eBay Refunded Buyer; Buyer Didn't Return Item.

Pazzy1

 Hi MSErs,

I recently sold a MacBook on eBay. The buyer paid right away, but I shipped the item a bit later than the listing indicated. The buyer never mentioned it was urgent, but apparently, he’d bought it for his wife, who needed it for her trip to Spain.

Then, I got hit with an "Item Not As Described" dispute from eBay. The buyer's message said: "We paid for special delivery, and it was delivered well outside the timeframe we requested, so we received the item too late. We would like a refund on the shipping fees."

Naturally, I didn’t acknowledge this request. But here’s where I made a big mistake: I escalated the case to eBay.

What was I thinking—that eBay would somehow rule in my favor as the seller?

Ha! No such luck.

eBay asked me to send the buyer a prepaid postage label for the return. I missed this request because I was tied up with work, and they gave me only 4 days to respond.

The next thing I know, I get an email saying the case has been closed and they’ve refunded the buyer—£356!

I reached out to eBay support, but they told me there was nothing they could do since I didn’t provide the prepaid return postage in time.

So, what can I do now?

FlorayG

Was it 'not received' or 'not as described' this doesn't make sense

horsewithnoname

What you can do now is learn from this and comply with eBay’s terms regarding time frames for any future transactions. 

soolin

Ouch, this sounds like a series of unfortunate events and I fear any suggestions would have been better made at the beginning and not now .

Firstly the despatch dates are important to a certain extent, you give your own time frames and should stick to them as the clock is already ticking on any claim.

The SNAD claim needs to be addressed , did they ask for a return or just open a SNAD and ask for the postage to be returned within that claim, the OP reads like it was the latter. At that point you needed to do ‘something’ either accept a return, basically call the buyers bluff , or offer the postage back which is entirely possibly within the framework of a SNAD claim. If you had offered the buyer an option of a partial refund for the postage buyer could have accepted and closed the case, or declined in which case you went ahead with a full return. Escalating it to eBay suggested to eBay that you weren’t going to do anything, so at that point as per their t and cs they found for the buyer. 

It seems at that point eBay gave you another chance to sort it by asking you to send or pay for them to send a label, which you ignored. I understand you were busy, but for a £300+ item I’m sure you could have found the time to press a single button to release a pre paid label. 

All you can do now is contact the buyer and arrange for a return of the item at your cost. Personally I would email though the eBay messaging system but also follow it up with a tracked letter . Be polite, ask them if a RM label would suit, explain item needs to be packaged and dropped off and ask for an email address to send the label to or if the prefer a QR code to enable a RM collection.

if that does nothing then escalate with a LBA (do a google search for letter before action) , saying you want the item returned or the refund returned. If you go down the LBA route then only do it if you are prepared to go all the way to small claims.

you do need to be reasonable here, work with the buyer, don’t make it difficult for them to return. EBay will have told them that matter is closed and they can keep the laptop, so you just need to ensure you keep them on side to get it back. 

One final tip for anyone reading this. If selling higher end items on eBay make sure you have time to follow the procedures, don’t list something if you can’t commit to posting it and dealing with any issues afterwards. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The buyer is an involuntarily bailee, they need to take care of the goods and make them available for collection, book an SD label with collection and bring a label here:

https://send.royalmail.com/send

at a time the buyer agrees with. If they refuse to engage you are looking at letter before action and small claims, possibly could be viewed as fraud but other than getting a reference number it's possible little will happen on that front.  

eBay have acted correctly, buyers can open SNAD for orders that arrive outside the ETA and return, really you should have just refunded the buyer's postage fees when they asked, if you posted late I don't see it as an unreasonable request  

GadgetGuru

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

really you should have just refunded the buyer's postage fees when they asked, if you posted late I don't see it as an unreasonable request  

This. 

Considering you posted late and outside of the time window, I think the buyer was quite reasonable with his request here and I would have obliged. 

What isn't clear is how the case was escalated - as an item not received, or not as described? I'm assuming the latter considering a return label was requested? Either way, there's not much you can do at this point. eBay cannot reverse funds from buyers (they can from seller. but not buyers) so your only course of action is to contact the buyer and request they return the item (at your cost). If not you need to report it as stolen and begin small claims proceedings. 

Pazzy1

FlorayG said:

Was it 'not received' or 'not as described' this doesn't make sense

The buyer puportedly claimed that the 'Item (was) Not As Described', There was nothing wrong with the item, the buyer only said that that because he wanted a refund on the postage (special delivery) because I send it late, Apparently his missues needed it for her trip to Sunny Spain. 

Pazzy1

horsewithnoname said:

What you can do now is learn from this and comply with eBay’s terms regarding time frames for any future transactions. 

Or be stubborn and say "Get stuffed" to eBay and their ridiculous terms.

Pazzy1

soolin said:

All you can do now is contact the buyer and arrange for a return of the item at your cost. Personally I would email though the eBay messaging system but also follow it up with a tracked letter . Be polite, ask them if a RM label would suit, explain item needs to be packaged and dropped off and ask for an email address to send the label to or if the prefer a QR code to enable a RM collection.

The buyer has not replied to eBay (The advisor, who was very understanding, contacted the buyer and requested the buyer to reach out to me to arrange a safe return of the item. well, the buyer, obviously, has decided not to respond. I wonder why?

if that does nothing then escalate with a LBA (do a google search for letter before action) , saying you want the item returned or the refund returned. If you go down the LBA route then only do it if you are prepared to go all the way to small claims.

I shall do. Thank you.

you do need to be reasonable here, work with the buyer, don’t make it difficult for them to return. EBay will have told them that matter is closed and they can keep the laptop, so you just need to ensure you keep them on side to get it back. 

Well, he hasn't responded to eBay or me. And, he has disconnected his mobile. Clever chap. 

One final tip for anyone reading this. If selling higher end items on eBay make sure you have time to follow the procedures, don’t list something if you can’t commit to posting it and dealing with any issues afterwards. 

 In hindsight, this would have been the perferred outcome.

The buyer is so clever, he deserves a medal for his ingenuity.

GadgetGuru

Pazzy1 said:

FlorayG said:

Was it 'not received' or 'not as described' this doesn't make sense

The buyer puportedly claimed that the 'Item (was) Not As Described', There was nothing wrong with the item, the buyer only said that that because he wanted a refund on the postage (special delivery) because I send it late, Apparently his missues needed it for her trip to Sunny Spain. 

Do you have this in writing from the buyer in the eBay messaging system?
If so, contact eBay - actually talk to a representative. Inform them the buyer has mis-used the returns system by returning an unwanted item as faulty.
I'd be kicking up a stink with eBay as much as possible if it was me. Don't give up. Be persistent with them. Although they have already refunded the buyer so can't do much there, the best you can hope for is for eBay to refund you from there own pocket. Unfortunately it means the buyer has a free MacBook....

soolin

GadgetGuru said:

Pazzy1 said:

FlorayG said:

Was it 'not received' or 'not as described' this doesn't make sense

The buyer puportedly claimed that the 'Item (was) Not As Described', There was nothing wrong with the item, the buyer only said that that because he wanted a refund on the postage (special delivery) because I send it late, Apparently his missues needed it for her trip to Sunny Spain. 

Do you have this in writing from the buyer in the eBay messaging system?
If so, contact eBay - actually talk to a representative. Inform them the buyer has mis-used the returns system by returning an unwanted item as faulty.
I'd be kicking up a stink with eBay as much as possible if it was me. Don't give up. Be persistent with them. Although they have already refunded the buyer so can't do much there, the best you can hope for is for eBay to refund you from there own pocket. Unfortunately it means the buyer has a free MacBook....

It is possible to ask a seller to refund postage where the postage has been used incorrectly, if buyer paid for a despatch within a certain time and using a prescribed postage method then the only way to do that officially is via a SNAD claim. The item isn’t SNAD the despatch/postage is. 

I think even OP accepts this has turned out badly due to mishandling and I see no point in kicking up a stink with eBay when handling this correctly would have made it a lot easier. If buyer merely wanted postage returned then the case could have been closed in minutes if seller had agreed and offered (and has buyer accept) a small partial refund. If buyer had declined a partial then seller could have called their bluff and just insisted on a return, buyer could then have returned it, or had the case closed against them if they didn’t want to return it. 

Incidentally, I am not saying that buyers should be demanding part refunds , but where an item is shipped late it doesn’t seem unreasonable.