Refund for buyer who has taken item abroad

[swanhilda99]

Hello! I wonder if anyone can give some advice. I sold a nice vintage 1980s dress to a buyer, and used the eBay postage system to send it to an address in the UK. At the time I noted that the buyer was from Bulgaria and the address was a forwarding company, and my policy is not to sell internationally because it's more complicated, but as it was a UK address I thought it was okay.

I have now had a message from the seller in Bulgaria saying that she is unhappy with some areas that have some age-related yellowing and wants a refund. I'm happy to do that as I didn't call out any yellowing (I didn't notice any, but it is 40 years old and the photos she sent show a couple of small marks), but she says that she can't return it as it would cost too much to post. She also wants me to raise a seller refund instead of raising a buyer return request.

What do I do? I feel it is annoying not to get the item back as I didn't intend it to go abroad, but there doesn't seem to be an affordable way to return items of this kind and I don't want lots of hassle / negative feedback. Also, is it better for me to initiate the return or is it better for her to request one?

Thank you so much everyone!

[**peaseblossom**]

She cannot expect a full refund without returning the item.   You can either tell her to open a return on ebay and she will be required to send it back.   Or you could negotiate a partial refund and she keep it (maybe resell it herself).   If she chooses the latter you can issue that without her opening a case.   A return would be for the UK address she supplied to ebay.

[red_magpie]

Somewhere in eBay's money back guarantee it used to  say that items delivered to a forwarding address to be sent abroad are disqualified from eBay's money back guarantee.

The old money back guarantee policy was a proper legal document, a bit long but clearly set out. eBay's ghastly new, dumbed-down Noddy style policy for buyers is designed to make everything seem "simple" but actually makes it almost impossible to read the full details and conditions: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-poli...

I would suggest going instead to the version issued for sellers, which seems to be more or less the original: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-poli...

I'm sorry, but I don't have time now to check whether the exclusions for items bought to be forwarded abroad is still present.

[john1297576]

At worse, if buyer opened a not as described case, you would only have to supply a return label for the UK to return from original address. Buyer would then have get the dress to the UK for it to be returned to you.

I thought once forwarded it invalidated the money back guarantee, but in any case the 30 days would start to run from delivery in the UK, so has it fun out of time.

[jckl1957]

As advised, do not refund this buyer - or chancer!

If they want a refund they must open a return case through Ebay.

Then you will have to supply a label.  This will only cover UK postage and you won't be charged if it is not used.

They are unlikely to return it as they would actually have to buy their own tracked postage from Bulgaria.

Personally, I would insist they start a return through Ebay.

If they message you and hassle you, just repeat the 'I will only deal with a return through Ebay' message.

if they do decide to leave a negative, you will be able to honestly respond that you offered a return and refund.

[swanhilda99]

Thank you very much, everyone, for your advice. This is really helpful and reassures me that I'm not being unreasonable in thinking the item should be returned. I'd be very happy to refund in full and pay the return postage for the item to be returned, but that doesn't seem possible. I will follow the suggestions above and pursue the eBay route - thank you!

[red_magpie]

I have now found the clause in the money back guarantee which states that using any form of mail redirection disqualifies a transaction from cover. This would seem to apply if your buyer used a forwarding company to send the item to Bulgaria after delivery to the registered uK address.

[swanhilda99]

Oh, thank you so much for taking the trouble to check that and let me know - I really appreciate it!



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