eBay shipping labels and RTS fees?

[motomike_canada]

Hey folks, I searched and found nothing so looking to see if anyone has had this come up yet or if I'm the first:

I had a US customer request a return, but instead of mailing it back he wrote 'Return To Sender' all over the package and dropped it back in the mail.... After opening it and realizing he ordered the wrong items. 

So now his return is showing 'Waiting for buyer to ship item' but the package is back here as of today, so the original tracking number shows it was delivered to him / on hold / returned to sender / delivered to sender. 

I have no issues refunding for the goods, but I'm trying to determine if I'm going to be billed a second time by eBay for the shipping, a not insignificant amount. CPC will likely bill them again at the original amount per RTS policy, but unsure if eBay will bill it back to me. 

ebay policy also states we're not allowed to make a deduction to recover return fees of any kind... but this guy didn't really follow either eBay policy, or USPS/CPC policy as he RTS'd a package after opening it. 

Interested in anyone who's had this happen before, or informed opinions.

[recped]

In my over 40 years of mailorder I've only had a handful of RTS packages, it's been about 50/50 on getting charged for return shipping.

None of these involved eBay shipping or any other type of third-party label providor, I don't know if that matters.

My vague answer is that you MIGHT get a supplemental bill from eBay or you might NOT.

[msau4301]

Yes, I once had someone who told me they had run into some financial problems and was returning the item.

They said they had already popped it in the mail. I told them I would refund them when I had it back (they didn't open a case, this was just through message). I got it returned, was just in my mailbox at home with the hand written "Return to Sender" and there was no cost to me (nor to them for return shipping). I remember being surprised and wondered if this was normally what would happen. I refunded them and I had the item back with no one paying return shipping. This was a few years back though, not sure if anything changed.

Because no case had been opened I just issued the refund and that was that. I ended up re-selling the item for more than the first time so worked out for me!

[transtraders]

I think this is a loophole that we are not supposed to talk about. lol.

[flipistics]

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@msau4301 wrote:

Because no case had been opened I just issued the refund and that was that. I ended up re-selling the item for more than the first time so worked out for me!

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It's best to ask them to file a case. There's a good chance that you'll get an out of stock defect if you fully refund without a case (it's happened to me before).

[femmefan1946]

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

He shot himself in the foot.

EBay regards a RTS as an Undeliverable shipment, and you are not required to refund a single red cent for Undeliverable shipments.

That being said, most sellers will refund the purchase price (but not tax, import fees or shipping costs) when - and only when- the Undeliverable shipment is returned.

And that being said, remember that in addition to EBay's Money Back Guarantee (which doesn't come into play here) they have access to the service they actually used to pay with - the credit card chargeback usually.

[msau4301]

It's best to ask them to file a case. There's a good chance that you'll get an out of stock defect if you fully refund without a case (it's happened to me before).

They "popped it in the mail" before even contacting me so I didn't think there was a need to open a case when there would be no return shipping label/return tracking etc. This was a few years back and there was no defect on my account. Normally I would not choose this route of course but they took it upon themselves to do it that way.

Perhaps their crossing out their address and hand writing return to sender with an arrow to my address made it look "undeliverable" as femmefan mentions. I did refund them of course, especially knowing I had saved the return shipping I may have had to pay. I waited until I had it though.

I also had a case where a package was returned with "No longer at this address" handwritten (along with a few choice adjectives which told me there had been a messy breakup). That one came back at no charge too lol.