eBay

sharowals-9 · ‎13-11-2025

Anyone else who offers combined postage and gives the buyer a refund from SD orders only to find out that Ebay will not refund you for the unused postage fee? I was told that I must just stop using combined postage - which is a little unfair to the buyer I think? I Hate this new system that Ebay are using! I have had buyers cancel their orders because I told them they have to wait 30 days for an SD refund which is why I do the refund and expect Ebay to refund me - which they clearly don't !

maujohwai · ‎22-03-2026

@tressygirl wrote:
If by de merit you mean gives the buyer some strike on their account for claiming a refund, this would / could only happen if there was a pattern of many returns, leading perhaps to the conclusion the buyer is abusing eBay's 30 day MBG for refunds. One or a couple of returns for refunds, would not raise any red flags to eBay.

Do I think some rules / instructions are not clearly written. Yes, a Big Yes! I'm not sure if I was a first time buyer buying an item which was too small / too big, I could also select a reason ' not as described' not necessarily spotting the ' doesn't fit ' reason, no underhand selection there of evading a return postage cost. Yes, I'm sure many select the wrong reason purely in error, but there are some who ' know' how to bend those rules too, and evade that return postage cost. Hard one to call ! 🤔.
[...]

In the context of cancelling in order to re-buy so as to combine postage, cancelling before dispatch doesn't of course require a reason like 'not as described', nor any question of a return.

I have just had two separate orders from the same buyer, which I can post together, but I'm not going to cancel and ask them to re-buy, because I'm paying the postage and there's no benefit to them, and they might justifiably worry about losing the items. I'll just try buying both SD labels so as to trigger 'Dispatched' and then getting one refunded.

tressygirl · ‎22-03-2026

That's correct if you're cancelling orders so to combine them you should ask the buyer for their agreement to do this, then cancel citing ' Buyer Requests to Cancel, this fully refunds the buyer, you can relist items as one for the buyer to buy and pay again. No defects here for the seller's account.

Of course you can do as you suggest pack the items together and use one SD label, get a refund for the one not used. Be aware here, the danger of a dishonest buyer later claiming for one item not received, as you'd only have one tracking number to show one item posted. You would be forced to refund.

Of course you can post together without the faff and it is a faff , to cancel and relist but at least there you are covered, with one tracking covering both items.

Also, do it the way you suggest, you will wait at least 14 days for the payout for the ' untracked item'.

@maujohwai

tressygirl · ‎22-03-2026

@a45heaven wrote:

@tressygirl

I was asking if a buyer got a 'strike' for requesting to cancel (often the sellers narrative mentions combining items - only to be trumped by ebays rules)

sorry i must have mislead you - does the above situation attract a 'strike' for the buyer when they can not get a combined postage invoice , even when the seller states they offer combining.

No idea, but would think with a buyer's and a seller's agreement to cancel separate purchases to relist as to combine postage, why should there be any strikes?

a45heaven · ‎22-03-2026

@tressygirl

No idea, but would think with a buyer's and a seller's agreement to cancel separate purchases to relist as to combine postage, why should there be any strikes?

Yes in an ideal world i would agree - but this is ebay, do you think they could design a system to accommodate such actions?

I dont count having to call CS to remove defects as an acceptable route, unless ebay start paying users for their wasted time.