Received refund for item damaged by GSP...but seller says it came out of their account

[sleepyki98]

I bought a speech generating tablet which arrived with a cracked touchscreen after being shipped through the "Global Shipping Program".

In the tracking, the package was listed as having undergone a "Special Handling Review" at the GSP centre in Erlanger, KY due to it being a "Potentially Restricted" item...I suspect that this involved opening the pkg to inspect the device, as seller advised that they'd used a new shipping box, but the box I received had a lengthwise cut along it that'd been taped over.  Based on the location of the damage, I suspect it occurred during the "Special Handling Review", when someone attempted to pry off or replace the tablet's protective silicone case.

Before contacting the seller, I searched the community boards to ensure that they wouldn't be on the hook for GSP damage if I requested a refund (e.g., https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Collector-Box-Sets-arrived-damaged-but-shipped-through-GS...), and was relieved to find out that didn't seem to be the case.

I initiated my refund request, taking care to mention that the GSP was responsible for the damage, and advised the seller to escalate my claim and confirm that the damage was GSP-related (and I can verify in the refund tracking that she did indeed note that the GSP was responsible in her initial response to eBay on the matter).

This morning I received the following message:

"The seller has asked eBay Customer Service to review this case and make a final decision.  We'll get back to you within 48 hours."

Within a few hours, I received a message from eBay confirming a refund:

"We have decided to issue you a courtesy refund for this case on Dec 30, 2020 to the PayPal account you used to purchase this item. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping."

I immediately wrote to the seller to thank them for their prompt assistance, and was shocked and dismayed when they told me the money for the refund had been taken out of their account, and now they're quite upset to be out both the cash and the device (which, fyi, is reparable).

1. What should they do?
2. Is there anything I can do to help her on my end?
3. Although this might be wishful thinking, might it be part of eBay's accounting process for refunds to initially be drawn out of the seller's account only to be reimbursed/credited back to them by eBay later on?

FYI, I tried to find a way to "dispute" my refund in eBay's system (to escalate/advocate on her behalf), but there doesn't seem to be an option like that for cases that have been closed in the buyer's favor.  

[reallynicestamps]

tyler@ebay 

This does not sound like anything that is supposed to happen with the Global Shipping Program which is above all a Seller Protection Program.

The buyer @sleepyki98  seems to have disputed and made it clear that the machine arrived safely at Erlanger and was very probably damaged there.

What should the buyer's next steps be to help his seller?

[marnotom!]

A little while ago on the .com discussion boards, an "international shipping specialist" who seems to pop up on there every so often wrote something to the effect that GSP-forwarded items that are flagged at Erlanger are often documented (photos, write-ups) in the event situations like this arise where follow-up is required.

It may well be that there was some damage to the laptop upon arrival at Erlanger, but relatively minor, or that there was something about the seller's packaging job that required documentation.  Perhaps the seller's packaging procedure led to it being further damaged in transit, but if there's documentation suggesting that the seller's packaging job wasn't up to snuff on the item's domestic leg, the parties responsible for forwarding the item to Canada and getting it to its final destination may be refusing to wear this one.

Or perhaps somebody misunderstood the write-up about the item's potentially restricted status.

I don't think there's anything the buyer can really do to help bail the seller out apart from encouraging them to file an appeal and ensure that they have a copy of the claim details.

ADDENDUM: If a "courtesy refund" was issued, that should mean that nothing came from the seller.  The usual hold is put on a seller's PayPal account when a GSP damage claim is made.  Perhaps the seller is confused and thinks that the hold means that their funds have gone bye-bye?

[sleepyki98]

FYI, I can see the refund posted to my bank account now, and can confirm that the listed source is definitely the seller's personal PayPal account.

[marnotom!]

Have you received a refund for the charges from PitneyBowes (i.e. the GSP) for your import charges and the shipping charges from Kentucky to where you are?

[marnotom!]

Ugh. That was badly worded. Let’s try again:

@sleepyki98, have you received a refund from PitneyBowes for your import charges and shipping charges (from Kentucky to your address)?

[sleepyki98]

No worries...I actually understood the first time you asked!  That's a very astute question.

No, I've actually only received a refund for the item and the domestic shipping charges (i.e., seller posting to Erlanger).  I haven't received a refund for the GSP portion of the shipping charges.

[marnotom!]

Somebody who’s had to go through the process of claiming a refund for a GSP-forwarded item damaged in transit may be able to advise better than I can at this point. If not, you should get in touch with customer service again if that refund doesn’t show up by, say, late next week. I don’t know what the “lag time” normally is between the two refunds. My guess is that for an actual “courtesy refund” the two reversals should show up pretty much at the same time in your PayPal.

It’s looking more and more like something went awry here.

[lady.stark]

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@marnotom! wrote:
It’s looking more and more like something went awry here.

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It's been a while since I opened a case like this for an item damaged at the GSP center, but both times, the refunds arrived at the same time. If your "import fees" have not been refunded, something did go awry in this case...

[sleepyki98]

UPDATE: I've checked my bank account again today, and the refund for the GSP portion is now listed (FYI, although, the posting date is the same as that of the refund for the item, for some reason it didn't show up in my list of transactions yesterday...however, the Tangerine website has been wonky since the year start, so I that might've been the issue ).

[tyler@ebay · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the tag @reallynicestamps!

Hi @sleepyki98 - happy to clarify on this. The wording that you've shared indicates that this was indeed a courtesy refund from eBay. In situations like this the mechanics of how a refund works can be confusing:

eBay issues a refund through the seller's PayPal account - meaning that we deposit the refund into the seller's PayPal account at the same time that the refund is issued. If you ask your seller to click into the transaction in PayPal they can see that the funds for this refund didn't come from them. 

In either case, if they have more questions they should consider contacting Customer Support so that they can review it with us and we can help them understand. Thanks!