Returns delay

[inga4641]

Hi, can anybody give me some advice?

I sold a smart nearly new winter coat to somebody in Scotland, I checked the item before dispatch and packed it carefully, however the Buyer said it arrived with an overriding damp smell attached, and she cannot wear it and asked for a refund.  I apologised straight away and offered a full refund including the return postage which the buyer accepted and she said she would send the coat back that same weekend.  When the coat did not arrive a week later, and I asked her if she sent it, she said she was too busy at work but would post it that Friday.  When the coat still didn't arrive a week later, I rang the Ebay Help-desk and was advised to find out if she had actually posted it, and if not, then to buy a Return Label and ask her again to post the coat back to me which I did, and I also told her that in the meantime I had found another buyer who is willing to buy the coat and dry-clean it, providing she can have it while the weather is still cold and she can buy it before she goes on holiday, and that I therefore would appreciate it, if the buyer would return the coat asap, so I can refund her money and sell the coat on.  The buyer replied (4 days later) that she has a hectic job and would post it the next Friday.  When Friday was gone and I looked at the relevant Return Procedure details, a return still has not been indicated, and I am at my wit's end, as my new buyer is asking me for an approximate date when she can have the coat to take on her planned holiday.  If Scotland wasn’t so far away from me, I would go and fetch it myself

I also find it unfair that normally we have 14 days to return an item, but when I bought the Return Label, Ebay gave her a full month in the Return Procedures for returning the coat, and I fear that by then I will have lost my new buyer, and I wonder if anyone would know how to overcome this problem.  Any advice gratefully received. Ilona