Do I have to fully refund someone for an item returned to me?

[magsgeorge]

Hi, i sold a pair of headphones the week before Christmas and ensured pre Christmas delivery by paying extra on postage for the buyer.  21 days later the buyer sends them back without telling me and asks for a refund.  They have already arrived back and appear to have been untouched by the buyer.  Do i have any obligation to refund him?  My advert clearly stated NO RETURNS due to hassle i have had before.

I am happy to give the buyer a partial refund which would be what he paid minus the cost of postage that i cannot recover.  The postage cost be £6 so can i deduct that off the price paid and give a refund for that?  I thought i could but it says that the buyer has to keep the item if it is a partial refund!

IT WAS THE BUYERS CHOICE TO RETURN, HE CLEARLY STATED THAT HE WANTED TO RETURN THEM AS HE DECIDED HE DOESN'T WANT THEM NOW.

SURELY I HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO ACCEPT THIS AS HES HAD THEM FOR 21 DAYS AND ONLY JUST MADE THIS DICISION

Thanks for the help, I am not bothered about changing my returns agreement as its the last time i am selling on eBay.  Its just not worth the hassle as i am not £6 worse off after having relisted this item after two previous no payment sales.  Absolute waste of time, eBay you should look after your sellers.

red_magpie - Buyer said that he wanted to return as he decided he did not want it anymore.  The refund request has come through eBay resolution as an ordinary return request.  The item was delivered to a UPS access point on 24th December.  Appreciate your response to this now as i really don't want to issue a full refund to someone who has just decided they no longer want the item!

[m25jet · Accepted solution]

Given that the buyer has returned the headphones to you in exactly the same condition that you sent them out in you cannot now withhold the buyer's money.  Therefore, if you have not already done so by the time that you read this reply refund the buyer's money via the eBay case, otherwise if the buyer escalates the case eBay will force a refund and your account will be hit with an account-damaging defect.

In the event that the buyer just returned the item without even opening a case in the eBay Resolution Centre send him/her an e-mail to confirm that you have received the headphones back again, but point out that in order to refund the money via the proper channels you need him/her to open a case in the eBay Resolution Centre.  Once the buyer has done this refund the buyer's money via the case as soon as possible.  If you do this then the case will automatically close as soon as the refund has been issued, and your account will not have been damaged in any way as a result of the buyer opening a case in order to secure a refund, as if the case was never escalated to eBay then you won't receive a defect unless you make the mistake of issuing the refund via PayPal and not via the case, in which case you'd be hit with a refund-related defect.

Finally, it may be worth changing your "No Returns" policy, as if a buyer had a genuine reason to return the item, such as a change of mind but then realised that you do not accept returns it may well result in the buyer opening a false Item Not As Described case just to secure a refund.  eBay always decide in the buyer's favour in Item Not As Described cases, so in order to reduce the risk of a buyer opening an unjustified Item Not As Described case change your returns policy so that it says something along the lines of "I will accept returns for items so long as they are returned to me in the same condition, inclusive of any packaging that was shown in the listing."  That way if you get a buyer who wants to return an item purely due to a change of mind you're less likely to end up with an Item Not As Described case being opened against you so that the buyer can force a refund for the item if you don't refund the money voluntarily.