How do I cancel a transaction over 45 days?

[velvet_vintage89]

I sold an item but it must have got lost in the mail and the buyer never received it, so I had to refund their money. I want to cancel the transaction now to get my eBay fees back but the resolution centre says I can't because it's over 45 days old. Since this was an international transaction, I had to wait that long to allow an adequate amount of time to see if the item would show up. How do I get my fees back if it's been over 45 days? I had to refund money for something that wasn't my fault and now it seems like I'm going to lose out on those fees too.

[reallynicestamps]

You don't.

When you ended the transaction by refunding you should have also sent the buyer a request for a Mutual Cancellation. When that closes (either by his agreement or by his ignoring it) you get your fees back.

As it is, sorry, this was a learning experience.

Hope you don't have another of those.

[velvet_vintage89]

Thanks, when I read the instructions on refunding I thought the buyer was always advised to not accept a cancellation until they had received their refund, but it took a week for the refund to clear my bank account so I thought I had to wait until then to cancel.

Also, the refund was sent after 45 days anyway, so wouldn't I still have been out of luck?