Ebay - Royal Mail returned item - who pays postage?

Uglymug

I've had an item I posted after selling on Ebay returned to me by the Royal Mail.
I presume the buyer was not in when delivery was attempted and did not collect the item from his local depot.
The buyer has now submitted a Paypal claim for the cost of the item including postage.
Should I refund in full or should I argue that he should forfeit postage and try and recoup my postage costs from the buyer?
Do I have to accept that I'll be out of pocket due to Ebay fees and postage costs?
Does this mean if a buyer changes his mind about an Ebay purchase he just needs to refuse delivery and he will subsequently get a full refund leaving the seller out of pocket?

theonlywayisup

Uglymug wrote: »

I've had an item I posted after selling on Ebay returned to me by the Royal Mail.
I presume the buyer was not in when delivery was attempted and did not collect the item from his local depot.
The buyer has now submitted a Paypal claim for the cost of the item including postage.
Should I refund in full or should I argue that he should forfeit postage and try and recoup my postage costs from the buyer?
Do I have to accept that I'll be out of pocket due to Ebay fees and postage costs?
Does this mean if a buyer changes his mind about an Ebay purchase he just needs to refuse delivery and he will subsequently get a full refund leaving the seller out of pocket?

Usually there is a sticker on the package explaining why it was returned to you.

You need to refund the buyer their FULL original payment (assuming it was sent without any expedited delivery costs). If you do so via the case, you will be reimbursed your fees (if it is purely a Paypal case and not an Ebay one, you will need to cancel the transaction on Ebay first).

Flyonthewall

Refund in full. You have no choice. The buyer has a right to a full refund and Paypal will refund it all anyway as they don't have the item.

Sadly it does mean you are out of pocket, but even if they got it and paid return postage back you'd still have to refund the full amount paid because the law says the buyer shouldn't be out of pocket. Businesses can account for such losses. It's unfair for private sellers, but there's nothing you can do.

Uglymug

Many thanks for all the replies - most helpful.
At least I've managed to recoup my Ebay fees.

theonlywayisup

You end up losing the postage cost and 20p paypal.