Clarification on return times
Summary: ut_20725 and heavenwelkin discuss timelines for returns. The conversation includes questions and clarifications on the process.
Hi everyone, I’d like to ask for some clarification on the return timeframe, which as I understand it seems to be calculated based on the estimated delivery date.
For example, a seller offers 14 days to return an item, the estimated delivery date is January 15, so eBay calculates returns until January 29.
But what happens if, for various reasons (e.g. delivery delays) the order arrives just a few days before the return deadline or even after it?
Does eBay recalculate the timeframe, or would you actually have much less than 14 days, or none at all if it arrives after?
If you open a case for an item not received, would you still have the same return window or would it be changed?
Thanks!
heavenwelkin
·6 months agoEbay calculates delivery estimates based on the shipping service offered by the seller.
Ebay relies on these estimates in case of a request for an item not received.
Starting the day after the final date of the delivery estimate, the buyer can open a claim for an item not received.
After the claim, it usually takes a few days (2 or 5 days), after which the request is closed in favor of the buyer, who receives a full refund.
If the item were to arrive after the final deadline of the delivery estimates (let's say 10 days later) without the buyer having opened any claim for item not received.
At the moment the item is received, the 14 days would be calculated from the moment the item is received.
The 14 days are a timeframe you offer.
Ebay offers 30 days to open a return request (if the private seller accepts returns) or to open a request for an item not as described.
The 30 days offered by ebay start from the final date of the delivery estimate
Best regards
ut_20725
OP6 months agoSo if the latest estimated delivery date is, for example, the 10th but the item is delivered on the 20th, would both the return period offered by the seller and the eBay Money Back Guarantee period be recalculated starting from the 20th and no longer from the 10th?
Thanks
heavenwelkin
·6 months agoIf the estimated latest delivery date is the 10th and the item still hasn’t been delivered, in the meantime I advise you to contact the buyer and reassure them that the item will be delivered as soon as possible, and to ask them to be patient since you’ve already followed up with the courier, so the chances of receiving a dispute for item not received are reduced.
If the item were to be delivered on the 20th, as far as eBay is concerned the 30-day buyer protection should, in theory, start from the actual delivery date.
However, it could happen that the tracking system does not detect the delivery and/or the seller does not enter tracking information.
So in theory yes, if eBay records the package as properly delivered on the 20th, the eBay 30-day protection should start running from the very next day.
So there must be a tracking code and the delivery must be confirmed by eBay.
As for the 14-day return period, it should run from the day the item was actually delivered.