I made an error and listed the colour on an item - Do I have to pay the return postage?

[stripyzebras]

I made an error and listed an item as black when it was actually a very dark navy. The buyer emailed me and demanded a full refund on its arrival. I was going to ask her to open a return (as I didn't see why she should keep the item), but instead decided it wasn't worth the hassle and expense of having to refund through a returns case. I have refunded her in full (ie the complete amount she paid including the original postage).

I have now had a message from her saying she has sent back the item and a 'bill' for the return postage (twice the amount of postage I originally paid as I sent through tracked courier in a large box and she has apparently returned via Royal Mail which is more costly for large packages (not received the package yet, though). 

Am I obliged to pay her this return postage?  She hasn't opened a returns case. 

[*vyolla*]

I'd politely message her and pont out that any return must be done through eBay returns in order to generate a lreturns abel, but you've already refunded without requiring her to return the item.

There's nothing in place in eBay to force you to reimburse her for the return postage, it was daft of her to just go ahead and return it outside of eBay at her expense. 

[cm90691]

Thank you - those were my thoughts. I've probably done it the wrong way round by not asking her to open a case but I don't think a buyer can expect more than a full refund. In the past when a buyer said ' the colour doesn't match my wallpaper' (despite showing the colour on a paint chart and adding references to the website) I accepted a return on an item and it came back in a used condition. Sometimes it's better to accept a loss than pay for return.

[rusticrye]

You've made a complete mess of this. Ebay return requests are not a 'hassle' in any way whatsoever, but going down the DIY route as you have most definitely is...!  As you've (presumably) refunded from the PayPal transaction, you will not get the Ebay selling fee credited back to your Ebay account as you would have done if you'd refunded through an opened Ebay return request or case.

If you'd told the buyer to open a return request for not as described as you should have done, that would have forced you to pay for the return postage in advance. Just because she didn't do that, doesn't let you off the hook - the item is not as described, so you are legally fully responsible for her return costs. Unless you told her what carrier to use and what sevice to use, you have to refund what she paid, not what you think she should have paid. That is THE LAW.  If you don't, she can take legal action against you and will win. And that will cost you a small fortune. So send her a PayPal gift payment to cover her costs, and be done with it.

Finally, don't refund before getting the item back in future. You're lucky you have an honest buyer on your hands. If you hadn't, you'd have no way of getting the item back.

@stripyzebras 

[stripyzebras]

The point was that I decided I didn't need the item to be returned; that decision was made by the buyer and as she hasn't opened a 'item not as described' case I'm not sure that she can as she has already received a full refund.
I accepted that I had made a mistake and as such didn't go down a DIY route, but simply refunded her in full in the same way as I would if I had cancelled the transaction.

[stripyzebras]

Also as I haven't had the item back, how do you know she's 'an honest buyer'?