When will return (not dispatched/received) time out?

[daniellesnillum]

Very rarely sell anything on eBay and haven't had to issue a return for a long time.

I sold an iPhone which shortly after receiving, the buyer said the phone is faulty. I don't believe this to be true (at least before it was potentially tampered with) but that's another story..

I accepted the buyer's request to return after they denied a partial refund on December 13th. When I now go on the return details, it says "We've asked the buyer to post the item back by 30 Dec. Wait until you get the item back before issuing a refund.You should wait until you get the item back before you refund the buyer. Please make sure that you issue the refund within 2 working days of the item being delivered back to you. If the buyer doesn't send the item back by 30 Dec we may close this return."

On the progress bar of the return you can see that 'return started' has been checked off but 'item despatched' is still not checked off and I have had no communication from the seller or eBay to say that the phone has been sent back to me yet.

Tomorrow is December 30th and I am wondering what will happen/what I should do once that date comes and goes if the buyer still hasn't sent the phone back to me. I've read some posts where escalating to eBay results in the buyer getting the refund *and* keep the item, which I obviously don't want to happen, so is it best to sit put and do nothing after the 30th? How can I ensure that the return case will time out/close in my favour and I don't lose both my money and the item?

Would appreciate any words of wisdom!

Thanks,

Danielle

[m25jet]

If the buyer still hasn't posted the phone back to you by tomorrow then the eBay Returns Label may well time out, depending upon the date of issue.  If that is indeed the case then as a result of the returns label timing out due to never being downloaded and printed off so that the buyer could return the phone to you then eBay would more than likely conclude that the buyer had changed his mind and decided to keep the item, in which case they should close the case in your favour and you would not be obliged to issue a refund.  If, on the other hand, you did end up receiving the phone back again then refund the buyer's money via the case as soon as possible.  That way the buyer's money will be refunded and the case will automatically close, thus denying the buyer the chance to escalate the case to eBay and force a refund, as there was no need for him to have to do so.  If you did get the phone back again and refunded the buyer before the case could be escalated you would not end up with a defect on your selling account.

Should the buyer return the phone in a condition that would suggest that it has been tampered with, or worse still, if the buyer sends you a completely different item, report the buyer to eBay using the Report Buyer function.  That way a report will be filed against the buyer's account.  If eBay start to get a lot of similar reports from other buyers they ought to start watching the buyer's account more closely and if there is consistent evidence that the buyer is abusing the eBay Money Back Guarantee then eBay may well restrict the buyer's use of the eBay Money Back Guarantee.  In extreme cases where repeat offending is evident the buyer may well end up finding that eBay decide to chuck him off of the site for good and close his account down.  If that does indeed happen then at least he can't screw anybody else over.

Whatever the final outcome of the case, if you have not already done so add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List.  In order to access the Blocked Bidders List click on this link https://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin and add the buyer's User ID to the big white box that appears on the screen.  Once you have done that click on the Submit button beneath that box to confirm the updates to your Blocked Bidders List and from that point onwards the buyer will not be able to purchase anything else from you in the future and cause you any further aggravation.

[daniellesnillum]

Thanks for your reply. Because the buyer put 'doesn't fit' as reason to return the phone, I did not have to provide a return label, it said that the buyer would have to pay for return postage - does this affect anything?

So is the best form of action no action, unless of course I do receive the phone and in which case I would of course issue a refund? Wondering whether to just wait and allow eBay to close the return in due course or whether to contact them to do this once the return date the buyer was given has passed. Do you know how long it tends to take for eBay to close the return once the date has passed?

[m25jet]

If eBay have decided that the buyer has to pay the return postage because he chose "Doesn't Fit" as the reason why he wants to return it then that alone may be enough to put the buyer off of returning the phone to you, as even if he got a refund you would only be obliged to refund the purchase price, inclusive of the postage and packing costs he originally paid, but not for the return postage. Therefore, if the cost of paying to return the phone to you would make a big enough dent in his refund, then he might just decide not to bother returning it in the first place.

If you don't receive the phone then don't issue the refund. If eBay have given you a date when they'll close the case by then hold out for that date - if the phone isn't returned by that point eBay will close the case and you will be under no obligation to issue a refund.

Although a buyer has a maximum of thirty days to open an eBay case I'm not sure as to how long a buyer has to actually return the item from the date that the return request was accepted. Buyers get fourteen days to use an eBay Returns Label before it expires, but given that the buyer will have to provide his own label in this case I'm not sure if the fourteen days rule still applies. Perhaps somebody else with more knowledge on that particular aspect of the matter will be able to advise you on that point.

If the buyer doesn't return the phone then the best option would probably be to just sit tight and wait for the case to run out. If that happens and the buyer still hasn't returned the item the case would close automatically and the buyer would not be able to open another case in the eBay Resolution Centre in relation to the same item.