Buyer Wants Refund without Return

[Bodines923]

Hello – we (Mom/Dad/Daughter) have been selling on Ebay for 3 years. We have over 4,000 feedbacks. We listen to the podcast every week and find it very helpful. I honestly have not spent much time on the Forum, but enjoy hearing topics in the podcasts that have come out of discussion here. In all this time we have never had a buyer refuse to return an item (free returns!!) – but is demanding his money back. The item is a vintage coleman air pump. Sold it for $30. It was still new, sealed. He said the battery wouldn’t take a charge. He sent a picture of the plug to the unit in the outlet as his proof it doesn’t work. He has been a seller since 2008 and has 130 feedbacks – all positive. We tried to explain that we are happy to send a refund, we would like the item back so that we can trouble shoot. We may use some of the parts ourselves if it no longer works. He said he no longer wants to be inconvenienced by this transaction and just wants his money back. We are top rated sellers. Do we have any protection? I am read in the Ebay Community that this happens but also that Ebay will force us to refund him and not return the item. If that is true, we will just do it and get it over with, but I am very frustrated by this. Any advice you can offer would be appreciated.

[Sharyn]

I’ve never heard of eBay forcing a seller to refund without a return. The only situation I can see that happening is if the item was damaged in transit and it would be hazardous to ship it back (like glass).

I suggest sending a message through the Facebook group eBay for Business or to their customer support email and asking the question.

[Bodines923]

Great suggestion, thank you!

[sonia]

I would simply ask him to open a return case – ebay is not going to do anything for him unless he opens one. Then see what happens – perhaps ebay will force him to send it back since he will be provided with a label. But either way, you’ll definitely have a defect on your record due to the return reason.

If I really wanted to avoid the defect, and since it’s not a big ticket item, I might just go ahead and refund via PayPal, and then contact ebay to get my FVF refund.

But I’m no expert – this has not happened to me before.

[Bodines923]

Sonia, we did ask him to open a return case and he refused (didnt want to be bothered with it). I will try the Facebook Ebay for Business and see if I can get them to respond.

[Jay]

We just tell buyers “We accept returns for any reason within 30 days”, then go silent. He cant force a return if he doesnt return it.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Jay.

[Bodines923]

Thank you, Jay and Ryanne. Do you worry about negative feedback? I suppose we could reach out to Ebay to get it removed at that time – as our emails back and forth clearly show what we offered.

[Jay]

Yep, if he leaves a negative feedback just get eBay to remove it. You clearly offered to take a return.

An oldie but a goodie:

[Bodines923]

Thanks again, I will be sure to let you know how this turns out!

[Ryanne]

came here to say what Jay said. offer to take a return and then silence. he doesnt want to be bothered opening a case and returning? his problem, not yours.

[sonia]

I meant what Jay said – if he doesn’t open a return, there’s nothing else for you to do. Easy.

[workhorse]

Sorry if this is thread hijacking, but what is the best way to keep the postage cost when it is the buyer’s responsibility? Send a partial refund on paypal? I changed my settings recently to “30 days, buyer pays return postage”, this being the case, are returns automatically paid for by the customer or do they try to charge it to me?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by workhorse.

[sonia]

It depends on the return reason. If the reason is “didn’t fit” or “didn’t like it” or something like that, the buyer automatically pays for return shipping – you don’t have to do anything. If the reason is “not as described” or “broken/doesn’t work” then you will be charged for the return shipping label.

[workhorse]

Thanks. What is the easiest way to tell if I am/will be charged?

[sonia]

Look at the “return reason” field of the return.

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