Seller says they cannot post item and wants to issue a refund instead of sending it. Is this safe?

[chrysopoeia]

I paid for an item on 10/04/24, which had an expected delivery date of between 15/04/24 and 22/04/24.

The seller contacted me on the 15/04/24 to say, "...the item you purchased did not pass our quality test, so we cannot send it to you,"  and that they would like to return the money to me instead. 20 minutes prior to sending me this message, the seller marked the item as posted and that it was out for delivery.

I haven't had to deal with a refund on eBay before, so I'm a little worried about getting scammed, especially with the information in the message somewhat contradicting what they have updated on the eBay system.

I've tried reading up on the situation, and I seem to have found information that it needs to be one day after the expected delivery date before a refund can be raised. Would that be correct?

Would I be safe in agreeing to the refund as everything stands? Or with the seller having marked the item as posted, am I best waiting until after the expected delivery date and then raising it myself?

Any help that could be provided would be appreciated. Apologies if this is a common question or if the answer can be found elsewhere.

[john1297576]

Just open a not received case as soon as alowed, seller then has 3 days to refund otherwise you escalate to ebay.

Seller is hoping you will go this way to avoid being charged a selling fee. If they cancelled sale for what is effectively OUT OF STOCK they get a defect and have to pay the selling fee.

Refunding for what appears to be LOST IN POST and they do not pay the selling fee.

[chrysopoeia]

Thank you very much for the reply. I think that makes sense to me. 

Just so I'm understanding: The situation is that the seller has marked it as posted and is wanting me to agree to a refund at this stage so they can avoid a selling fee. To keep everything above board and in the right direction, I should just wait until next week when I can raise it myself and then go about it that way?

[plum993 · Accepted solution]

As said the seller has realised if he simply refunds you now, the choices they have means they will ultimately get a an account defect,so to avoid that they have manually marked as dispatched instead,which means you will now have to raise a not received case with ebay once the estimated delivery date has passed,and then the seller will have to refund you.

Look to open a case when you can here if you need to,and if the seller does not refund you within 3 days of opening the case, you should get the option to escalate the case to ebay for a refund.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/returns-items-not-received-refunds-buyers/get-help-item-hasnt-arr...

You also have 60 days to leave  the seller the appropriate feedback along the lines of "Seller did not honour the sale",but wait until you get your refund before you leave any.

The seller can not leave you retalitory feedback,only positive feedback or non at all,or it can be removed

[chrysopoeia]

Thank you both for the information and help explaining the situation.

I'll wait till I'm able to raise the case and go from there.

Many Thanks.