Sold an Item, shipping problems, had to refund a lot of money, Item just arrived.

[tomor5857]

Hi everyone!

Last spring I sold an antique here on eBay and the buyer was from China. I sent the piece and then waited and waited, the shipping took forever! eBay had estimated delivery in a matter of weeks and when that passed the buyer requested a refund. My first big mistake, I never contested the refund even though I had explained to the seller many times and allowed eBay to settle the claim. So I refunded the buyer out of pocket which was quite a lot of money, almost $700, and quite a loss since I do not have the item back and I had to still pay eBay fees. I'm a student at university and do this part-time to support myself. Well, surprise surprise the item has arrived! And now I need to know my options. I would like the money back, or even just the piece itself, but as it stands I have nothing to show for this whole ordeal.

How do you all think I should proceed?

Never shipping to China again!!

[msau4301]

Many years ago when I was new to selling here I had a package I had sent to Russian Federation and buyer had requested it sent by ground to save costs (lesson learned the hard way, never use ground!!) I had warned her it would take a lot longer that way and she said she didn't mind waiting, but of course they change their mind when the time arrives and they still don't have their item. I was lucky however and the buyer actually reached out to me first saying she had received the package and how could she pay me back. I sent the invoice through PayPal (as femmefan has suggested) and was paid that way. I had an honest buyer, hopefully yours will be too.