What is best process for unclaimed return to sender item

[ctebay]

Hi–I just had a package returned to me as unclaimed return to sender. No communication from the buyer and no case opened. I’m not sure what the process is. I don’t see an option on ebay to deal with this situation. I’m assuming that I shouldn’t have to refund shipping. But I don’t see how to refund at all, let alone just item cost on ebay. I don’t want to cancel and get a defect. If I refund through Paypal, I’ll still get charged ebay fees. Anyone have advice?

[ebaymom]

Hi ctebay,
This has happened to me before. My suggestion is to do nothing and leave the ball in the buyer’s court. If/when they open a case you can take it from there and refund the buyer (minus shipping costs) to recoup your eBay fees. You did your part to ship to the address provided – it is not your fault they did not claim the package. If you do end up hearing from them and they still want the item, they can paypal you the shipping amount (at their cost) and you can re-send the item. You did your part as a seller to send the item to the address provided, you are not liable if they did not pick up their package… good luck…

[Jay]

You’ll probably get different answers here, but we’re with eBayMom. If you successfully ship to their address and its returned, you can send a courtesy message to let them know you received a returned package. Then its up to the buyer to pay for shipping again or ask for a refund.

[Retro Treasures WV]

I got a package back marked as refused several months after it was shipped. Weird…
Never heard a word from the buyer. It was so old that I had to refer to my email records to figure out when I sold it since it was over 90 days old.

I’ve just let it sit a couple weeks and I plan on relisting it this week. I’m on team “ball in buyers court”. I’m not going out of my way to hold the buyers hand. I have things to do.

[kaninekleenup]

I have 2 pkgs that were returned over the past year sitting on a shelf…one person said they would PayPal shipping costs to the correct address but never did. The other was a third party sale. It was returned. Never heard from the drop shipper…not sure when I’ll open them and relist them…

[totommyto]

Just adding my piece, Happened to me twice, sat on the packages for about 3 months, relisted, sold and shipped to another buyer, worked out to double sales. I know it feels weird, but sit & wait is best, then relist after enough time has passed. People die, go to jail, go wherever, or just forget. Enjoy the blessing, Lord knows we sellers put out the other way!

[ctebay]

thanks for all of the input. I’m going to wait to hear from the buyer at least for a few days then I need to decide if I want to reach out to them.

[pythonesk]

Would you believe we sold a rusty old farm implement (lawn ornament) for $100 and the guy never came and picked it up. Also, he lives in NYC so no idea why he’d want such a thing. That was a couple years ago. I guess we can re-sell it now, haha.

[aperture]

I had unclaimed returned to me in October. Buyer messaged me several times in Spanish asking where his item was. I responded to every message in Spanish (or google’s version of Spanish) and asked him to open an item not received case with eBay. I am still waiting, but I suspect that my buyer may have a language barrier impending his ability to pursue a case.

The value of the item was <$20 including shipping, so I think the buyer is not going to pursue it further.

[Author]

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