Hi eBay community, hoping someone can help with a frustrating situation that I need to resolve as soon as possible, any help appreciated. There appears to be no way of contacting eBay to help with this issue, it doesn’t fall under any category when using the live chat, and I have two frustrated buyers wanting answers.
1. I sold two items on eBay recently, one is a music studio rack unit, the other is a guitar. The rack was going to an address in the UK, the guitar to an address in Denmark via the eBay global shipping programme.
2. Both items sold at the same time, and I chose to book them with the same courier, DX through the UK broker Parcel2Go. I’ve used both 100s of times without issue. When collection day arrived on Friday October 11th, I printed out address labels for both parcels (even though I didn’t have to, the drivers often add their own) but I wasn’t sure on this occasion, so better safe than sorry. The driver collected and added his own labels.
3. The Monday of the 14th came around, and I got a message from the UK buyer, “thanks for the parcel, but why have you sent me a guitar?” Disaster. I asked the buyer to send me a photo, and lo and behold, the wrong label has been applied to the wrong parcel. Right next to my label was the DX address for the other shipment. So instead of going to the eBay GSP depot for onward shipping to Denmark, the guitar had gone to the UK. I tried contacting the depot to halt the shipment, but could not get through.
4. I opened a case with the Parcel2Go, my courier, but they needed evidence for both parcels being incorrectly delivered before they can help the situation. I’m still waiting for the parcel to land in Denmark, the buyer has been away, so can’t get evidence for the error in that side of the shipment, only the other to the UK, so both cases are close to timing out. So far I’ve had to do it all via live chat, and can only open queries about one of the deliveries each time, and I have to explain that both my shipments have been affected. As far as they are concerned, a parcel has been delivered to Denmark with the right references and lables and the owner hasn’t picked it up yet.
5. I contacted the buyer in Denmark to explain the situation. The buyer is obviously very frustrated, he currently has paid approx £90 for his eBay GSP postage and import duty for an item he doesn’t want, on top of the cost of the guitar. The main mistake I have made is this: out of pity for the two buyers, I decided to refund them both. But the refund for the guitar was made too early by me, and now the buyer can’t open a case and get his eBay GSP costs back. He wants me to sort it out, but as I didn’t book the shipping, it’s the buyer who deals with the postage, I can’t access that transaction. All I’ve been able to refund is the item cost, my postage to the depot and that’s it.
I can’t contact anyone at eBay about this, it feels impossible.
My question: how can I ensure the buyer gets his eBay GSP back? As far as eBay is concerned there has been an issue, and the I, the seller, have refunded the buyer, yet a parcel has been delivered safely. Can he claim a return, or open a case still to get his shipping costs back? Again, as I’ve refunded him the deal is considered “over”. Should he accept the partial or just refuse it? I admit I should have waited to refund the money, but I just wanted both buyers to be happy, I assumed the GSP costs would also be refunded once the item was proved to be incorrect.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you.
