eBay seller return from USA to UK

Potski

I wonder if anyone can help please. I recently had eBay rule against me as a seller in a dispute (unfairly in my opinion) and I now have to pay for an item to be returned to me in UK from Hawaii. It originally cost me £13 to send but having looked at the price calculator on the USPS website, it is saying that it will cost me $44 to send back. Is there another cheaper way to do this? I would prefer to send a pre-paid label to the buyer and obviously would like the cheapest option possible. The item is a small cardigan (minimal value) which weighs approx. 350g and measures approx. 30cm x 22cm x 4cm folded. I think I managed to get into a large stiff envelope. Any advice gratefully received, Thank you.

mrcol1000

https://www.parcelhero.com/ lets you get parcel prices to UK. You just need to put in weight size etc.. You can get 10% off with SAVE10 (assuming it works if collecting from another country).

Have used them a few times for UPS but UK to UK and always been the cheapest before the 10% off

shaun_from_Africa

When you refer to the price of the cardigan as "minimal", how much exactly are you talking about?

If it's not too expensive, it might be worth seeing if the buyer will accept a partial refund to keep it. Even if you don't think that this is fair, it might save you money in the end.

Another point to bear in mind is that if it is returned and it's declared at over £15 in value, you may well end up having to pay VAT and a handling charge before you get it back.
Although you might be able to reclaim the VAT by proving that the contents of the package were goods that you had previously exported, this isn't guaranteed and it could lead to a lot of time and trouble going through the required process.

martindow

If it is of 'minimal value' there is no point in spending any money on a return. I would just refund the original payment and write it off.

Potski

Thank you, I think you are right, I will have to write it off and just issue the refund. I was trying to avoid this as I suspect that this was the buyer's aim when starting the dispute. They now have the item for free but I guess everyone gets burned at least once on eBay.

rach_k

If you suspect the buyer did it on purpose, do you know anybody within the US? You could let the buyer return it to them instead of you. You can either let them keep it if it's something they might wear or ask them to donate it to a charity shop. I would probably do that as I hate letting people get away with it, but it depends how you feel!

mrcol1000

Potski wrote: »

Thank you, I think you are right, I will have to write it off and just issue the refund. I was trying to avoid this as I suspect that this was the buyer's aim when starting the dispute. They now have the item for free but I guess everyone gets burned at least once on eBay.

Sometimes it is better just to let people get away with getting a free item. You really have to consider if it cheaper like you say to write it off. Do not forget to block them so you do not have to deal with them again.