Return Advice

[Crystal]

Hi guys,

First post but I have been listening to you guys for a while now.

I wanted your advice on how to handle a return. I sold an item – a musical decoration – bear that plays piano – on December 5th. Before I shipped the item I assembled it to test it and took a short video of it working because it was kind of expensive ($110) and I wanted to be safe. The buyer opened a return request on yesterday – January 7th – past the 30 day return window – saying that it doesn’t work, the keys don’t move and there is a buzzing sound and they want to return and do not want to pay return shipping. I don’t want to accept the return at all since I know it was working. They claim they bought it early as a birthday gift for someone and only just discovered that it doesn’t work. Before I call ebay and get 5 different answers from different reps, what would you guys do?

Thanks for everything,
Crystal

[Terri]

I think the 30-day return window is from the day that they receive the item, not the day you sold it, so they may have filed the request just before your return policy expired.

If they went through the Ebay return process, is the option for you to deny the return there? I’ve been shown that option in the past for the few return requests that have come to me past my return window.

[Ryanne]

my question is similar, did they just message you or open a return case?

[Crystal]

They opened a case yesterday and I don’t see the option to decline the return.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Crystal.

[Ryanne]

call ebay. let us know what they say.

[Zach]

Quick word of advice: If it is past the return period, DO NOT decline the return. Call eBay and ask to have the return closed out. This way it blocks any feedback from the buyer. I learned the hard way. I declined a return request that was past the 30 day limit and the buyer immediately left negative feedback. Ebay has repeatedly refused to remove it.

[Crystal]

Good to know about calling ebay instead of declining the return. I have never declined a return before (despite really wanting to) but I will keep this in mind if/when I need to.

[Crystal]

The rep that I spoke to told me to message the buyer and tell them to send it back to me at their expense and then I can credit the buyer or not depending on whether the item appears to have been damaged by them. His first comment after I summarized what was going on was, “That seems fishy” because of the length of time that lapsed before they reported it defective. While I agree, I’m not too confident about the advice he gave me. If they open the case as ‘defective’ aren’t I required to pay return shipping? Also, if they say they don’t want to pay the return shipping and we get to January 12th without a resolution, doesn’t it go in the buyer’s favor since I have a 30 day return policy and they opened this within 30 days of receiving it (Terri was correct about that). I have gotten bad advice before and barely avoided a defect after a return was escalated supposedly in my favor but not.

[sonia]

Crystal,
I got the same advice from ebay on a recent return, and it all turned out fine in the end. I just made sure that I called them when I received the undamaged item back to confirm that the right thing to do was to refund the buyer via paypal (minus my restocking fee), and then I called them after I did that and provided the paypal transaction id number, and they closed out the return/case. I think this must be how they are now working around their software, which doesn’t seem to be able to handle the “incorrect return reason” situation.

My understanding is that if you try to do the refund via the ebay website, this will result in the buyer getting refunded original shipping as well, so that’s why I was advised to use paypal instead.

Sonia

[Crystal]

Thanks Sonia. I’ll give it a try and hope for the best.

[Author]

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