a buyer just opened a case asking for refund

I just got a buyer open a case for a comic book that hasn't arrived and she asked for a refund. The book was shipped 3 weeks ago from Japan and she is accusing me of never shipping the book in the case details. She didn't contact me prior to opening the case. 

 

What should I do now? This is the first case that ever happened to me. If I reins now, does it mean a defect is inevitable? 

 

Thanks for your input =(

Message 1 of 25
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a buyer just opened a case asking for refund

So, I obviously already replied and the buyer agreed to wait until August 1 as mentioned. If I do nothing else now, does it mean eBay will prompt the buyer to escalate the case by July 30th? Would it be "safer" for me to refund fully before the 30th so that the case can't get escalated?

 

 

I'm not sure if ebay will send the buyer a 'reminder' notice that they can 'ask ebay to step in'. Your buyer has agreed to wait so if you're comfortable that they understand and don't have a problem waiting, I wouldn't worry about the escalation date.

Message 21 of 25
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a buyer just opened a case asking for refund

I didn't add tracking as I explained to her that it'd add $15 or so to the total cost. Item is shipped from Japan, and my supplier offers either SAL or EMS. Upgrading to EMS would cost roughly another $15 or so. Not worth the additional cost.

 

The book I was selling at $19.50 and I accepted her offer of $17 after a few back and forth offers. Makes no sense to add tracking and she asked after I submitted the order to the supplier so I can't modify it anyway. So technically speaking she didn't ask for a discount in shipping since I offer "free" shipping... I did check her feedbacks left to other sellers (I always do when I get an offer) and she left all positives to other sellers. If she left lots of negatives I would've declined the offer and blocked her already. So hopefully if I give her a full refund she'd either give me a positive or no feedback. She wasn't really a "red flag" buyer to me when I first looked her up.

 

I have now accepted the fact that I'm stuck with this defect, and I have no problem with refunding $17 - one day's worth of gas and parking at work costs me more than that lol. It's a matter of whether I should wait to refund (in hopes that the book arrives this week), or just refund now to prevent the case from being escalated... because while she said she'll wait till August 1, who knows what she'd actually do...


---

 

It's not a summer job; I have been working between a few different positions (same job category, different locations/departments) since I graduated early 2013. I finally got a full-time position this year where it's not as physically demanding as the first job I got right out of graduation. The "customers" are lovely Cat Very Happy, and it's especially wonderful when I get paired up with colleagues that are awesome to work with. I do dread the days when I get paired up with difficult colleagues, and it sucks to be stuck with them the whole day Smiley Indifferent But thankfully I'd say 80% of times my days at work are great. Even with my first job, a lot of my colleagues are great supportive people, but work environment there was getting too stressful for me and I knew I wouldn't long last there.

 

I'm also attending school part time (not now since it's summer) for post-secondary education because there is still this one dream job I want to have. I don't qualify at the moment but maybe in a few years... Smiley Wink

Message 22 of 25
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a buyer just opened a case asking for refund

Oh boy. I just checked my seller dashboard and it says I now have a 0.64% defect rate. It says for TRS I need 2% or less. so let's say if my selling volume remains consistent (~150 transactions in 12 months), I'd lose my TRS when I receive a 4th defect......

It says on the seller dashboard that "We don't count more than one defect per transaction" so does it mean even if this woman gives me a negative for this transaction for any ill-mannered reason, my defect rate should stay at 0.64%?
Message 23 of 25
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a buyer just opened a case asking for refund


@zee-chan wrote:
Oh boy. I just checked my seller dashboard and it says I now have a 0.64% defect rate. It says for TRS I need 2% or less. so let's say if my selling volume remains consistent (~150 transactions in 12 months), I'd lose my TRS when I receive a 4th defect......

It says on the seller dashboard that "We don't count more than one defect per transaction" so does it mean even if this woman gives me a negative for this transaction for any ill-mannered reason, my defect rate should stay at 0.64%?

You wouldn't lose your TRS at 4 defects because you wouldn't have defects from 5 different buyers.

 

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html

 

The defect rate won't affect your seller performance status until you have transactions with defects with at least 8 different buyers, or at least 5 different buyers to impact Top Rated status, within your evaluation period.

 

 

Yes, if she leaves you a negative your defect rate will stay the same.

Message 24 of 25
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a buyer just opened a case asking for refund

The buyer just messaged me and told me that she went to check with her post office again and they don't have anything for her, and there is nothing in her mailbox or front door either. There is no point telling her to wait again so I sent her the full refund. Again, $17 is a small sum so I'm okay with this minor loss. Now just keeping my fingers crossed that she won't leave me a neutral or negative feedback Smiley Sad

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