Ebay have refunded me but told me to keep the item too.

Bath_cube

This has happened to me twice on ebay now. I bought an item that was bigger in size and one was longer in length. I was refunded but ebay told me I could keep the item too. On both occasions I contacted the seller and offered to return the item back to them. The seller did pay the cost of return postage though which was royal mail economy delivery so under £3.00. I think it's unfair to get a refund but keep the item as well.

soolin

Bath_cube wrote: »

This has happened to me twice on ebay now. I bought an item that was bigger in size and one was longer in length. I was refunded but ebay told me I could keep the item too. On both occasions I contacted the seller and offered to return the item back to them. The seller did pay the cost of return postage though which was royal mail economy delivery so under £3.00. I think it's unfair to get a refund but keep the item as well.

It's the seller's choice as to whether they want the item back or are happy to just refund. Sometimes the cost of return outweighs the refund costs, so it isn't unfair- it was the seller's decision.

FatVonD

I've just had the same, a £4.70 faulty item, it is cheaper for them to just refund rather than pay for return postage for something they can't sell again.

RFW

As a seller I tend to do that in most circumstances. Most of my items are sub £10 and I get well under 1% return requests.

It will often cost more in return postage than it would to replace the item. Then if it does come back it's possible it would be damaged or need repacking, so more expense. Then, more often than no,t it will end up in a pile somewhere and never get put back into stock. There's also the hassle of having to wait for a parcel and then remember to refund when it arrives.

So if I get a return request, I hit the refund button. It saves me time, money and gets me a possible happy customer who will shop again.

In my experience as a customer it's a rare occurrence. I'm often shocked at how often sellers end up looking like idiots for the sake of a pound or two.