Item returned: seller says not recieved.

[countessmarkyabitch]

I bought an item of clothing a few weeks ago, bnwt, BCIN price, and recieved it a few days later. Unfortunately the seller had sent the wrong size.
I returned the item, paying for postage, a few days later. That was almost 2 weeks ago. Seller says they haven't recieved them back and won't refund or replace until they do.
So I'm out the cost of the item, the original postage, and the return postage. I did not return them recorded post for 3 reasons: the seller didnt ask me to, the seller did not send the original item to me recorded, and it would have cost more than twice the price and I didn't have it to spare.

So what do I do now? How long should I wait for a resolution, or should I just refer it to paypal/ebay? It might be a different matter if I had changed my mind about the item, but it was the sellers error that caused the problem, not mine.
Advice?

I think your receipt might still have a tracking number for the parcel. I've never done recorded delivery but always been able to track via Royal Mail website and able to see if it's been received or signed for

sorry I meant to say seller is in UK but I am in Europe, so tracking is impossible.
I don't think thats my responsibility though?

I think you should open a case and let ebay resolve. Exactly same thing happened to myself a few months ago and i opened a case and ebay refunded

all you can do is claim with RM for the loss - you must always return tracked and eBay will not refund you if you have no proof that you sent it back. Seller is prob dishonest but you have no proof. I would neg and leave low stars if I were you.

btw why wouldn't it be your responsibility? And Glitz if you can track online then you actually have sent signed for.

Like I said, I haven't sent signed for. And I can't claim with Royal Mail as it didn't originate in the UK, as I said earlier.
Why must I return tracked when seller didn't send it that way? Recorded would have been 15€, which I didn't have.
It was the sellers mistake that caused the problem, why should I be down the cost of the item, the postage AND the return postage, and still have no item?

Open a case and let ebay decide - i am certain they will refund you

because you need to prove it has been received by the seller for eBay to force a refund.

Have you got proof of posting from whoever you sent it with? And if you had returned it properly you would have got a full refund btw. If you had opened a case with eBay they would have told you to return tracked, and the seller should have told you that too, but common sense should have told you that you need proof they have had it back.

Have you negged yet?

Why must I return tracked when seller didn't send it that way?

Because you want certainty that it arrives. The seller took a chance, and lucked out; you did and yiu didn't.

If they didn't send it to me tracked why would I assume it would need to be returned tracked?
EU recorded delivery is expensive and I don't see why I should be penalised further for the sellers mistake.

I'm not going to give feedback until the issue is resolved one way or the other. I've opened a dispute and will see what paypal say.

eBay will tell you to return tracked. Those are the rules. There is nothing you can do except neg. Unless they give you a no fault refund, which is highly unlikely tbh. And yes they should have sent tracked, but what difference does that make to you returning it? None whatsoever - it isn't relevant in any way.

It is relevant that I didn't have the money to return tracked though, I couldn't magic it up out of nowhere!
Even if the package has gone astray (which I don't really believe) none of this would have happened without the seller sending out the wrong product in the first place.
If I were him I would refund without question.

Can you claim from whoever you sent it with? Ebay will likely side with the seller as if you can't prove they got it back it's technically still your responsibility.

I'm sure that Post Offices abroad give receipt when posting to UK even if not tracked I used to get one when I sent stuff back to Uk for my family when I lived in Spain and only once did anything go astray,mind you their sorting offices are not the best and your return parcel could still turn up after being left at the bottom of a sorting offices bin for a week or two,as they just pile the parcels willy nilly on top of each other,two weeks is not long in the lifetime of Post coming from Europe.

it is said that some countries have a high proportion of disappeared parcels. I have seen ebayers who will only send tracked, or will not sell at all to certain countries.

Anyway, the principle is, if you don't end it tracked and signed for, you have no proof of delivery, which is what swings a case against you, whether you are buyer or seller.