Item sent tracked, spent 6 months in customs, attempted delivery - no answer. Refund?

[staro30]

Hi,

Buyer purchased item in Sept 2023. Sent international tracked by Royal Mail. Item spent 6 months in customs in destination country! It did have a CN22 customs sticker marked as 'gift'. Delivery attempted; no answer. Six weeks waited; I'm presuming a 'card' was left for buyer. Buyer did not collect or did not get a card. Item has now returned to me in the UK!

Buyer wants a refund. Happy to refund the cost of item but not postage as I will have no remit for refund from Royal Mail.

Any advice?

Thanks

Sta

[**peaseblossom**]

As far as eBay are concerned you don't have to refund at all.   They only allow 30 days for claims.   But obviously it is the right thing to do.   As it's been so long you'd have to send the money as a payment, eg. from your Paypal account.   I think it's fair to refund item price only.   Although they say they didn't get a card you'd think they'd have made enquiries before now.

[papso22]

Why was it marked as a gift?  That's a fraudulent customs declaration for an ebay sale.  Perhaps customs in the buyer's country wanted tax/duties hence the buyer not collecting the goods?

[*vyolla*]

For future reference, for an eBay sale you're supposed to tick the 'sale of goods' box on the CN22 declaration, not 'gift'.