Hi
I am having trouble with a buyer from USA, she wants a refund but the item is in the post, only posted on 20th April, says it hasn’t arrived yet but it takes 7 working days to USA, what would you do next ?
I would explain to her that with the country in lockdown post is taking longer within the UK and understand that delays are also happening in the US. Ask her to be patient as you are sure it will arrive within the next 2 weeks. What timescale do you have on your overseas postal bit, may be worth adding a note that delays are to be expected and you cannot accept a reported missing until 28 days.
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7 days would be normal timings for items getting USA when things are running smoothly and at the moment they most definitely aren’t running smoothly. Let them know that you will process a refund once the item has arrived back with you - if you refund before you get it back then they might not send it back. Warn them that if they refuse the item rather than paying the postage to send it back it will take the slowest route back to the UK and could take a month or more to get back to you.
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I set refund periods in my policies as 14 days in uk and 21 overseas. Primarily it is based on how long I would have to wait for a refund from Royal Mail. 7 days delivery to USA is probably quite ambitious right now. I’ve only had a few things go missing . When it has happened I’ve restated my policies and given a specific date for a refund for a missing item. Where I have had to do this customers have been ok about waiting. Usually item has turned up by then anyway.
I ship a lot to the USA for both customers and family/friends. 7-10 days is normal when everything is running smoothly. However, mid March I sent something to my sister and that took 4 weeks to arrive. I’m currently not shipping overseas because of the delays. My last US order went out on 2nd April, it was sent tracked/signed and unfortunately is still waiting to clear customs (thankfully the customer is ok about it). Apparently that seems to be the bottleneck at the moment. With reduced numbers of staff to handle shipments and slower processes in place, it’s all taking a lot longer. Flights and road transport is heavily impacted as well. My parcel went via Helsinki rather than direct, which is unusual. I also wouldn’t issue a refund until the item is returned but would suggest making regular contact with her to give her peace of mind that you’re on the case.
I tried to contact and reassure her, she just went straight to paypal and opened a case, just have to wait for their reply now. Thanks
I’m so sorry to hear that she felt the need to open a case. It’s unfortunate that she couldn’t be more understanding/patient. Hopefully it will go in your favour given the circumstances 
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Average delivery to USA is 14 days. The post office says 7, but that is just to get to America, then it depends on the delivery service of the state it is going to. But thinking about the current situation it is definitely going to be longer
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In the Paypal case notes respond with a photo of your proof of posting (to indicate that it is in transit) and offer to refund when you have received the item back or when the buyer can prove that they have sent the item back (proof of posting stating your address) so that you know that it is on its way back to you.
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Well Paypal say they are investigating this so will leave it with them.
There is a problem with US customs with textile goods for the UK they are deliberately trying to make these items difficult to import into US