Bought an US based item asked to return to China. Help.

[al4audio2013]

My wife bought an item listed in US and wanted to return it (seller stated return accepted in 30 days). Seller repeately offered partial refund and refused her return request. After opening an return case with ebay, seller sent an address in China for return while from the shipping label of the item, it clearly came from somewhere in WA.

I just called ebay, and the rep told us to return it to China for refund as that's the address given in the case.  I told the rep this is clearly a violation of their Itme Location Policy and the rep basically repleated that I'll need to return to the address seller provided no matter what. The rep said we can also ask the seller to give us an US return address, but from the exchange with the seller, I don't see that happening. 

What do we do now? It doesn't really make sense that we'd have to return the item to China when the item is listed as it was in the US. Any suggestions on how we should proceed?

Much appreciated.

[castlemagicmemories]

Why does your wife want to return it?  That needs to be known before any suggestions as to what to do next can happen.

[al4audio2013]

Size of the cloth did not fit seller's size chart. Way too large then what it claims in the description.

[mikeystoyz]

You have to send it to the address where the item was shipped from, not some exotic place off in the middle of no where.  

[shoptalkid]

The seller can't list and ship from the US and then require the item be returned to China.  That is against policy.   I would call back  to speak with a different eBay CS rep or a supervisor.  

[al4audio2013]

Thanks for you reply. It was also my expectation that we should only be obligated to return it to the address it came from, but eBay rep told me we need to return it to the address seller provided otherwise we will lose the case and won't get out money back, even after confirming that the package was shipped from US location.

I find this hard to understand, and my wife wouldn't have bought it had she known the return was basically impossible if we had to ship it back to foreign address.

Anyone ever dealt with similar situation? Any suggestions on what we should do? Life is already pretty busy trying to get ready for our first newborn.

PS. I just saw the new reply after submitting my message. I'll call back again and see if I get a different response. The rep last night made me think eBay was ok for the seller's action. Thanks.

[mudshark61369 · Accepted solution]

@al4audio2013,

@castlemagicmemories, asked why you wanted to return the item, and you answered :

"Size of the cloth did not fit seller's size chart. Way too large then what it claims in the description".

That is not enough detail for us to give better advice.  Was this a bolt of cloth, a table cloth, or some other item that was supposed to fit something?   Return policies for items that do not fit have some variations. 

"I just called ebay, and the rep told us to return it to China for refund as that's the address given in the case.  I told the rep this is clearly a violation of their Itme Location Policy and the rep basically repleated that I'll need to return to the address seller provided no matter what".

Did the rep you spoke to have an accent?  If so you reached the CS center in the Philippines, and those reps tend to say anything to get people off the phone. Sometimes you actually have to read policy to them. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/item-location-misrepresentation-policy?id=4244

If you call around 8:30am Mountain time, you may get a U.S. based rep who can resolve the issue.

  In the mean time I suggest your wife leave the seller a negative feedback saying; "Sent wrong size item from U.S. wants it returned to China, location misrepresented". 

Did you open a return request or an item not described dispute?  Are the seller's messages showing up in the resolution console, or just in regular ebay messages?  If their responses are not in the resolution center console, Respond in the resolution center "the item was listed as being located and shipped from a U.S. address but the seller wants it returned to china in violation of ebay's item location policy".  

If your wife uses a different ebay ID than you, you both may need to learn to vet your seller's more carefully.  You have to look at each seller's feedback profile, not just their feedback percentage.  You have recently bought from 2 sellers who have percentages of 98.4 and 98.5% which are terrible ratings for a high volume seller.  one has over 1,300 negs in the last 12 months. They have many negative feedback comments about shipping from China but are registered in the U.S..  You can read the negative comments only, by clicking on the number of them received on a sellers profile page. 

[jklfindings]

Call ebay on a weekday in the morning as suggested above.  The reps in the US have alot more knowledge of policy, and they have a lot more ability to help.  The foreign call centers have their place, but just aren't very helpful when it comes to policy violations, or anything vaguely complicated, they pretty much just read from a script.

[castlemagicmemories]

it seems that your wife went by the item location listed in the listing.  You need to check further.  Click on the seller's id, the page that comes up is the preliminary feedback profile, which should say where the seller is registered.  That is the address you go by, because many international sellers such as this one will not have the item ship for the listed location; it will inexplicably ship from the country the seller is registered in, China.  And as you see, this can complicate returns, and buyers may decide to adjust their buying habits accordingly.  

Also you need to read the feedback comments the seller has received.  Look at the number of negs and neutrals.  Click on it.  The comments will come up.  Read them.  Check the comments the seller has left for buyers.  These things may indicate a history of problems.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@al4audio2013 wrote:

Size of the cloth did not fit seller's size chart. Way too large then what it claims in the description.

---

Please be more specific.  As mudshark says, what kind of cloth?  Was this clothing, a tablecloth, what?

[myangelandmyprincess]

What reason did you choose for a return ?  

[al4audio2013]

Thank you all for your replies.

My wife does have a different account and I was asking for her as she doesn't use ebay often. It was a maternity dress she bought, but the size just did not fit the chart listed. We were prepared to pay the return shipping on our own expecting to have to send it back to MA (just realized the item is listed in CA but shipped from MA, if it matters), but the cost to return it to China is just unrealistic.

Upon checking by clicking the user ID as suggested, it shows that the seller is registered in China. We will make sure we check that in the future before purchasing. Thanks for the tip.

Oh, just when I was typing this message, my wife called ebay following your suggestions and we did reach the US customer service! Within a few minutes, the rep told us the seller indeed violated their policy, and the rep escalated the case to rule in our favor and we will be receiving refund. She also said due to the complexity of the various addresses involved in our case (listed in CA, shipped from MA, return address in China), if the seller wants the item back, they should send us a return label. Which I hope they do. I am so glad many you gave us the tip on reaching out to the US customer service!   

We learned a lesson. Thank you all.

[jklfindings]

Very happy that worked out the way it should for you!

[castlemagicmemories]

SO glad this worked out for you, and sorry you had to go through all that.

Congratulations on your impending arrival; all the best to you, your wife, and the new baby!  May God richly bless you always.

[freeshipusa1]

the return adddress came from seller My Ebay-return address,and we are supposed to return to that address if we open a case and granted return .

not the return address on the actual shipment.

OR has it changed?