Buyer claimed non receipt, I refunded, Now RMail confirm delivery late BUT ebay+Paypal refuse refund

[jenni-4-more]

Hi, I sold an item which albeit 28 days later the buyer claimed non receipt.

When I checked the tracking it showed attempted delivery 25 days earlier with collection advice for buyer.

He said no card was left so It hadn't been picked it up.

I expected it to come back to me or get lost forever, been there got the Tee shirt So I refunded to clear the case up.

Only hours later I went to RM site to post loss claim AND guess what, it had been marked as delivered (or collected ??) so no claim there.

Ebay havent marked it as delivered (well who knew ?) all the info is there on ROYAL Mails site  BUT neither Ebay or Paypal will shoulder responsibility they say because I refunded, (You know gave the buyer there money back like the good seller they say we should be.)

I have asked and been ignored by the buyer when I asked him to return either the goods or the refund and he doesn't reply.

I'm stuffed, by all concerned ANY advice ?

[m25jet]

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@jenni-4-more wrote:

Hi, I sold an item which albeit 28 days later the buyer claimed non receipt.

When I checked the tracking it showed attempted delivery 25 days earlier with collection advice for buyer.

He said no card was left so It hadn't been picked it up.

I expected it to come back to me or get lost forever, been there got the Tee shirt So I refunded to clear the case up.

Only hours later I went to RM site to post loss claim AND guess what, it had been marked as delivered (or collected ??) so no claim there.

Ebay havent marked it as delivered (well who knew ?) all the info is there on ROYAL Mails site  BUT neither Ebay or Paypal will shoulder responsibility they say because I refunded, (You know gave the buyer there money back like the good seller they say we should be.)

I have asked and been ignored by the buyer when I asked him to return either the goods or the refund and he doesn't reply.

I'm stuffed, by all concerned ANY advice ?

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To be honest it sounds as though you were panicked into refunding the buyer to try to keep your account clean and avoid a defect, but what you should have done would have been to check the tracking details first to see whether the item had been delivered or not.  If at that point you had spotted that the item had been delivered you could have refused the refund, as when the buyer tried to escalate the matter to eBay they would have decided the case in your favour when they saw that the tracking proved that the item had been successfully delivered to the buyer.

Although it may seem as though there's nothing you can do now, don't give up just yet.  Contact eBay Customer Services using the Call Me Back option, ideally in the morning from 8:00am onwards, as that way you've got a better chance of getting a call from an eBay representative who speaks English as his/her first language.  Explain to the eBay representative what has happened and state that the buyer alleged that the item had not been delivered, so you refunded the money to avoid a defect but the tracking shows that the buyer has successfully received the item.  State that in light of the fact that the buyer received the item he isn't entitled to an Item Not Received refund and ask eBay to revoke the refund on that basis.  If you get lucky they may help you out and revoke the refund and reinstate the money back into your account.

In the event that eBay are of no use contact PayPal UK's Customer Service Team on 0208 080 6500 or 0800 358 9448 and explain what has happened, making sure that you ask them to check the tracking number.  PayPal tend to look into cases far more closely than eBay do, so if they put a trace on the tracking number and see that the item has been successfully received by the buyer at the address they gave you on the PayPal confirmation of payment e-mail they should revoke the undeserved refund and reinstate the funds back into your account.

Whatever the final outcome of this case, if you have not already done so add this buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List.  To do so click on this link https://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebay/isapi.dll?bidderblocklogin and add the buyer's User ID to the white box that appears on the screen.  Once you've done that click on the Submit button to confirm the changes and the buyer won't be able to purchase anything else from you in the future and cause you any further aggravation.

[rusticrye]

When you refund voluntarily, Ebay and PayPal (or any payment processor) can't reverse it.  You have to ask the buyer to repay.

You and the buyer have several options, but make sure you clearly tell the buyer they have a set timeframe in which to make cleared payment - I suggest allowing 14 days due to the holiday and Covid delivery delays - so that you're able to follow up via legal means should it become necessary, and so that they know where they stand.

The options:

You send a PayPal invoice to their email address.

They send a PayPal 'gift' payment to your email address.

You send them your bank details (sort code and account number) so that they can action a bank transfer (my favourite option every time).

They send you a cheque or crossed Postal Order via snail mail.

@jenni-4-more 

[john1297576]

Why do you think Ebay or Paypal would refund when tracking shows as delivered.

It is now up to you to ask the buyer to pay again. Most buyers do not expect a Freebie because of postal delays, just send a message and follow up with a Paypal Request for Payment.

Would be even better if the buyer sent you a Friends and Family payment then there would be no more fees to pay, and if you refunded correctly through a case, you would already have had the Ebay selling fee refunded.

[*susiesue*]

I'm in exactly the same position.

I went to do a PayPal invoice but I need the buyers email address which I can't find, I've looked at the PayPal page, the order details page and everywhere else I can think of but I can't fond it.

Unfortunately I no longer have the original 'your item sold' email

Does anyone know where I can find it?

Thanks

[red_magpie]

Buyers can open a case for a refund if an item is overdue by even one day. Forget the pressures of covoi, or Christmas. EBay gives the seller just three working days to respond, after which the buyer can escalate the case for eBay to enforce the refund.

This is over two weeks before Royal Mail will even accept that the parcel is lost. So why can't eBay at least require the buyer to return either the refund or the item if it arrives before RM treats the parcel as lost? Until then, the seller can't even claim compensation from RM, although eBay has already made them refund the buyer.

EBay could do this, and easily. This is the company which suspends members even on suspicion of planning to evade eBay's fees. Don't let's pretend that they couldn't similarly penalise buyers who have exploited a postal delay to keep something for nothing.

The fact is that eBay simply couldn't care less about sellers.

[pixiesen2012]

you have to ask the buyer to repay you,

ebay/paypal can't get the money back from them