Item damaged in transit overseas buyer wants to return

[lesleytip]

Sold an ornament and wrapped carefully but arrived damaged.  I did not realise this was going to the US and that the address I had was a shipping centre.  The buyer understandably wants a refund as the foot has been broken off.  If the buyer returns do I have to pay all of the costs or just the UK part?  States on return from ebay that I should leave until the 22nd if I believe it was damaged after it got to the shipping centre, how do you prove that, is there much chance of a claim being accepted or should I just refund now and put this down to experience.  I have not come across this before so any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[geosacha007 · Accepted solution]

Since this seems to be a sale made using ebay's global shipping scheme you are not responsible for damage in transit. Ebay should refund the buyer who will not need to return the item.  It is important that the buyer chooses damaged in transit as the reason for needng a refund.

Someone can hopefully tell you exactly what you and the buyer need to do.  Don't rush into anything before getting the advice.

[lesleytip · Accepted solution]

Thank you, yes, they did purchase through global shipping and said it cost more than the item! I was worried I would have to pay that too but really the item is of no use to me damaged anyway so negates the necessity to have the item returned.
Hopefully someone will be able to offer further advise......

[ruby*tuesday · Accepted solution]

You need to Contact Ebay from Help and Contact at the top of the Page and ask to speak to the Global Shipping Team and Add the Global Shipping Reference Number into the Case Notes. Do this before your Buyer can Escalate the Case for Ebay to Step in. If they do you would have to fully Refund.

For future reference you can Opt out of Global Shipping and use your own Carrier.

[john1297576]

You should be aware that you are offering the very expensive Global shipping.

In my opinion sellers should never offer a service they do not understand.

On your listings it will say "Posts to UK and Many other Countries".  That means Global, if you don't want to sell overseas, you should opt out and set your shipping preferences to exclude World Wide.

In most cases it is easy enough to sell overseas, and it is far cheaper for buyers.  For example there are plenty of instances where a 99p item sold overseas costs up to £15 in postage using Global. It would not be cheap but you could probably post for about £5.