Buyer not happy with item sent. What to do now?

JustAnotherSaver

Never had this before so i've never had to deal with this situation. I've sold a few things over the years and this is the first time a buyer has ever contacted me saying basically the item is not as described.


What i want out of this is as low a cost to myself as possible, preferably none.


I imagine i will have to say to the buyer to return the item for refund.


Do i have to pay for their return postage? I've a feeling they're being chancers with this but at the end of the day i guess it doesn't matter anyway as eBay sides with the buyer 99.9% of the time anyway.


Just wondering what to do really, how it works, cost etc.

twhitehousescat

what is the value (TO YOU) of the item and how much would return postage be

JustAnotherSaver

We're not talking a lot here. The item is about £5 worth, it cost £2.79 to send it to them via courier though i don't know how i'd go about having it sent back since they'd probably use Royal Mail which would cost more (i sent via courier as it was cheaper than Royal Mail).



Now that i've given the figures, i imagine the online response would be - throw the money away, refund them and tell them to keep the item and stop being so tight over a few quid.


Still, just wondering what the situation is.

soolin

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

We're not talking a lot here. The item is about £5 worth, it cost £2.79 to send it to them via courier though i don't know how i'd go about having it sent back since they'd probably use Royal Mail which would cost more (i sent via courier as it was cheaper than Royal Mail).



Now that i've given the figures, i imagine the online response would be - throw the money away, refund them and tell them to keep the item and stop being so tight over a few quid.


Still, just wondering what the situation is.

If they open a SNAD claim you will need to send a label for the return. The easiest way is to allow eBay to send a label and charge you for it, a smallish item is usually £3.05. Once it shows as returned you will be expected to refund them the entire original payment.

JustAnotherSaver

The dimensions on this were something like 600mm long, 150-180mm wide and about 5mm thick if that makes a difference, and it weighed like 100g if that.


So to return it will cost me £3.05 as a total cost? What about final value fees and paypal fees? Since it'll have been returned do they get 'wiped' as though the transaction never happened or do eBay/PayPal/both still charge me something?


And i imagine they will open a SNAD since they're clearly not happy with it (although they're being pleasant in the message).

JustAnotherSaver

Also what should i say really to the buyer? "get eBay to give you a label" sounds a bit @rsey really. I'm not really sure what i should do my end or how i should instruct the buyer who may not know what to do their end?

theonlywayisup

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

The dimensions on this were something like 600mm long, 150-180mm wide and about 5mm thick if that makes a difference, and it weighed like 100g if that.

You get the option to provide your own pre paid label or to use the one eBay will charge for. It may be cheaper for you to use an agent and a carrier like Hermes?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/return-shipping-for-sellers?id=4703

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

So to return it will cost me £3.05 as a total cost? What about final value fees and paypal fees? Since it'll have been returned do they get 'wiped' as though the transaction never happened or do eBay/PayPal/both still charge me something?

When you refund through a case or via a cancellation you get your eBay fees reimbursed (usually within 24 hours) to your eBay account. This is the account that you pay on a monthly billing cycle. It could therefore be quite possible that you have just paid and end up with a credit against your next invoice. Either way, whatever the fee for selling was (final value fees, not listing fees) then you get that back in full if you refund in full.

If you ever have to refund and the buyer has paid by Paypal you will automatically be reimbursed (at time of refund) for the Paypal fees. However, for each Paypal transaction (and assuming this isn't a micro account) then you will be paying a 20p transaction fee. This fee is not refundable. If you sell an item for £10 then Paypal charge the fees (20p plus 3.4% on a standard account). As the £10 hits your Paypal account the fee is removed and the net amount is credited to your Paypal account. In this case you receive £9.46 (34p fee and 20p transaction fee removed). When you refund the £10 Paypal reimburses the fee of 34p but not the transaction fee. The buyer gets the full amount back and the transaction has cost you 20p.

If you are taking sub £10* payments you may need to see if it will be cost effective to accept payments to a micro account. https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/micropayments

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

And i imagine they will open a SNAD since they're clearly not happy with it (although they're being pleasant in the message).

A case is there to make the administration and refund easy, it doesn't have to be unpleasant.

*The magic figure is £9. This link explains it. http://www.clipitquick.com/paypal-microfees/

theonlywayisup

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Also what should i say really to the buyer? "get eBay to give you a label" sounds a bit @rsey really. I'm not really sure what i should do my end or how i should instruct the buyer who may not know what to do their end?

Yes, that does sound poor.

Dear Buyer,

I am very sorry the xx isn't as you expected, please open a return on eBay and I will be happy to provide you a prepaid label for it's return. Once I have received it back I will drop you a message to confirm it has been refunded. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know.

Seller.

JustAnotherSaver

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Yes, that does sound poor.

Dear Buyer,

I am very sorry the xx isn't as you expected, please open a return on eBay and I will be happy to provide you a prepaid label for it's return. Once I have received it back I will drop you a message to confirm it has been refunded. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know.

Seller.

I'm just wondering how i go about sending them a prepaid label?


So i ask them to open a return on eBay which they do. I assume i get a message saying i have to give them some kind of label and i imagine also eBay will push theirs.


Do i then jump on to the Hermes website, pay for a label with my address as the TO and theirs as the FROM, get the label sent to my address and then what? Since eBay are so funny about what is sent in a message am i able to send them a .pdf of the label to print off? Say they can go to their local drop off and print off a label?


I don't want to come across clueless to the buyer but i also want to give them accurate info.

RFW

Refund. Suck it up. Move on. That's a lesson I've learned over the years.


Unless you think you've any chance of getting more for the item when received back then you'll be out of pocket anyway.


My suggestion to approach the buyer would be to ask if they'd accept a part refund to keep it. That's your best way of keeping any money out of it.

JustAnotherSaver

It's not just a case of getting more for it, it's that i think the buyer may be trying a scam - low cost item, seller wont bother to have it returned so i'll say it's no good, that way the seller will refund me & i'll have got the item for free. Win for me kind of thing.



No i don't think i'll get much more for it. Do i let them have it for free though when i think it was a decent item? No.