Refunding a Buyer

[nad8this2]

Hello,

My buyer contacted me today asking if I had received the returned parcel she had purchased.  I checked the tracking and this is the message I received:  "Recipient not located at address provided. Item being returned to sender".  I am from Canada, and the parcel was sent to the US, so it will take another week - 10 days to get back here.  Do I wait to receive the package back before refunding her or should I do it right away?  She hasn't opened a case against me.  Also, will eBay refund me the fees for this item?  Thanks in advance.

[reallynicestamps]

Do not refund until you have the parcel.

Thank her for her notice and tell her you will be watching for it, and will refund in full when it arrives.

Let her know that 'return to sender' items are low priority for the postal systems and that the parcel will be crossing back into Canada.

Since the item was tracked and the tracking shows that delivery was attempted but was not possible, if she opens a case it is likely to fail.

If she is able to open the case, you should let eBay /Paypal know that you intend to refund when you get the item back.

You might want to ask her what address she has on her PP account and if it is correct.

I hope, if there is a difference between the PP *address and the eBay address, that you sent to the PP one.

*There can be several 'gift' addresses on the PP account because; gifts. The PP address the customer chooses is the one you must ship to.

[vintagenorth]

Interesting! I shipped an item (on another ID) and it went to the address shown from PayPal and ebay. However the buyer advised me that she was not located where I was told to ship. Called PayPal, they said they get the address from eBay; called eBay and they confirmed that yes they gave that address but didn't know where it came from. Even the ship-to name was different. Obviously some address mix up at eBay's end.

Of course, I had already shipped the item so someone in another state is going to get an early Christmas present. I thought it would have been nice if eBay had offered to do the refund though, instead I had to send a cancellation and refund to original buyer since she was never going to get her purchase. Now I'm out the cost of the item and shipping.

I wonder if the if the break apart of eBay and PayPal has caused more problems than they thought?

[femmefan1946]

However the buyer advised me that she was not located where I was told to ship.

How did the question come up?

It is her responsibility that her address is up to date.

And until you get the parcel back, or see that it is delivered, you won't know whether the buyer was truthful/blowing smoke/telling porkies.

So if there is a Dispute about delivery, you would be covered if the item was sent with Confirmation of Delivery.

And if not, I assume that you don't use such services for items on which you would be losing your shirt.

[prarie_nerd]

Don't refund unless it arrives back. I just had this happen to me a couple months ago & not only did it not arrive back but right after he opened a case with ebay the tracking updated saying it was delivered to the buyers new address. It was never really returned! Ebay of course closed the case in my favour & wouldn't let him leave feedback. Then he started messaging me again a few weeks later as if I was stupid still wanting a refund lol.