International Duty / Sales Tax / Shipping Costs refund

[tim_sylvester]

An international buyer has claimed an item is defective (even though it was tested before it was sent and was fine).  Regardless I am happy to 100% refund the buyer and for them to keep the item to avoid redundant return postage and to maintain my perfect feedback.

I went through the refund process, have ticked the option to allow them to keep the item and have refunded the item price and UK postage to the Ebay UK GSP address which was all I was able to do.  However there is no option for me to refund any international postage / duty / sales tax they paid.  How do they get refunded their international costs that I haven't seen?

Thanks, Tim

[tobiasd4]

You didn't receive the GSP costs, so don't have to refund them.

It is up to buyer to sort with ebay.

[*vyolla*]

They won't be able to get a refund for any import fees if they still have the item and a refund.

[tim_sylvester]

I also spoke to eBay and all I can do is refund item cost and UK postage.  eBay will retain foreign shipping cost and duty payable to the Government.  The buyer is therefore out of pocket 😞 and may leave negative feedback even though I have lost the item and I am happy to reimburse them 100% !?  I am reluctant to refund them outside eBay.

[papso22]

The buyer had the choice to return the item for a full refund of everything they paid.  That's the only way for Ebay to arrange the refund of the taxes, duties and international shipping.

I do get that it would have cost you the return shipping, but that's how it works.

If you get negative feedback it might be removeable.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policy?id=4208&st=3&pos=1&query=Feed...

[tim_sylvester]

Ah - I might have done the wrong thing giving them a 100% refund and letting them keep the item.  The advice in the small print is "it is usually best to have the item returned".  I guess this refunds the buyer everything and corrects the duty situation with the government.  This feels crazy as I pay to fly a 'defective' item back 1/2 way around the world and potentially have customs issues at home .... but at least I avoid negative feedback.  I only allowed international buyers on this item as a one-off exception.  Lesson learned - never again!

[john1297576 · Accepted solution]

“Never again”

If so it would pay you to block all Countries overseas. At the moment you only block the small number of Countries Automatically blocked by ebay. This means that although they cannot pay, overseas members can still buy. This would avoid unnecessary aggravation.

口

[tim_sylvester]

I have done this via Account Settings / Selling / Postage Preferences and clicking all International Regions - thanks.

It's a shame as I have traded internationally my whole business life but the limitations of modern platforms and poor communications / conflict resolution mean that it's just not worth the risk to my feedback score for the modest amount I sell.