into your account today, which would suggest a bank transfer.

IF he sent a cheque you can return it to him, or ask hm to send a SAE to get it back, returning a bank transfer is going to be a little more difficult.

Wouldn't it be easier just to send him the item now as he has paid. After all it is only just over 2 weeks since the auction ended and allowing for Easter that is about the length of time i would expect to wait if someone decided not to pay by paypal.

I agree he's mucked you around, but I wouldn't neg or disallow a sale after so short a time.

Whatever you decide to do the buyer is able to leave you feedback.

Soo

angelcake

I know it may be irritating but isn't it better just to send the item to him now! do you give a time limit on your auctions to pay? Is it worth hanging on to the item? Remember it is left open for him to give you a neg no matter what you do!

You are lucky because at least he did pay! most of us just get NPB! then have to go through the whole process of unpacking etc!

I would rather sell something and get rid of it then hold on to it, as you probably know, not every ebay transaction will run smoothly.

Good Luck with what you decide to do!

Tojo_Ralph

Just on the subject of cheques received that need to be returned, (for whatever reason), for those not wishing to waste a stamp, or risk the buyer complaining they never got it.... .... on the 2 or 3 occassions I have had to "return" a cheque, I simply tore it into 8 bits, took a pic, and emailed the pic to the buyer as confirmation that cheque had been destroyed.

bleugh

.........depends on how the payment went in, and how much the item is worth

- cheques can bounce 6 months after they 'clear', so only post if its a low value item (<£10 or so) that you're prepared to risk loosing

- bank transfers, wait a week and you #should# be ok, check with the bank their terms, but i dont think transfers can be reversed when cleared in your account

Lally

No, sorry if I didnt make myself clear enough. He asked if he could pay by cheque as there was a problem with his paypal account (?) I said yes. I waited and waited, and then emailed him saying it was no longer for sale. Then he used his girlfriends paypal account to pay me.

Anyway I refunded the money with an explanation, saying "Sorry, but I explained to the buyer that this item was no longer available
and therefore I have returned the full amount to you."

Will see what happens!

Tojo_Ralph

bleugh wrote:

Cheques can bounce 6 months after they 'clear'.

I was under the impression a "cleared" cheque was "clear", and that was that, funds received, game over. Please explain?

soolin

Tojo_Ralph wrote:

I was under the impression a "cleared" cheque was "clear", and that was that, funds received, game over. Please explain?

Cheques are the biggest con of all. Cheques clear 'for funds' after a set time, say three of four days, but that doesn't stop them being recalled if the issuer can prove an error on the cheque.

The last problem cheque I had was returned to me after 9 days in my account, that one had no explanation but luckily the buyer was apologetic and just sent me a postal order as a replacement. The one before that I had problems with was reversed from my account after 6 weeks as the words and figures didn't match. Neither I nor the bank had noticed.

There has been a lot of discussion about cheques in the Financial pages of the Mail on Sunday and the advice given in there is that if you are not sure about a cheque phone your bank and ask them to confirm, over their own recorded line that the cheque has cleared. Then if they do try to reverse it later you can ask them to listen to their own records as you will have acted on their confirmation in good faith. Apparently, 99% of call centre bank staff are happy to confirm, verbally, that a cheque is clear once they see it cleared for funds in your account.

Soo

soolin

Lally wrote:

No, sorry if I didnt make myself clear enough. He asked if he could pay by cheque as there was a problem with his paypal account (?) I said yes. I waited and waited, and then emailed him saying it was no longer for sale. Then he used his girlfriends paypal account to pay me.

Anyway I refunded the money with an explanation, saying "Sorry, but I explained to the buyer that this item was no longer available
and therefore I have returned the full amount to you."

Will see what happens!

I'm not sure I would have done that. As he has paid by paypal the records will remain of that payment so ebay are unlikely to allow you to complete the NPB process and reclaim your fees. As the item was sold you cannot even relist it again and reclaim your listing fees if it sells, so you are out of pocket all round.

Soo

Lally

Im not bothered if Im out of pocket I just thought this guy had a cheek. he didnt reply to any of my emails, but then did once I lodged a complaint for lack of payment and communication. Then I agree to take a cheque, chase it up, still no reply, and then I only get the courtesy of a response once I said the item was no longer his.

culpepper

He does sound a bit fishy.He pays you by a method you did not allow, after sayng his paypal acoount is up the spout(no valid reason given) then when you say no thanks I dont want to sell to you by cheque as you have messed me about too long,he pays you using someone elses paypal account .You only have his word the paypal account is his girlfriends (im guessing the address for her account is different to his home address).
I wouldnt want to send him the item either.