Ebay INR How to refund

magic57

Hi I've been selling on ebay as a business seller for a couple of years with few problems. However over the last few days I've had 2 buyers claiming their items were not received in time for Christmas and want a refund. Left it until the last minute with unreal expectations of the post!
Anyway the first one was very rude and threatened to leave a neg unless I refunded. I asked her to go to the resolution panel and I would refund her there. When I tried the refund failed. Ebay said they had technical problems! I tried several times. I also could not issue a refund through Paypal as the money was on hold and the refund button was not visible. After a long time on on-line chat with ebay I had to refund by 'send money' then upload the screenshots to get them to close in my favour which they did.
I've just had another buyer wanting a refund as she ordered on 17th and it has not arrived. This time I cancelled the sale and was able to refund.
My question - What is the best way to refund buyers? I'm reluctant to ask them to go through the resolution centre as it caused a huge headache and wasted a lot of my time. I'm expecting more complaints as people leave it too late to order. Should I do it through Paypal or Ebay? I don't think a paypal refund will give me my ebay fees back.
Thanks and Merry Christmas and happy selling in the New Year. Next year I'm closing at the beginning of December!

Dox

You seem to be refunding without asking for the return of the item. Why not just follow the well-trodden route of asking them to open an INR claim (or SNAD, depending on what they are claiming has gone wrong), as repeatedly advised by experts on this forum, like Soolin (have a look at some of her responses to understand why).

forgotmyname

Maybe it failed because the buyer had 50 other INR claims open? I would always get them to open cases. Had the estimated delivery time passed?

Threats to leave a neg would have been a good reason to get it removed.

magic57

Thanks you are both correct. I have been too kind (stupid) with my refunds. In future I'll ask them to wait a bit longer and return the item before I refund. I've been really lucky and have had very few problems so I'm having to learn how to sort them out. I've blocked the buyer who was very rude.
Hope everyone had a lovely day today and a very happy New year to all on MSE.

soolin

magic57 wrote: »

Thanks you are both correct. I have been too kind (stupid) with my refunds. In future I'll ask them to wait a bit longer and return the item before I refund. I've been really lucky and have had very few problems so I'm having to learn how to sort them out. I've blocked the buyer who was very rude.
Hope everyone had a lovely day today and a very happy New year to all on MSE.

If a buyer opens an INR you can't wait for the item to be returned before refunding. It's best to be reassuring and not wait until the last minute on a case enforce refunding.

hiccup123

Not sure if this helps. in the week leading upto xmas i had 6 buyers message asking if i had dispatched their item. and could they have tracking. funnily none of them chose tracking option but with all parcels that are not sent tracked you will find a ref number on the receipt made up of a long string of numbers and letters. I checked all 6 reference numbers on royal mail tracking and 5 of the 6 parcels showed as delivered. i sent screen shots and a photo of the receipt to the 5 buyers and never heard from them again. the 6th buyer i told them to open INR case. ebay give you a few days to respond. I didn't respond straight away and waited a couple of days to see if it arrived...and it did 2 days later so buyer closed the case.

theonlywayisup

Dox wrote: »

You seem to be refunding without asking for the return of the item.

A buyer cannot return an item they haven't received. I am not sure of your post content at all.

To the OP, you should always ask your buyers to go through the resolution centre. It is the easiest way to refund without losing fees or risking defects.

I note you say you cancelled the first claim by "sending money" - a big NO. And equally worrying the second claim by cancelling the sale.

Neither of these are the correct way, in fact they could be deemed the absolute worst.

theonlywayisup

hiccup123 wrote: »

i had 6 buyers message asking if i had dispatched their item. and could they have tracking. funnily none of them chose tracking option

Tracking (or POD) is for the security of the seller, not the buyer. Why would a buyer chose another postage option - and presumably one that is more expensive?

hiccup123 wrote: »

you will find a ref number on the receipt made up of a long string of numbers and letters. I checked all 6 reference numbers on royal mail tracking and 5 of the 6 parcels showed as delivered.

They aren't tracking they are POD (proof of delivery).

hiccup123 wrote: »

the 6th buyer i told them to open INR case. ebay give you a few days to respond. I didn't respond straight away and waited a couple of days to see if it arrived...and it did 2 days later so buyer closed the case.

So the buyer opened an INR and during that time the item was delivered and the buyer closed the case?

hiccup123

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Tracking (or POD) is for the security of the seller, not the buyer. Why would a buyer chose another postage option - and presumably one that is more expensive?



They aren't tracking they are POD (proof of delivery).



So the buyer opened an INR and during that time the item was delivered and the buyer closed the case?

I never said tracking number.... the ref numbers are proof of delivery and when i entered the reference numbers on the royal mail tracking site the parcels were shown as being delivered and showed what dates they were delivered. yet i had 5 people ask 'where is my item?' and 'when was it dispatched/' i sent screen shots of the delivery confirmation to all 5 buyers along with photos of the receipts showing proof of postage with the ref number. My point was these buyers didn't know i could check if their parcels had been delivered. I just pointed out to them that they had the parcel yet they were asking me if i had dispatched. i reckon they were trying to pull a fast one.

regarding the person who opened an INR once his parcel was delivered he closed the case so i didn't need to take any further action

theonlywayisup

hiccup123 wrote: »

regarding the person who opened an INR once his parcel was delivered he closed the case so i didn't need to take any further action

Yes because he/she had the parcel. He/she didn't need to proceed with the case.

magic57

theonlywayisup wrote: »

A buyer cannot return an item they haven't received. I am not sure of your post content at all.

To the OP, you should always ask your buyers to go through the resolution centre. It is the easiest way to refund without losing fees or risking defects.

I note you say you cancelled the first claim by "sending money" - a big NO. And equally worrying the second claim by cancelling the sale.

Neither of these are the correct way, in fact they could be deemed the absolute worst.

Sending a refund by 'send money' was the only way I could do it as the refund button on the resolution centre was not working due to a technical glitch. I was advised to do it this way by the online chat person. Then I had to upload screen shots and the adviser closed the dispute in my favour and I got my final fees back.
Not ideal and I have no idea why the refund option wasn't working. My guess it is because she bought 2 items and took out a dispute for each, meaning I couldn't refund each one separately. My buyer left it very late to buy and did not take account of the Christmas rush. I posted it out within 12 hours of purchase. The item was wanted as a Christmas present and I rather suspect it either arrived the next day or it is uncollected at the post office. She was very rude and threatened me with negative feedback which |I pointed out was against ebay policy. Anyway she has the refund. I've seen by doing a google search that other sellers have also had problems refunding through the resolution centre but this is the first time I have had trouble with it.
Thanks for all your help. :T