refunding tax

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, I have a customer that wants a refund. He wants purchase amount, shipping and taxes that he paid. No problem refunding purchase price and shipping but I do not see where I can refund taxes. Does paypal refund tax automatically once a refund has been issued? Thank you.

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

You didn't mention why the buyer wants a refund and that does make a difference on how it is handled. But as others mentioned, when a refund is issued on ebay either through a cancellation, item not received or return claim, the tax will automatically be refunded.  If you do a refund through Paypal, it has to be handled a little differently.

[reallynicestamps]

Politely explain that you cannot do this without a Not As Described (if that is the problem) dispute being opened.

When it is, since I gather he is in the USA, you will be sending him a Return Shipping Label.

Don't panic, you can do this through Shippo. You are already set up with them? You need your Solutions for Small Business number to do so.

Send him the pdf of the USPS return shipping label.

Remember to mark it RETURNED MERCHANDISE if the value is over $40Cdn, or you will be charged sales taxes.

When you get it back, and not before, you can close the dispute and all his payment will be refunded.

You will be out shipping both ways and your eBay/PP fees.

NO REFUNDS WITHOUT RETURNS.

When a customer sounds angry about a refund, my spidey senses immediately go to a scam.

Most people and honest and polite. Aggressive people are trying to bully you into something you don't need to do.

[motomike_canada]

If he wants a refund and you haven't shipped, cancel the order so you can recover your eBay fees.

If he wants a refund for another reason, get him to open a return request and then just close it out  immediately.  Taxes will be refunded automatically.

If you are refunding for some reason outside this and taxes collected by eBay,  when you generate a refund in PayPal, it will refund taxes as well.  

The only thing about doing it that was is you will lose eBay and paypal fees. 

[marnotom!]

Is this a buyer who is in a location (e.g. most of the US) where their purchase has had internet tax(es) applied by eBay?

If so, I would suggest that the buyer file a claim through eBay's Money Back Guarantee if they're within the timeframe to do so, that way eBay can initiate the refund of the tax the buyer paid.  I don't think refunds made through PayPal (either through the PayPal claim process or initiated by the seller) can trigger the refund of the tax, but I could be wrong about that.