How to refund buyer that didn't open a case before returning?

*cake*

Good evening all

Hope somebody could offer me some help/advice with my current situation.

I sold something on eBay and buyer wanted to return for a refund. They said the item didn't look consistent enough in quality (~kind of hinted at a defect in the visual design), but also admitted the item had been worn by themselves. I suspect they had either just changed their mind (because the item looks completely fine) or just decided to wear it over the festive period and then return for refund afterwards. They weren't exactly rude but their tone wasn't the nicest either..

Anyway, (since I know what ebay is like) I thought I'd just accept the return without any fight (and I don't want to waste energy anyway), and wrote that I will accept the return, which they seemed pleased with and asked for my address and have now returned the item to me at their own expense. The item looks fine btw, there's nothing wrong with the item (which I already knew..)

I just logged in to ebay to issue a refund, but there's no button to refund or cancel the transaction? The buyer never opened a case for the return. (And I didn't think they needed?)

Is there a way for me to refund without a case being open, and if so, how? I'm not too bothered about getting the FVF back, I listed during a listing offer and it was only £1.

If not, does a case have to be opened for me to be able to process the return..? I'm afraid if I suggest to the buyer that they need to open a case that they will choose SNAD (instead of "changed my mind"/"just didn't like it"/etc) I will get a defect on my account? And also how does it work with return shipping if they choose SNAD (or similar)? They have already returned the item to me tracked (they paid for the return shipping themselves), so they would have a tracking number to put into the system. But doesn't a SNAD force the seller to pay for the shipping (which in this case has already been paid for and posted and received)?

Happy to get some help here. Never had anything returned to me before so I don't quite know the process. I just want this refund to be processed quickly but also "safely", so I don't run into some problems.. eBay is such a labyrinth with dos and don'ts it seems..

Dox

Go to the original listing and click on 'view paypal transaction' (top left). That will then give you a page which includes 'issue a refund' (about halfway down the page) - so you can do just that!

theonlywayisup

Dox wrote: »

Go to the original listing and click on 'view paypal transaction' (top left). That will then give you a page which includes 'issue a refund' (about halfway down the page) - so you can do just that!

That will likely get the OP a defect.

Op, the easiest thing - if the item is less than 30 days since purchase - is to cancel the transaction.

Alternatively if your buyer is cooperative, is to direct them to a returns case - explain that it's because you can't physically refund as the button doesn't appear - as soon as they open the case, you can accept it and refund through it. I've done this lots of times with buyers who send items back without notifying you and if you explain clearly why you are doing it and that you will be refunding immediately, it works well.

Thirdly, you can ring eBay and explain. They will review the messages and can manually apply a credit, although you may still get a defect if you simply refund without a cancellation. I've only done this once when the return was over 30 days - but the defect was removed manually too.

Brynsam

theonlywayisup wrote: »

That will likely get the OP a defect.

When you say 'likely' - will they or won't they? I've refunded this way and had no problems/defect.

theonlywayisup

Brynsam wrote: »

When you say 'likely' - will they or won't they? I've refunded this way and had no problems/defect.

I say likely because it isn't set in stone. Sometimes I get them sometimes not. Therefore I prefer to take the approach of reducing the likelihood by doing as above.

soolin

Brynsam wrote: »

When you say 'likely' - will they or won't they? I've refunded this way and had no problems/defect.

You've probably been lucky, usually refunding via paypal without also cancelling the transaction should mean a defect, but sometimes the system doesn't pick it up. Unfortunately it did on one of mine, so I always use the 'buyer requested cancellation' reason now and cancel the transaction that way as it automatically refunds the paypal payment at the same time. I always think if a buyer later declined the cancellation at least I have an email trail to phone ebay and complain about.