Item went missing in transit. Buyer asked to return item.

[papertones]

I'm a bit lost on what to do in this case. My buyer received my package, but the box had been tampered with in transit and the item was no longer inside the box. He got in touch straight away and provided photos and reported it to ebay. I responed to eBay to explain the situation. eBay have now asked the buyer to return the item (there is no item for him to return). Which makes little sense.

Is he supposed to return the empty box? It say's I'll have to refund him when he does this, but that seems totally unfair as I won't be getting anything back.

Just don't know what to do as neither of us seem to have any options open to us that make sense. We used Simple Delivery by the way, so everything was tracked.

[tressygirl]

The system is blocking me to see if you are a Private seller,  was this a Simple Delivery transaction ?

If this was an SD sale,  ask your buyer to open a case for item damaged in transit.  eBay then take over,  refund the buyer and you get to keep the payout.

@papertones 

[papertones]

Hello, thanks for you response. I am a private seller.

I originally asked him to open a case to say item missing in transit/damaged, but he said that option wasn't available to him at the time so he marked it it as item not received or something similar. 

eBay gave me the the option today to ask them for help, so I explained the situaton (that he received the packaging with the contents no longer inside and the package tampered with). eBay have now asked the buyer to return the item, but obviously there isn't an item from his perspective.

[jckl1957]

If a buyer receives an empty box, they do have to open a return.

If they start an 'item not received' case and the seller has tracking proving delivery, the case will close in favour of the seller.

If the buyer has started a return using, for example, the reason 'not as described' or 'items missing' you will be expected to refund.

For Simple Delivery protection to work in your favour, the buyer must use 'arrived damaged/damaged in transit'.

If they used any other reason, your only option is to try and contact Ebay and see if the reason can be changed.

[papso22]

There distinct types of money back guarantee cases.

If he opened a case for item not received then, under Simple delivery,  ebay handles everything, including the refund and the buyer would not be asked to return anything.

If he opened a case for damaged in transit, then under Simple Delivery ebay handles everything, does the refund, and the buyer keeps the item.

If he opened a case for item not as described (covers a number of reasons), this is not covered by Simple Delivery seller protection.  The seller provides the return label (or a refund without requiring a return), and when they get the item back, even if it's empty packaging, they issue the refund.

So a case for item not as described, because the item is missing from the package, will usually require the buyer to return the packaging.  Ebay does not have special rules in these circumstances. 

The buyer has messed you up by opening a case with the wrong reason.  

[papertones]

Thanks for your responses. The buyer told me he couldn't find an option for damaged in transit, so he contacted ebay and they opened a case for him as item not received. I'm not sure why as obviously I'm not privy to the conversation he had with ebay directly.

In our messages over ebay, he's clearly explained the situation, with photos of the damaged packaging, but obviously no human at ebay has seen this as yet.

So the best thing I can do now is try and contact ebay over chat? I assume the buyer can't now change his reason by selecting anything on his account?

[tressygirl]

eBay opened a case for item not received?  My !! that was the Wrong case !

The buyer has received an item,  albeit an empty box,  so if you add tracking to the case it will close it in your favour,  no need to refund.

This of course is not right,  as the buyer is missing their item.  If this was Not a Simple Delivery transaction then they would not see ' damaged in transit'  as an option to select.

A case has been opened so another , correct case,  cannot be opened.

The buyer should contact CS explain they were advised to open the incorrect case,  and hope this can be corrected for them.

@papertones 

[papertones]

Just to add, I'm also getting mixed messages from my emails from ebay and what's showing on the case on my ebay account.

For example I have an email from ebay that states: 'For next steps, we’ll track the buyer’s return to you and then deduct the refund and original postage amount from your funds once it’s delivered.'

And then on the case on my ebay account it states: 'We asked the buyer to return the item for a refund. When tracking details show that the item is delivered, we'll issue a refund to the buyer on your behalf. This case will not affect your seller level.'

One sounds like I'll be paying the refund, the other sounds like ebay will be. Unless I'm not reading it right.

It also makes no sense to me that ebay is initiating a return, if the real reason given to ebay was item not recieved. In ebays eyes surely they wouldn't expect the buyer to even have any packaging to return, let alone an item?

[papertones]

I guess I am reading it wrong, by on your behalf I assume they mean, we will do it, using your money.

I'll contact ebay and see what can be done. Got a feeling I'm going to lose out here yet I can't think of anything differently I could have personally done to change this outcome.

Thanks all.

[john1297576]

Probably you should have come here first, rather than involve ebay who have just managed to confuse the issue.

[papertones]

You're probably right. However I just kind of went with the flow of what I got from the buyer/ebay. The only time I got involved was when ebay said we are allowing the buyer to return the item. So alarm bells rang then.

Anyway, I have managed to get a call back from ebay this morning. The Agent was very understanding. He seems to think I have done everything right and he's now put the case on hold to ask the buyer for more information, but said he can't see an issue from my end and both parties should be covered.

Thanks for your help. Guess I'll see what happens!

[arkwebus]

Please let us know the outcome ...

@papertones 

[papertones]

UPDATE: So as I mentioned before the agent put the case on hold for 10 days while awaiting more information from the buyer. I kept in contact with the buyer and let him know the situation.

Anyway today is 10 days. I originally got an email from eBay addresing me as the buyer, asking me to contact action fraud?! I replied to eBay to tell them I am the seller, not the buyer. I also explained the situation again.

They replied, 'good news, case closed' in my favour. No further action, thanked me for my 11 years loyalty etc.

It also said the buyer would not be getting their refund. Due to a lack of response to the action fraud request. Well if it was the one they accidently sent to me, he wont have got it, and as it was only accidently sent to me today then he also wouldn't have had time to respond.

I've been in touch with the buyer, and he's as confused as me, but I believe he's going to try and take the transaction up with his bank.

Obviously the outcome is postive for me, but I can't help but feel sorry for the buyer in this case. Unless of course he hasn't done something eBay asked him to that I don't know about.

[tobiasd4]

You need to be careful. 

If buyer has done bank chargeback, ebay rarely defend it and make you pay. 

Make sure you reply with tracking etc.

[john1297576]

Just for information, opening the wrong case”Not received” when tracking shows as received,  it is possible that the correct case could then have been opened.

This is similar to the only time a second correct case can be opened, although usually it is where an item has not arrived, but then turns up but is faulty and buyer can then open a Not as described case.

Because tracking showed as delivered, despite the blame for opening the wrong case, was down to advice from ebay, this could have meant that a second case would not have been allowed.

[papertones]

When the buyer reached out originally with photos of the package that had been damaged in transit and was now empty, I informed him that to the best of my knowledge he would need to report it to eBay using anything that matched 'damaged/missing in transit'. I wasn't sure of the exact wording eBay used, but knew it had to be something like that. He said he didn't have an option that matched that at all he had was 'Item Not Received'. He contacted eBay who told him to use that option. Which is mind blowing to me, because it was Simple Delivery and eBay could even see the tracking and that it was delivered. I guess the 'item' wasn't received technically, but the package was.

[papertones]

Oh joy, I'll look forward to that.