Combined postage not worked how to refund

[lava826]

I have automated shipping on but for some reason it hasn't worked and a buyer has been charged postage for about five different clothing items they've bought from me. 

I've agreed to combine postage so need to figure out how to resolve. 

has the postage cost actually come to me? If I refund the postage costs is that coming out of the money they paid me or out of my own money? 

and how do I refund postage when that's sometimes more than the cost of the item itself? 

[ed_58611]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/postage-rates/offering-combined-postage?id=4169

[lava826]

This doesn't help me. 

the cost of the postage comes to more than the cost of the items they've ordered so it wouldn't let me refund the total cost of postage they have paid. 

[ed_58611]

You should be able to make a partial refund from your account for each of the purchases... I know this for a fact as a seller from whom I bought was forced to do exactly that on a large number of Giles annuals that I had prearranged to buy with combined postage but the transactions went through individually... and yes, the postage was more than the items.

[tressygirl]

This is how to make a partial refund to your buyer,  for the excess postage paid.

You may need a PC/laptop and not the app or mobile browser to do this,  Chrome and Firefox work best with eBay.

If you are on My eBay Selling,  go right of the item sold and from More Actions select Refund this item.  Be careful to then add the correct amount of refund you wish to make,  or you will refund the whole amount.

If you are on the Seller Hub, click on the item in Orders >>  Posted and Awaiting your Feedback.   Then top left click on View Order details. Far right from More Actions Drop down menu,  you will see Refund this item. 

One tip,  before you send the partial refund,  mark the item as dispatched,  there is a quirk in eBay's programming if you send a partial refund first,  you then cannot mark as dispatched.

@lava826 

[1956glyn]

It may be the old school way of doing it BUT if i have difficulties refunding postage on the site when the buyers already paid .....i just include the cash in the parcel and let the buyer know what i am doing

[tressygirl]

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@1956glyn wrote:

It may be the old school way of doing it BUT if i have difficulties refunding postage on the site when the buyers already paid .....i just include the cash in the parcel and let the buyer know what i am doing

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Oooh a lot of trust would be involved here adding a £5 / £10 note let alone coins,  in a returned parcel?  A seller could not prove that was sent,  buyer could easily say no money received.

I'd stick to the ' new school ' way personally,  and send it via means through a laptop / PC/ app device.

[1956glyn]

As we both know a lot of trust is involved in a sale or return on the site 😞    If someone wants to rip you off they can and will.

Maybe i am too trusting 😂

[tressygirl]

Yep, it's very well to be trusting but  as we see here all the time ' empty boxes' claimed to have been received,  when sellers post nice i Phones inside!

Personaly,  I would ever sell an item online that I could not afford to lose,  either in the delivery process or to chance the item being sent back in the same condition as sent out.

Yep,  sad show of the times now !  😶

[lava826]

I'm still having the same issue, that it won't let me refund more than what the buyer paid for the item (the postate is a bit more than the price of the item)

Can I cancel the order (after agreeing with buyer) and instead create a new listing with a combination of the items they wanted and have it go through as one order? I don't want to do this if it has some negative consequence I've not thought of

[tressygirl · Accepted solution]

Cancelling and rrelisting would be the best option here, but you must have the buyer's permission to do this so cancelling citing ..... Buyer Requests to Cancel will not have any detrimental effects on your selling performance.  

One tip,  when sending a message to your buyer,  make it very , very clear in that message that you are cancelling,  to be able Relist the item on eBay for them to buy on eBay. 

Make this clear that it's not being removed for an off eBay sale,  eBay read all messages going through their system.  Leave no grey areas there,  for any misunderstanding for your actions.

@lava826 

[1956glyn]

I jinxed myself.......another false claim where the buyer wants a refund without return. Says item damaged but their own picture shows it perfect as it was when sent.

I am seriously thinking about giving up Ebay 100% as its just not worth the aggravation to us at the minute.

[ed_58611]

Are you absolutely sure about that, because it was my understanding that eBay closely monitors when Sellers cancel orders citing "problems with buyers address" & "at buyers request"?

The cancellation process was updated at the end of August, but abusing the cancellation process by citing false reasons is still against eBay's policy it appears.

Formerly, when the seller was proven to have misclaimed the reason, eBay would change said reason and the seller's account would receive a defect.

With the recent addition of the "Cancel order" button would it make better sense to ask the buyer to cancel, provided they would not receive a defect in doing so?

I'm not a seller here but would be glad of learning how the policy operates now.

[tressygirl]

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@ed_58611 wrote:

Are you absolutely sure about that, because it was my understanding that eBay closely monitors when Sellers cancel orders citing "problems with buyers address" & "at buyers request"?

The cancellation process was updated at the end of August, but abusing the cancellation process by citing false reasons is still against eBay's policy it appears.

Formerly, when the seller was proven to have misclaimed the reason, eBay would change said reason and the seller's account would receive a defect.

With the recent addition of the "Cancel order" button would it make better sense to ask the buyer to cancel, provided they would not receive a defect in doing so?

I'm not a seller here but would be glad of learning how the policy operates now.

In the example I have given above,  the seller  is helping the buyer out here, and must explain why they are cancelling so they can relist  these items together with one postage cost.  So if the buyer agrees then the option to cancel citing Buyer requests to cancel is correct, as they are agreeing, and yes, the buyer can equally send in a cancellation request , but to be fair some are not familiar with how to do this.

If an incorrect address is provided for example taking an item to the Post Office to be told the postcode does not exist, and the buyer is not then replying to the seller's request for a correct address to be provided,  then cancelling citing Problem with Buyer's address is all good. No defect applied here no abuse of cancelling is being made

I agree there are sellers who through being new or just mis pricing an item are not happy when an auction has finalised on a low price and then selects Buyer Requests to Cancel,  this of course is wrong,  the seller is trying to avoid a damaging defect and the exerpt you included ' Abusing the Cancellation Process' comes into play here,   the buyer can contact CS inform then they did not agree to the cancellation,  and then that defect may be applied.

Hope that explains it a little clearer, apology for it being a ' little long winded'!

@ed_58611 

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[ed_58611]

I can accept that it's OK when there is consensus between seller & buyer - lets hope the bots can make the same distinctions! - but I'd still like to know if a buyer could receive a defect for "too many" of such requests, usually in a rolling year, or have their buying privileges restricted?

[tressygirl]

Well if a buyer requests too many refunds,  opens too many cases for item not as described,  then they can receive buying restrictions.

eBay wiill not reveal the limits a buyer has to cross to be restricted, but yes too many cancellations could well raise red flags to eBay too.

@ed_58611