Unclaimed and returned item: how to proceed?

[himmie]

I am looking for some advice on this situation, as I have not dealt with this sort of thing.

12/26/14 I shipped an item (purchased via eBay) to Germany.

03/23/15 The item was returned as unclaimed.

The buyer never contacted about any problems so I had no idea it was being returned. I sent the buyer an e-mail via Paypal because the transaction was no longer available on eBay. I have not received a response.

Do I give them longer to respond, refund for the item price, ...?

Thanks for input!

[Loa]

I would sit on it, and also just give eBay/Paypal a heads up.

[DGRequiem]

I'd give him/her more time to respond.  There could be a lot of reasons (death, illness, moving) that the item would go as unclaimed, and there's always the chance you'd just be refunding a black hole paypal account.  It's not like you're not willing to refund, but it's also not your fault the item was unclaimed.  Unclaimed is different from undeliverable. 

[flying_narwhal]

I've had this happen once before with an international package, except in my case the buyer contacted me about it before I ever knew there was a problem. Apparently they had never notified her that she had a package and by the time she went to the PO to inquire about the parcel it was already on the way back to me.

I agree with what others have said, wait and see what your buyer says. I ended up refunding the entire purchase price plus the shipping cost in my case. Wasn't happy about eating the shipping cost but it was a situation that was neither of our faults and the buyer was kind to work with so I was happy to provide a full refund (she has since bought from me a couple times with no problems).

[ponylady]

I would definitely give them a little more time to respond. If a few days go by and you have not heard anything, I would perhaps email again.

As far as refunding, you could since technically no matter what the item is still hers, even though it's in your possession. A quick call, as Loa suggested to eBay may help you be able to sort it out a bit better.

[Ringlets]

I think you have some good advice here   there could be any number of reasons why the item got returned.  Giving the buyer a bit more time to respond is a good idea, so is calling ebay and letting them know what happened and seeing what they advise 

 I had a similar situation where I was expecting a couple of ponies from an international member here. They were a no show after something like 3 months  and myself and the seller thought they had got lost, but the difference is that myself and the seller were in contact. Turned out that they eventually got returned to the seller after that and the reason was that Royal Mail claimed to have tried to deliver them to my address 3 times  and  couldn't find anyone home, also no-one came to collect from the depot. It was a lie from RM cos they stated the supposed dates of delivery and someone was definitely in (and no-one knocked the door!) on all 3! plus we never had a card pushed through at any time saying I had a parcel to collect. It was a lazy post person . The seller sent me a pic with the stickers/dates etc from Royal Mail which had been added to the parcel when they sent it back to her. She had already refunded me so I paid her again and she resent them -  the second time they arrived no problem   

Maybe after a few more days your own buyer will respond, although it seems a little strange that they haven't already contacted you about an item that was posted in  December.

[Rhubarbpie]

I had a similar situation.  I sold 3 G3 ponies via my FB page.  The buyer asked for the cheapest shipping, it was UK-UK so I went 2nd class no tracking or POD.  Have shipped dozens of times like that before no issues. 1 week later she messaged me to say she had not recieved it.  I suggested she gave it another 2 weeks then I'd refund when I got paid which she was happy with.  No further updates, then the day before payday and I messaged her asking if she'd had them yet, no response.

The day after payday, I messaged her again, again no response. Literally a hour after I messaged her, a package arrived  which I had to pay for. It was the package I had sent out, not opened, my address label to say where it was coming from had been ringed with a purple crayon with RTS written on it.  I immedietly refunded her.

To this day I have no idea why she returned the ponies, she claimed I had never posted them out, but I doubt Royal mail would just ring around the address with a purple crayon and bung it back.  Its so frustrating.

[himmie]

Thank you for the input everyone. I will give them a bit more time to respond. Though I am surprised that they haven't contacted at all yet, even before the item was returned.