DHL return is stuck at “ready for pickup” – investigation request impossible (eBay return label) | Shipping

fsmarine1 · 2025-12-23T11:00:23.392000Z

Good day,I have a problem with a DHL return shipment for which I am the recipient (seller on eBay).Situation:The buyer returned the item (Apple Watch) using a DHL return label generated via eBay.The shipment is visible in DHL tracking.Since then, the status has remained permanently at“Shipment is ready for pickup at the branch”.The branch is the post office at the sender’s location, several hundred kilometers away from me.Pickup by me is practically impossible and also not intended.Problem:The status has not changed for several days.The DHL phone hotline tells me I should file an investigation request so that the shipment will be forwarded free of charge.However, that is technically not possible for me becausethe return label was created by eBay,I am neither the sender nor the client of the shipment,the DHL investigation form does not let me through correctly.DHL refers me to eBay, and eBay in turn implicitly refers me to DHL.Additionally:The buyer has already received a refund via an eBay escalation.As a result, there is hardly any interest on the buyer’s side in putting in any further effort here.My questions to the community:Who is formally authorized to submit an investigation request for eBay returns with DHL?How do you handle this special case when a return is incorrectly marked as “ready for pickup”?Has anyone had experience with how to get DHL to forward it when the label went through eBay?Is there an official eBay process for this that applies?I’m worried that otherwise the shipment will remain blocked for weeks, even though it is addressed correctly.Thank you for any practical advice.

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DHL return is stuck at “ready for pickup” – investigation request impossible (eBay return label) | Shipping | eBay Germany