eBay advice please

paul2louise

I have been waiting forever for an item from China to turn up. I have raised it with eBay on 3rd and they said I needed to wait till 22nd before I can get refund. I contacted eBay and they said it was fine to order another item now as it had been so long and I could just return the item if it ever turns up. So I did order new item from UK this time. It was due on Tuesday. Hasnt arrived. The china item arrived yesterday. So now I am in dilemma. I have the original and new one is late. I really need the item. So how long is reasonable to wait for new item if I am going to return older item that came from China. I ordered UK item last week with items from other sellers at same time. All the other items have arrived. 

Thanks 

soolin

The question really is can you actually afford to return the item fully tracked and insured at your own cost? The chances of a Far East seller actually getting the item back is remote so you will just be throwing more money away. 

It would probably be cheaper to return the UK one when it arrives if seller is a business or a private seller who accepts returns. 

paul2louise

soolin said:

The question really is can you actually afford to return the item fully tracked and insured at your own cost? The chances of a Far East seller actually getting the item back is remote so you will just be throwing more money away. 

It would probably be cheaper to return the UK one when it arrives if seller is a business or a private seller who accepts returns. 

eBay told me that the item from China would be free to return using their return service. But yes it's likely to take forever to go back and I would only get my refund when it does arrive back there. So then I have to decide how strict I am with UK seller. How long is acceptable to wait. Posting 2nd last week and now a week later not arrived. Usually 2-5 working days. I ordered Thursday morning. 

soolin

paul2louise said:

soolin said:

The question really is can you actually afford to return the item fully tracked and insured at your own cost? The chances of a Far East seller actually getting the item back is remote so you will just be throwing more money away. 

It would probably be cheaper to return the UK one when it arrives if seller is a business or a private seller who accepts returns. 

eBay told me that the item from China would be free to return using their return service. But yes it's likely to take forever to go back and I would only get my refund when it does arrive back there. So then I have to decide how strict I am with UK seller. How long is acceptable to wait. Posting 2nd last week and now a week later not arrived. Usually 2-5 working days. I ordered Thursday morning. 

I’m not sure I would believe eBay CS, there is no free right of return if item isn’t faulty unless seller states that as an option in their listing . Obviously if you can get an INR case open and closed before it arrives then yes, if seller wants the item back they will need to supply a label. 

GadgetGuru

I would just keep the China one and deal with the local UK seller. Much easier. 
Send the seller a message and see if he can chase the courier. 

If the item still doesn't arrive then its an INR case and you get a refund, seller can hopefully claim from the courier. 
If the item does arrive then simply return as unwanted - you will need to pick up the cost of returning, which is only fair. 

paul2louise

So both items arrived, china one first. I raised a non delivery with UK one and that has now arrived too. However the UK one has processed a refund. So I have 2 items. I wanted to return the china one but after reading earlier comments I suspect I will end up either hassled with a not straight forward return and will I get my money back. They used courier so had tracking so that's why I had no refund from ebay. So what can I do about the UK seller. They used royal mail I think 2nd class postage but no tracking. If I offer to return do I have to pay. 
I want to do the right thing.

Thanks 

forgotmyname

Bought a small folding shovel from China for £5 delivered, it was smaller than expected but seemed fairly strong.

Out of curiosity I searched and found that the cheapest postage to return it would have been £14. No tracking, No signature,
No insurance and I doubt it would have reached them and got a refund.

GrubbyGirl_2

paul2louise said:

So both items arrived, china one first. I raised a non delivery with UK one and that has now arrived too. However the UK one has processed a refund. So I have 2 items. I wanted to return the china one but after reading earlier comments I suspect I will end up either hassled with a not straight forward return and will I get my money back. They used courier so had tracking so that's why I had no refund from ebay. So what can I do about the UK seller. They used royal mail I think 2nd class postage but no tracking. If I offer to return do I have to pay. 
I want to do the right thing.

Thanks 

It's not the UK sellers fault that you changed your mind.  They have been really good and refunded you without question.  Yes you should return it as it's not yours you didn't pay for it and yes you should pay for the return, why should the seller pay when you cancelled?

paul2louise

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

paul2louise said:

So both items arrived, china one first. I raised a non delivery with UK one and that has now arrived too. However the UK one has processed a refund. So I have 2 items. I wanted to return the china one but after reading earlier comments I suspect I will end up either hassled with a not straight forward return and will I get my money back. They used courier so had tracking so that's why I had no refund from ebay. So what can I do about the UK seller. They used royal mail I think 2nd class postage but no tracking. If I offer to return do I have to pay. 
I want to do the right thing.

Thanks 

It's not the UK sellers fault that you changed your mind.  They have been really good and refunded you without question.  Yes you should return it as it's not yours you didn't pay for it and yes you should pay for the return, why should the seller pay when you cancelled?

I didn't change my mind. I was fed up waiting for my refund from the very late china seller. eBay advised me to buy another on the premise I had valid reason to not want it when the china one  finally arrived. However having contact eBay again they first told me i should pay for both. I reminded them that it was them who told me this wouldn't need to happen. So they now tell that they will sort things out and I need do nothing more. 

soolin

paul2louise said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

paul2louise said:

So both items arrived, china one first. I raised a non delivery with UK one and that has now arrived too. However the UK one has processed a refund. So I have 2 items. I wanted to return the china one but after reading earlier comments I suspect I will end up either hassled with a not straight forward return and will I get my money back. They used courier so had tracking so that's why I had no refund from ebay. So what can I do about the UK seller. They used royal mail I think 2nd class postage but no tracking. If I offer to return do I have to pay. 
I want to do the right thing.

Thanks 

It's not the UK sellers fault that you changed your mind.  They have been really good and refunded you without question.  Yes you should return it as it's not yours you didn't pay for it and yes you should pay for the return, why should the seller pay when you cancelled?

I didn't change my mind. I was fed up waiting for my refund from the very late china seller. eBay advised me to buy another on the premise I had valid reason to not want it when the china one  finally arrived. However having contact eBay again they first told me i should pay for both. I reminded them that it was them who told me this wouldn't need to happen. So they now tell that they will sort things out and I need do nothing more. 

In fairness to the UK seller though you have changed your mind, it isn’t their fault you want to return something that isn’t faulty so there’s no other way of describing it from their point of view. They have lost their outward postage but have done nothing wrong. 

If eBay have said they will sort it out for you, what exactly have they done, does it assist the UK seller with their out of pocket costs if you return? 

Just as an aside as I’m not a big seller, this shows why UK sellers have such issues with Far East sellers, not just on eBay but most places online. The Far East sellers evade a lot of the UK taxes, get cheaper postage than us and therefore win sales from UK sellers. When it all goes wrong , and having to buy last minute from a UK seller when a Far East item doesn’t arrive is not uncommon, yet they are penalised with returns if both arrive. So in cases like this, the Far East seller makes money whilst the UK sellers lose money, yet I’m sure we will all complain when all the UK sellers give up and we are left with just overseas sellers.