Issuing Refund: Want to Avoid Pitfalls

[craigerbombs14]

Good morning eBay Community!

I'm about to initiate a partial refund for a sale so I wanted to ask the experts if there's any potential pitfalls/scams I should be aware of. First, some background: I sold 5x Blu-ray steelbooks, all purchased by a single seller. They paid the individual shipping cost of each Blu-ray, so about $12 x 5. As they were all going to the same address I packaged the steelbooks in a single box and shipped them out to the seller, which cost me about $15 (all prices CDN). The buyer contacted me and was expecting all the items shipped individually, and since a couple of the steelbooks arrived in less-than-ideal condition (slight scratches and scuffs, possibly caused by rubbing together in the box) the buyer wanted compensation. As the buy overpaid on shipping I offered a partial refund of $35. I will initiate this partial refund through Paypal.

Does anyone see any concerns? Is there any way the buyer can receive the partial refund, then turn around and refund the damaged steelbooks? Any recommendations on what I can do to protect myself here?

Thanks everyone!

[ricarmic]

Hi! My morning coffee hasn't fully engaged yet, but if you are worrying that the buyer can pocket the refund and then return, yes they can do that, however they can't get more than the original cost of the items and shipping (other than the return shipping cost to you).

Having said this I think you are seriously over-worrying, if they're happy with the partial refund of $35 then there's a 99% chance all will be well after that. The fact that they are talking with you is a very good sign.

As a note, when I am faced with these situations, I leave the decision of the amount of the refund up to the buyer. This puts the "control" of the refund in the buyers hands and in my experience in the vast majority of the time it makes the resolution much much more positive (I use words like "I would like your help in determining the amount of the partial refund that is fair given the overall condition of the item(s)"). There is a small chance that the buyer asks for an unreasonable amount. In those situations I honor their request (because I left the choice up to them) and then I block them.

[heartovermind]

The technical advice:

Do **not use "send money" for the refund. The buyer could, in theory, try to get the refund plus the total original amount paid.

Do the refund through the original paypal payment, click "issue refund", but be careful to enter the amount of refund. The default is the total original paid.

Put in the text box, that the refund has been agreed by the buyer for whatever.