Item undelivered and returned.....

GadgetGuru

Sold a camera via eBay - £280
Prior to the sale, the buyer was very active via emails. Enquiring about the item etc - we even had a chat about having to attend meetings that day!
Buyers responses to emails (all via eBay messaging system) were all within the hour. 

Anyways, he purchased the item. Paid straight away. 
Item sent via RM Special Delivery.
Calling card left as no-one in to accept delivery and item went to the local delivery office pending redelivery or collection. 

I tend to keep an eye on the expensive stuff, so emailed him to inform him of the above - just in case the postie didn't leave a red 'Something For You' card.....
No response to email. 
Left it a few days, emailed him again. 
Nothing.
2 weeks later - another follow up email. 
No response. 

It's like he's complete vanished!
No other activity on eBay etc either.

The item has now been returned to me in the same condition it was posted in. However, I don't know what to do now. Its been 28 days since the original sale. 

Do I keep hold of the item for a while in case he gets in touch and asks to re-send?? If so, do I re-charge another postage fee?
Do I just refund and re-sell the item to someone else (the retail price has already dropped since then, so I will now get less then I did previously).
Or do I just wait and hold to see if a INR case etc is opened??

tightauldgit

It's possible he's gone away for Xmas or gone into hospital or something but if he's not answering then I'd do what suits you tbh. 

Relist it and sell it and then refund the original buyer, or just wait for an INR and then resend it or refund it. There's no point resending it until you hear from them. I don't really know what the Ebay rules are regarding who pays for resending in that case. It probably SHOULD be the buyer but I suspect it might be the seller. 

You don't really have any obligation to do anything at this stage since he's not communicated with you what they want. 

Jerry_Cornelius

I've had similar events on two occasions, one was only a few months back, an item sent to Italy; it was returned unopened with the address crossed out. No contact from the buyer, nor any other communication. So I refunded them and relisted.

soolin

I’d probably just refund using option of ‘buyer requested’ and then relist. That way you get your FVFs  back and won’t have to sit and wonder for the next few weeks whether you are going to wake up to an angry email about non delivery.