eBay

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-04-2016

Late last week a U.S, buyer requested a buyers remorse return. I approved the return but suggested she wait to send it because of a possible strike. I was worried that the strike would start before the package entered Canada and that it would be sent back to her. I need to let her know what is going on but I'm not sure if I should tell her to go ahead and mail it now or to keep waiting. At this point I don't know if she is annoyed or not about the wait.

Suggestions?

i.am.vivian · ‎07-04-2016

Talk to her. Tell her how frustrated you are with all the dithering at CP. Send her a link about it. Say all Canadian sellers are getting fed up with it. How she responds will give you a good idea how its going to go and how to handle it.

If she puts it in the mail now and the tracking shows its on its way you can always just refund her and wait for the item to eventually arrive in the autumn. 🙂

avenueshopswapsell · ‎07-04-2016

If she's in the states, have her ship it Fed Ex or UPS....make sure she marks its as a return.

dutchman48 · ‎07-04-2016

I asked this question on the weekly chat and never did get an answer.

Anonymous · ‎07-05-2016

Don't refund until you received it!!

rose-dee · ‎07-05-2016

@dutchman48 wrote:
I asked this question on the weekly chat and never did get an answer.

So did I, and neither did I.

I agree with "iamvivian' -- my inclination would be to communicate clearly with the buyer about the impending strike, send her a news link or something similar, then ask her to return the item (with a tracked service). Once I could see from the tracking that the parcel was on the way, I'd refund as a show of good faith. There is a good chance it will at least get over the border. I'd make sure the buyer marks it as a return, otherwise time will be wasted in processing by at CBSA at the border.

I'm not 100% certain that parcels from out of Canada would get returned to the sender if they reach the border at a time when CPC is shut down. Don't they get warehoused somewhere until the strike is over? Someone with more inside knowledge of CPC's workings might be able to confirm what happens.

Nonetheless, if this item isn't worth hundreds of dollars, personally I'd refund once I could see it was on the way. If you find out that parcels will be turned back at the border if the CPC strike goes ahead, you could warn the buyer in advance that this might happen. Then you have another muddle to sort out afterward.

This is exactly why a clear policy statement by eBay on this subject in the event of a strike would have been very helpful to sellers. They've left Canadian sellers to twist in the wind on their own over returns of any kind.

i.am.vivian · ‎07-05-2016

@rose-dee wrote:

I'm not 100% certain that parcels from out of Canada would get returned to the sender if they reach the border at a time when CPC is shut down. Don't they get warehoused somewhere until the strike is over? Someone with more inside knowledge of CPC's workings might be able to confirm what happens.

It is my understanding that they get warehoused somewhere. That's what happened last time. CP would lose public support if every single piece of mail was sent back to the sender. Its one thing to wait for weeks and weeks but quite another to not get anything at all because a squabbling backbiting postal system mailed everything back.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-07-2016

As I said in the op I told the buyer about the possible strike when I approved the return and asked her to hold off mailing it until July 2 as I hoped that I would have more info then. I also told her that if she wanted delivery confirmstion for first class, she would have to purchase the postage online. She either didn't see or ignored my message as she mailed the package a day or two later and it looks liike she purchased the postage at the post office. The "tracking number" she uploaded on July 5 shows that the item left the post office on June 30 and there has been no info on USPS or CP since then. I think that the number she gave me is a customs number which sometimes does get scanned all the way to delivery but there is no guarantee that it will.

At this point, I'm just going to wait and see what happens. My main concern when I posted was whether I should tell her to post it now or wait but that isn't a factor now.