Simple Delivery issues yet again! Cancelled order, process for refund of the delivery charge

[f3verdog]

Ebay in my opinion should be fined for their simple delivery methods.  

Yet again more issues, in this case had to cancel an order just after the buyer bought it, and short while later refunded.

Firstly the low £3 cost item would have only cost a 2nd class stamp to post, (of which I have many) but they charged £.290 or thereabouts.

When cancelling the order, because the money wasnt showing as available in my account, due to the next day rule thing, I therefore had to refund with my bank card.  Ok, fair enough, but then I see that postage is not refunded to me.

Then on looking at it, I then have to go through the motions of filling in a Simple Delivery Refund request form, where if I do not do this within 14 days I'm not eligible to a refund, that is a very scammy move as there is nothing in the cancellation that suggests no refund would be given unless look at the transaction details.  Many people may fall foul of not even realising this

They "simply" should not be charging the simple delivery fee until you choose to generate a label in the first place, which did not even happen.

Anyways, i've filled in the form.  Theres absolutely nothing in email to say confirming that I've even claimed the refund back, so whats to stop them making out I never filled it out (or if even an error made or such for reviewing)

I was already massively annoyed at this Simple Delivery fiasco over the months but this took it over the end.....on top of that, due to their calculated charge I'd have literally made 5p to add insult.

Because it then says it takes 14 days to receive a refund too, nothing to say if they invalidate the refund claim, I'm therefore too late to submit it

Once last few things are gone thats it I'm fully done after many years

[*vyolla*]

Sorry, I'm a bit confused here.

Did you buy a postage label before cancelling the order?

If you didn't buy one then you don't need to apply for a refund, which you'll only get if you used another trackable postage method.

[f3verdog]

I didnt buy a postage label at all, I didnt select to print the postage label or anything and only say the order details pages.

To be honest this was a very old listing that I thought wasnt even part of the migration to simple delivery, though the item had already been lost and I'd forgotten to remove the listing

I noticed that they had charged the fee already in the order details (actually on looking at it it was a 5p loss, not a gain!)

So my total funds is at -0.05 at the moment, it shows I was charged £2.70 for a label I didnt generate, but I've paid back according to that onto the bank account (I dont yet see the transaction on the bank app itself however but assume that will take some time)

[style_wise]

As a Buyer I prefer to have Royal Mail 2nd Class as an option for low cost things. That said Royal Mail 2nd Class Letter and Simple Delivery T48 Large Letter aren't comparable. The 87p stamp is for 5mm Letter size, up to 100g weight, untracked, with £20 insurance, delivered twice a week. A Simple Delivery £2.70 label is for 25mm Large Letter size,  up to 1 kg weight, Tracked 48, with £750 insurance, delivered 6-days' a week. Apples and oranges. 😉

[department28]

...'there is nothing in the cancellation that suggests no refund would be given unless look at the transaction details.  Many people may fall foul of not even realising this.'

I'm sure many have fallen foul of this, by not being aware that if they offer free postage, they will have to fill in a refund form within 14 days, if the Simple Delivery postage label is not used. I wonder how much postage money has not been refunded, for one reason or another, since the start of Simple Delivery?

So, is it the case that if an order is cancelled and refunded, and the postage label not downloaded or printed, the postage money will have been taken from the seller, and not automatically refunded?

[f3verdog]

well in my case it was definitely taken from me, the seller, and not showing on the automatic refund.  This god awful system they could at least give some sort of email acknowledgement that I have submitted the claim, to give as proof if I need to go to the online chat 2 weeks from now, but nope nothing, it is ridiculous.

But of course the most obvious solution, is they just do not charge postage fees until someone requests the label.  This is all the most pathetic business practice I've seen from any online company with the way things have been implemented

[department28]

'But of course the most obvious solution, is they just do not charge postage fees until someone requests the label.' 

This would mean anyone wanting to completely avoid using Simple Delivery would just not request the label, and buy their postage elsewhere. eBay would not want that to happen!

[f3verdog]

true, but there should be some mechanism to cover things like cancelled orders, eg not issuing any postage charge until do the generation of the label if forcing it on us, or issues such as packaging sizes being unable to match what they determine automatically.  Instead, everything has to be a headache....

[neovass0 · Accepted solution]

   I've found with cancelled orders, as long as I have not printed the label, I have always been refunded automatically a few days later, without filling out a form etc. It is not immediate, you just have to keep an eye on your payments. The refund happens without any communication.

[f3verdog]

thanks, yes that appears to have been whats happened now I presume, unless they processed the refund request I did already.  They still took money from the bank, but the same amount now showing as credit.

All this hassle could easily be resolved if they could update the wording of things during cancellations, on top of insisting on taking money for refunds from separate sources etc