Buyer says they bought the my item by mistake and wants a refund.

[WeAreEternal]

I sold an item on eBay last night, the buyer paid within 30 minutes of the auction ending.
This morning they emailed me and said,

"Sorry but I bought this by mistake, I thought it was another item, can I have a refund please"

But I have already bought the postage label.

What can/should I do?

TIA

you cant do anything. did you send it recorded/signed for?

Hmm you've already got the money so I'd be tempted to say I'd already posted it. But she could put in a claim which could get messy with return postage etc.

Tell her you've already bought the postage label so you will refund her minus postage. Then offer it as 2nd chance to the next bidder and hope you can still use the postage label.

I haven't sent it yet, I bought and printed the postage label this morning and I was going to drop it off at the post office this afternoon.

The label is for tracked/signed for to the buyers address, so I won't be able to reuse it.

I'm tempted to just say "sorry I have already sent it, and I don't accept refunds"
But I don't want them to file a not as described claim against me out of spite.

It depends. check your listing to see weather you listed it with 'Returns Accepted' . If you did then she/he would be within their rights to return it for refund anyway so saying you have posted it would be delaying an argument.

What I would do is email them saying you have already paid for the postage and attached a picture of it to the sale. Then offer to refund them the difference minus the postage and the seller fees. Open an ebay dispute regarding this so you will have it all logged.

I definitely had the 'returns not accepted' box checked when I listed, and it says so in the listing.

I have sent a message to the next highest bidder, but they have now bid on something else, so aren't interested. And the bidder below that was for £15 less.

you can cancel the postage label. I would do that, refund them and send them cancellation request now, and then once accepted you get your fees back and then you can offer to the underbidder or relist.

and writing no returns on the listing is worthless so not really worth doing tbh.

I didn't write no returns in my description.
I selected the no returns option in the setting, the same as I selected only PayPal as a payment option, so eBay say you can refuse to accept returns.

That really annoys me when buyers do that. It's really their mistake and they should just suck it up and relist it themselves. However until eBay lets sellers leave realistic feedback about crap buyers, there's not much you can do but comply to keep the peace.

Ok thanks for the advice.

I have decided that I'm just going to tell the buyer that I have already sent the item, and that if they want to they can return it for a refund minus the postage costs and cancel the transaction.

Does that sound reasonable?

no not really - because if they return it they are entitled to a full refund including the p&p, not just the item price - you can cancel the postage label and get a refund now then you won't be out of pocket.

If you tell them you've already sent it, then post it tomorrow then won't they notice the date on the postmark?

I have looked everywhere and I don't think it's possible to cancel/refund the postage that I have already printed and paid for.

And besides I don't believe they are entitled to return it, as I did not offer that service, so my offering the refund/return is a gesture of good faith.

My only alternative is to tell them that I have already paid for the postage so if they no longer want the item I will refund minus the postage.

did you print via ebay? If so you can cancel the label and refund from my ebay.

on the left under 'selling' there is an option to click 'postage labels' you click there and then can cancel and get a refund easily. If you printed via royalmail.com you can also cancel the label and get a refund.

A buyer is always entitled to get a refund - even if they lie and say not as described - it really is not worth the hassle of being awkward and not refunding them. You will just get rubbish feedback and a load of grief and bad feeling.

Don't lie.

Tell them you have paid for the postage so their choice is to refund that to you or still accept the item and then relist for sale themselves. Don't be annoyed if they get more for it than they paid you though.

cancel label as described above and refund

if they say not as described whatever it is ebay will say return for a refund and you will have to refund including postage,

no returns only means no change of mind returns even though you have proof via email they changed their mind they can still say yes but it was damaged on arrival therefore i want my money back all seller shave to accept returns for not as described

it really only means for private sellers that buyer does not have the automatic 14 day return period under distance selling regs

in practice no returns means diddlysquat

I will contact them and offer them a refund of the selling price minus the postage fee and explain why.

I use a courier and have ordered and printed from their website.
And I can't find anything anywhere about cancelling the order once you have paid for it.