I’ve only ever done one return and refund, where I had to refund the postage the buyer paid (for me the send them the item), and then had to buy the postage label for them to return it to me.
I’ve never sold abroad (too much risk for the reward, for a private seller, in my opinion). But from the Global Shipping Programme (I’m assuming you used this) help page, it should be similar.
If your buyer asks you for a refund, you’re only expected to refund the cost of the item and what was charged for domestic postage. We’ll take care of refunding the international postage charges. Please handle any return postage costs directly with the buyer, depending on the reason for the return.
If you let the buyer keep the item, then you would just refund the original amount they paid, plus domestic postage. eBay should refund the extra costs they incurred.
So if you got £159, then eBay will take back that £159, plus the cost of domestic postage (£3.42?).
If you want the item back, then it will be the above, plus you need to sort out the return postage with the buyer. But I have no idea how that works – I would assume a return should be exempt from taxes, but I guess it would need to be done in a certain way to qualify?
I would have thought eBay would offer a returns process still, as they do for domestic returns. But the help page seems to suggest it is down to you.
Perhaps someone else can advise on this.
