INR and Refunded Buyer - Now a second case has been opened...huh?

[teenytrinkets]

I refunded an overseas buyer on Nov. 22 because they were getting impatient after not receiving their package (they weren't willing to wait more than 3 weeks). The money for the refund came out of my bank account the next day.

A week later, buyer says they still haven't received their refund and opened a case with eBay - and now I have to respond.

What do I do? Do I show my bank statement to prove the money came out? Shouldn't the buyer be contacting PayPal to see when the refund will clear on their end?

[mcrlmn]

If you refunded the order through eBay or PayPal, it should be a non-starter.

There should be a record of the transaction on PayPal.

[teenytrinkets]

There's a record of the refund right in the case where the buyer can see...so that's why i was confused!

So just ignore the notice to respond?

[esclyons]

if you refunded through paypal, you need to call them, if you refunded through ebay you need to call them,  it could be a glitch, but you need to talk to someone, before you get double dinged..

If the case was opened for a refund through ebay, and you refunded through paypal, they may have missed something..

If you refunded without a refund being officially opened, then you will have to call and prove it..

[teenytrinkets]

Thanks - well this was done through ebay and PayPal - so not sure who to call!
Here's the history:

Nov 22 - the INR was opened in eBay by the buyer, I clicked the refund button immediately - it takes me to PayPal where I refund the buyer. The case ebay case now says "buyer refunded".

Nov 23 - PayPal takes money out of my bank account. Refund says "pending".

Dec 1 - Buyer waits 6 business days for echeque refund to clear. Hasn't cleared... they're getting impatient, so reopens the case and claims the refund didn't work (not sure if they're insinuating insufficient funds?).

So I guess I call eBay on Monday morning? Won't they just get me to call PayPal?

It's bad enough that I had to refund $20 shipping and no longer have the $60 product - now I have to deal with this??? What a pain....

[silverpinups]

I would have recommended to the impatient buyer to open a "item not received" claim through eBay. You then can call eBay Customer Service and ask them to extend the INR claim for another two weeks + (as per eBay Canada's protection for sellers during the Canada Post strike). 

You are also protected from neutral or negative feedback according to eBay Canada's protection policy. 

This seller protection applies if you mailed the item out on or after October 22/2018.   

[teenytrinkets]

The buyer did open an INR through eBay - I just chose to refund right away. Why delay it 2 more weeks? She'll be lucky to see it in January - if at all. And considering she's already this impatient, imagine making her wait another 2 weeks? No thanks....

[momcqueen]

Maybe a call to PayPal is warranted to determine the reason the refund is still 'pending' after all this time? At least you can tell the buyer you've done that and to sit tight while the process takes its time. You don't want to have the funds withdrawn twice. 

[silverpinups]

"And considering she's already this impatient, imagine making her wait another 2 weeks? No thanks...."

Well that's your chose. What are you worried about exactly? That the impatient buyer will leave you negative feedback?

Like I said already you are protected by eBay Canada's seller protection policy during the Canada Post strike so extending the INR claim can't effect you in anyway.....

[teenytrinkets]

Well - another update on this issue:

I contacted eBay this morning, and this appears to be what happened with INR eBay claim and the refund I immediately issued:

1.  Buyer called ebay UK to complain they hadn't received their refund yet.  Even though they had only waited 6 business days (and PayPal's policy is it can take "up to 7 business days internationally" for an echeque to clear), eBay felt that was long enough and escalated the INR claim to a case.

2.  Sometime overnight, a "decision" was made for the case in the "buyer's favour".

Now - this was what I wanted to avoid, right?  The case escalation, and eBay making a decision in the buyers favour - because that affects my seller performance, correct?

So I was on the phone with an ebay specialist in the UK to figure out how the claim could even be escalated when the wait period for the refund hadn't even been reached.  How - when the buyer didn't bother to contact PayPal OR contact the Seller to inquire about the status of the refund - eBay would think it wise to escalate the case when the buyer hadn't waited long enough for the refund to clear?  Ebay can clearly see that a refund has been issued by the seller immediately after the buyer had created the INR claim.  Why not advise the buyer to contact PayPal?  Or contact me?

Of course, when I asked all of these things, the eBay rep just played dumb.  They didn't even apologize when I was obviously upset about all this.  It's sooo sad to see how much they do not care for their sellers.

So now - after the refund clears in a day or two, I am going to have to call them back to "appeal the decision" so my seller performance isn't affected.

And guess what?  If the refund still hasn't cleared in a few days, eBay can close the case and force a refund.  First they tell me it's impossible for two refunds to be issued for the same transaction.  Then they tell me they can process another refund if it still hasn't cleared after 48 hours of the decision.  So - yah, which is it?  Still - no straight answer.  All they tell me is then it's up to PayPal to fix it, so I'll have to call them. OMG...........

And to add insult to injury, if my buyer decides to leave negative feedback, I am going to have to call them again to appeal that, and maaaaybe they'll remove it.  If they feel it's warranted.

Wow...........what an eye opener.....

[silverpinups]

Sorry, I had a brain fart! It's choice not chose.....  

[jdj53]

Buyer appears to be totally unreasonable. I have parcels from Europe and USA on hold in Canada Post’s Never Never Land, some of which were supposed to arrive last week. I won’t be filing a claim for not having arrived until the very last possible moment so they can work through the system.