Buyer requested to return item before it was delivered, do I need to refund postage?

[threadgame]

Hi all,

Long story short, buyer in Canada purchased a jumper, took over a week to pay customs fees, said they had paid it, now just over a week later the item has been returned to myself in the UK as it states on the tracking 'return to sender requested'. The tracking just shows as being 'at the national sorting hub' before this.

I've questioned the buyer, and all sorts of stories are being told. In their words 'They told me delivery was made but it wasn't' and now 'I blocked my card due to suspicious activity'.

What do I do in this sitch? Obviously they will be refunded for the item, but having to absorb £18 on postage hurts.

Thanks all!

[jckl1957]

If the buyer refused delivery because of customs fees, they are not actually covered by the Ebay Money Back Guarantee and should not be able to win a claim against you.

Has the buyer opened a case?

[threadgame]

Thank you for your reply!

The buyer hasn't done anything yet, but I wanted to know what had happened, as they previously mentioned they had paid customs fees. I can see on the return package it says 'duties and taxes awaiting payment' and 'hold until 9/3/25'. Essentially the buyer didn't pay them, said they did, then lied about delivery being attempted.

[jckl1957]

Personally, I would wait now.

You have the item back and the buyer's money.

Don't refund them anything yet and don't message them again - especially if they keep changing their story.

[tommystrezures]

I suspect that the buyer didn’t pay the duty and the message return to sender requested will be the national carrier not the actual buyer. 

there is a very good tracking site called parcelsapp Google it pop your tracking number in there. It usually shows more info than say Royal Mail etc. that may have more details.

[threadgame]

I totally agree, I'm not going to say or ask anymore, particularly as the buyer mentioned 3 different scenarios over messages.

[threadgame]

That's the vibe I'm getting also, just not sure how eBay look at from a returns / refund point of view.

I'll give that a look, very useful!

[threadgame]

Just an update on this. 

The buyer opened an item not received request, but stated they still want the item. They've gone silent since I said they have to re-pay for the postage costs, as a quick check on the detailed tracking confirms they just never paid the customs.

It's easier now just to refund them and move on, however does refunding through the request only allow a full refund? Or can a partial refund be made through the request? When I click 'refund' it only shows the full amount, then takes you to the login screen, which I haven't gone through due to not wanting to accidentally refund in full. I do this all the time when refunding in full  for general returns, but for the life of me can't remember if you can adjust the amount after signing in again.

thanks all!

[papso22]

Have you got the item back?

Why are you thinking of a partial refund?

[papso22]

Ignore the above, for some reason  edit isn't working. 

You could try and get the case closed because the buyer wasn't actually entitled to open one, and then do a part refund outside the case.

[threadgame]

Do I just let the request run it's course and let eBay step in? Hard to know what to do in this sitch, usually I'd just fully refund and move on, but don't want eBay stepping in and just giving a 100% refund for an item which was sent, only for the buyer to ignore customs and then lie about paying the fees.

[papso22]

You have to tell ebay the buyer was never covered by the money back guarantee and show them the exclusion, otherwise they will expect you to proceed as if they are covered.

[threadgame]

Thank you. Best to just contact eBay directly about this then? As there's no option on the request, unfortunately.

[threadgame]

So I escalated this for eBay to step in and explained the issues. They stepped in a just fully refunded the buyer.. unbelievable 

[red_magpie]

The tracking just shows as being 'at the national sorting hub'

Does this mean that you sent it using eBay's global shipping? This would also explain why you seem so confident that "Obviously they will be refunded for the item".  Because if it's a GSP delivery it would be eBay that refunds them, not you.

If so, all you need do is to wait for the buyer to open a money back case case through eBay, and refer it back to eBay to deal with. As the seller, your responsibility will have ended when you delivered it to eBay's national hub in Lichfield.

If you didn't use the GSP the position will be totally different. It's hard to help without clearer details.

[threadgame]

Well, by a pure stroke of luck / magic I appealed the case after leaving my last update and they decided to find in my favour and refund the money back to myself.

It seems going forward that if you deal with someone over live chat / phone call, then someone actually looks at this properly, rather than the automated system finding in thr buyers favour 99% of the time. 

For future reference, I sent it tracked directly, rather than through GSP