Need ebay advice - have refunded buyer but he's not returned the item

[DomesticBlobess]

Sorry if this has been covered before - I'm quite new to ebay so not really sure if I can do anything to sort this out.

Sold item in early dec for £15. Buyer said it was faulty - despite it being brand new apart from me testing it before posting when it was fine.

He said he'd put it straight in the post to return it, so foolishly I put a cheque in the post to refund him instead of doing it through paypal or waiting to receive it back. Of course now, still haven't got the item back.

I suspect the item wasn't broken and worked fine, he has refund and the item.

He was initially quite rude, I've got bolshy back and he's being all apologetic and saying its on its way back to me, which after all this time I'm assuming it is not!

Do you think it really worth the hassle of trying to get something back from this guy - or does anyone have experience of this type of prob? Of course I've learned from mistake of giving a refund like this...

[bubblagirl]

firstly you should if he payed via paypal refund through paypal as its safer cancel cheque if you can

you should always wait for item to reach you before refunding as scams do happen and you probably wont hear from him only option is to see if you can cancel that cheque

[bubblagirl]

if he posted it he should have proof of postage and should be able to track item ask for the proof but as you sent cheque your not covered via paypal etc so unless you can cancel cheque then im afraid could just be a lesson learnt

[Lilyloo]

Other than cancel cheque i think you on to a looser with this one.

[thisisyesterday]

they may well charge you to cancel the cheque though, so possibly not worth it.

i would report to ebay anyway thohh

[EldonAve]

as bubbla says you should refund via paypal and only when you get the item back

that way you get your paypal fees back too

[DomesticBlobess]

Thanks for replies. The cheque has already cleared - even if it hadn't there would be a cost involved getting bank to stop it.

It's frustrating that as the seller I can only leave positive feedback or none at all - no longer the option to give a buyer negative feedback.

The item isn't lost in the post - he just hasn't/won't returned it. Hey ho, as said in OP, a lesson has been learned...