Theoretical ebay selling question

Theoretically, asking for a “friend” etc etc…

Say you sell an item of reasonable value. You post it as per the agreed sale, with tracked delivery. It’s marked as delivered, and the funds for the sale clear into your bank account

What happens when the item which has been “sold” and “delivered” arrives back at your house as “return to sender, addressee gone away”?

I would guess the decent thing to do would be to message the buyer and see what’s up? Offer to refund if there is a serious problem? I know it’s a pain and you’re possibly going out of your way but you don’t know what’s going on with people, they may not intentionally have messed you around

Message them to ask if they’re happy with the widget they bought from you?

What happens when the item which has been “sold” and “delivered” arrives back at your house as “return to sender, addressee gone away”?

You get in touch with the buyer to ask if there’s a problem and explain you still have their item, because you’re essentially a decent person!

Make contact and do the right thing.

Send abuse on ebay.

Relist.

Sorted.

If they’ve given you a duff address refund less postage costs.

If the courier has ****ed up refund and claim the postage back from them.

Contact the buyer and explain the situation and that if they still want the item, they can have it but must pay for shipping.

All of the above – get in contact and offer refund less postage.

I wouldn’t rush to give a refund as there is a vague whiff of scam. Might all be legit but I’d contact the buyer and proceed with caution. Also do everything via eBay to keep a proper record

Actually, nickjb has a point, and one assumes that you have checked but what does the proof of delivery show on the website of your chosen courier? Have you verified that the package  returned is in exactly the same condition as you sent it and contains what you sent and not a counterfeit swapsy… Also did you address it correctly and send to the address registered on the eBay account?

Check those things first and if you make contact with buyer do it via eBay so it’s all recorded in their system. Often buyers contact details are included when they purchase so don’t be tempted to ring them up/send a text. If all genuine then proceed as conscience dictates.

Or, are you asking as you have buyers remorse and want your money back hence “asking for a friend “ …? If the latter then I would just contact the buyer and ask . If it were me I would offer a return and refund when I got the item back and had checked its condition..

Also consider that if it’s a device, has it been swapped with a faulty one, or had a component switched over.

If the seller wants a refund rather than resending that would sound a bit suspect.

If they want it resending, to completely cover yourself (and not send to an unconfirmed address) it might be best to relist as buy it now for the postage cost, and get them to immediately look it up using the listing number and purchase it (with the correct address)

Has the original parcel been opened? If so then it’s a scam. Photograph every thing and report to eBay

I’d be opening and checking it very carefully. Check serial number (please tell us you kept a note of the original one) if it has one.

Could also just be someone has moved and not updated address. Like others have said, don’t send to any address that eBay don’t have on file. Your (limited) protection is only valid if you send to an official address.

has it been swapped with a faulty one, or had a component switched over.

I was sort of on the receiving end of this once with a cassette I’d bought – when it arrived it turned out it was a worn, but cleaned, cassette inside a new box. Seller initially disputed my claim until I asked if he’d sold it and had it returned previously, then it clicked with him that he’d been scammed by another buyer.

What happens when the item which has been “sold” and “delivered” arrives back at your house as “return to sender, addressee gone away”?

I’m guessing that a fair bit of time has passed as returned items don’t tend to hurry back. The buyer would usually get an ebay/courier notification of the delivery as well so its maybe a bit odd that they’ve not already queried things before the package arrive back with you (or your friend)

Was the parcel returned because the courier couldn’t deliver, or because delivery was rejected? Was it the same courier that returned it to you?

Or did an occupant at the address receive it and then post it back to you? e.g. a couple split up and the other half returned it as they didn’t want the others junk laying about the place?

Actually that’s this above is a good point. In my initial post I assumed the deliverer had returned to sender but if it’s not them do all the checks above

No word from the OP, hope the parcel wasn’t booby trapped….

Just been flat out busy. I sent the package, it’s come back from the deliveree with something unintelligible scrawled across it and a sticker from Royal Mail saying “adressee gone away”. I suspect that the buyer was an international student and living in temporary accomodation, and the package was returned by the landlord. I’ve not even had time to check properly if the parcel has been opened, though a quick scan suggests not. I’ll be contacting the buyer this weeekend when I’ve got time to sort it out. Right, back to actual work that pays my wages 🙂

Their old address probably just got autofilled by eBay/the browser and they forgot to change it. Ping them and see if there’s a new address to use and charge them again for postage

Ping them and see if there’s a new address to use and charge them again for postage

Definitely don’t do this. If the address is wrong then get them to update their address in eBay first then do the postage through eBay to the new address. If you just sent it to another address you’ll lose your sellers protection.

I think if you can satisfy yourself that the package / item is fine then I’d just inform Ebay of the situation, cancel the sale and re-list. If it sold before it’ll sell again (in fact in every instance I’ve had to relist something becuase a sale went futt it sold for more second time round for some reason. The buyer will get refunded and if they want the item then they can buy it again.

Parcel was not opened. Based on the fact that the wear marks on the camera are identical, it’s the same camer or someone had gone to a LOT of trouble to fake it. The buyer’s address was a block of student flats in Edinburgh. I’ve messaged to offer a new listing which will allow them to cover the cost of me posting it and hoipefully all will be good