werido ebayer

[Cron Sacchariferous]

So... this is not something I usually post because often times  when dealing with eBay sales, I can manage things pretty well... This time is a slightly unusual situation.

Ok, so here's the story.. I've posted a book up for sale on eBay about a week ago and someone had purchased it with no issues, sale went smooth, excellent! Buyers shipping and relative  info was provided by eBay and with that being said, I utilized eBay's shipping service, printed the label..packed the order and sent it off to the p.o. All things that I've done countless amount of times, ( very easy peasy). On occasion, I take a look to see the status of how the orders are doing, just to make sure everything is running smooth and according to the tracking number, the order was still in transit- a day away from being shipped to the location it was purchased from. A day went by and I stopped keeping track.

Yesterday, I got an email from eBay informing me that there is a "Request Open from the Resolution Center". First thing I do was check the tracking number again to make sure it was delivered. To my surprise it was not!! The package made its way as addressed to Texas, but sent back to sender (me). Thereafter, I take a look at the request made by the buyer with a little note saying: "I want the book". At that point, my logical explanation was that the address provided from eBay was incorrect. First thing I do is contact the buyer and try to clarify if their shipping info is correct and I even went so far as to taking a snap shot on my PC of their address provided by eBay.

Starting tomorrow, it will be two days since I have yet gotten a reply from the buyer. I have until the 2nd of May to clear this up, but I feel as though the buyer is not really doing anything on their end.. Kinda typical from ebayers *sigh* I keep trying to wrap my head around this because it makes no sense. Why would someone purchase something, return to sender (if it was them personally wishing to return to sender, but why?) .. And suddenly open a case demanding that they want the book? I could see if someone purchased something, changing their mind and wanting a refund. But all my sales clearly state "no refunds". Do you think that has something to do with it? Perhaps doing it this way is a gap in eBay for buyers to work around the whole no refunds thing? I'm head desking right now! D: can someone with experience give an idea as to what this case may be  and how to deal with this accordingly? Halpp!

[Noxxbunny]

Unfortunately putting "no refunds" and "no returns" in your sales on ebay is essentially just bluffing. It can scare off someone who doesn't know how ebay works from trying it, but at the end of the day, ebay can and will force you to accept a return and refund regardless of how you wrote your own policy. Ebay's policy overrides the seller's policies. All part of their "the customer is ALWAYS right" thinking.

But that is weird to state they want the book after it was turned away. I can't see how they benefit from that one. If it were buyer's remorse, then yeah, all they'd have to do is return to you and then not answer you and they'd eventually be refunded by you or ebay depending on how they wanted to deal with it.

[nhal039]

Ok so my 2 cents worth, some things a post office just doesnt deliever parcels, the get sorted wrong and then just sit in a box then one picks them up and assume they are wrongly addressed and so returns them to sender.some times address are perfectly fine. So as for the not delievered parcel it might have nothing to do with the buyer at all and theu actually just want the book

Secondly if the buyer is just mostly a buyer she might get ebay messages sent to her junk box bence missing you have messaged? I know at one stage all my ebay messages where going to my junk box on hotmail when i never asked them to be sent there (maybe i made this setting bit if i did ot was by mistake and unintentional).

I think at times when you message a seller cases can open automatically when buyers dont actually intend to do this.

Hopefully the issues gets resolved for you thou

[banditpony]

It's been a long time since I've opened a item hasn't arrived case.
I remember there were two options "I want the item" and "I want a refund". There was a box to tell the seller what you wanted as well.

So you could be right, and it seems most likely that the seller could of provided the wrong address. If this turns out to be the case, cancel/refund and relist the item and they are welcome to REPAY the shipping costs. However, explain to them what you are doing by stating you can't be out of pocket for shipping costs twice because of their mistake but be understanding that people make mistakes.

USPS also does funky things sometimes and sends items on a nonsensical path. It could of been delivered to a neighbors house by accident at fault of the post and they marked it return to sender. It could be USPS just started sending it back for no reason. I vaguely remember some international packages that kept getting returned recently because of the barcode or something. At no fault of the buyer or seller.

Also, the label could of been damaged. In this case... I dunno. As a seller I would accept responsibility and just resend the item. But that's me.

As for the "no refunds" then no it doesn't make sense because they could just request for a refund for item not received.

I guess you won't really know until you hear from the seller, and get the item back. It always sucks to have a case open against you

[tulagirl]

Yes I really think this is not the buyer's issue but that of the postal service making some sort of mistake.  Even though you don't want to be responsible for the post office.  Ebay requires all sellers to be responsible for everything and refund or resend item to buyers.  If they have proof they don't have it, a refund or resend is the only way to fix it.  File and insurance claim on the previous loss and recoup your funds lost that way. Sorry that happened.  You could try asking ebay for better contact information like telephone numbers and the like or an email.

[LadyMoondancer]

Maybe the label was damaged while being processed, rendering the buyer's address unreadable.

Also, buyers often open cases without realizing it, because when they go to the "contact seller" option, there are some options that will automatically open a case, and eBay does not indicate this anywhere.

Just keep in communication with the buyer, tell them you will resend the book if it is returned and that otherwise you'll refund them.

[bluerose9978]

Ok so my 2 cents worth, some things a post office just doesnt deliever parcels, the get sorted wrong and then just sit in a box then one picks them up and assume they are wrongly addressed and so returns them to sender.some times address are perfectly fine. So as for the not delievered parcel it might have nothing to do with the buyer at all and theu actually just want the book

This. Also, the postman could have delivered to the neighbors and it was sent back by mistake. That's happened to us.

As for not answering their messages, not everyone seems to get prompted with their messages. Sometimes mine are delayed by days. I think when eBay is making updates sometimes, they have issues with certain aspects of their site.

[Cron Sacchariferous]

Thank you all for your useful input and advice! After 4 messages trying to get through to the buyer and a few days prior to messaging, I finally got an updated address! -_____-
Turns out that they forgot to add their apt number... Yeah.. So, my guess is that after realizing the package was sent to an apt complex without a unit number, the post carrier thought it was the best decision to return to sender. I let the buyer know that once received on my end, we would try and work out a new  shipping label... And of course! Something gone total south again. It was supposed to arrive this weekend or Monday the latest, HOWEVER....according to the tracking number, its heading back to Texas!???!?? I already see this going terribly wrong again like an endless loop. Why are some people inept at their jobs.. D;< I know I could message the buyer and ask them to keep an eye out for the carrier and flag them down, although, I've gotten the impression from the beginning that they're unreliable. All this back and forth with this book is probably going to end up lost or damaged. *sigh*

Though again, this DEFINITELY would of been avoided if the post person matched the name on the package with all the rest of their mail along with it..

[tulagirl]

Oh the postal workers are not going to go that extra mile.  Maybe back in 1935 but not today.