How long does a buyer have to open a case and request a refund, lost items?

[qualityforlessells]

I have been selling phones through craigslist for a few years and decided to become more active on Ebay. I am beginning to think I should end selling on ebay because the seller protection sucks against lying buyers.

How long does a buyer have to file a dispute for a phone after receiving it? Is it really 45 days from what i have been reading???!!!!! Anything could go wrong with technology after a few days of being purchased. "knock on wood" Now I am scared to list anything here again. Ebay has been making $800 a month in fees from me, it might not seem much to some but I have had returns that absolutely had no issues and buyers just wanted a refund.

Please tell me 45 days is wrong. More like 7 days to file a claim would be perfect this is ridiculous.

Another question that I have is, How can you file a claim for a phone that goes missing from the postal office. I always ship everything with insurance and signature confirmation but what do they require the seller to confirm the price of the phone? Everything that I buy is straight off good ol craigslist and i do not get any receipts for anything obviously.

[cebal.lup]

Can someone help or share some insight?

I sell auto parts , they're 100% working , if not I offer an exchange no refund policy, yet eBay ALWAYS makes me issue a refund !!!! Customers lie when they realize they ordered the wrong part number OR this wasn't the problem their car was having, on top of this , they have the nerve to leave negative feedback because I initially refuse to issue a refund and offer an exchange (on a existing perfect part ) .
Is there a SELLER PROTECTION against frivolous cases ????

[allflow4]

No ebay does not care about sellers, I live by the old saying never sale what you would not feel bad about losing because on ebay you probaly will lose. I am done with Ebay and I would Much rather sale elsewhere thank risk ebay. I am waiting the 30 stupid days then I am going to close ebay fast and never go back, Amazon and others have the same stuff the $2 I would save with ebay is not worth the hassle to buy or be ripped off selling there, good riddence.

[theleader2012]

You need to proofread before you post.Your first sentence contradicts your seconds sentence.

[bottomlessattic]

Basically ebay forces us to give a 45 day warranty on everything we sell whether it is brand new or 100 years old and well past any expected operational lifespan. Of course it's absurd and ebay is loosing millions in revenue from sellers just not willing to go along with the nonsence. Or are they ? When you sell something you might as well just leave the money in your paypal account because you don't dare spend it for anything else for at least 45 days. How much interest revenue for paypal is generated by everyone being forced to hold large sums of money in their paypal account all the time for at least 45 days ? 

[cool-tech-for-less]

I never had any issues with ebay until recently, now I have 6 returns due to internal or external damage (I used to sell quadcopters and parts) but guess what. 4 of these werent even opened!(and upon opening them they worked fine) still sealed in the box!! 1 was opened but not assembled or used, was also working fine, and 1 was obviously crashed. Checked the flight controller board logs, and the buyer was idiotic enough to have auto-pilot fly it to 4000 meters, obviously it ran out of battery, and crashed to earth. Upon providing eBay and paypal both with this data, they basically told me I could **** it. Guess what eBay, YOU LOST A SELLER.

[cool-tech-for-less]

Guess what everyone? eBay doesnt want me talking trash about them on here, so half my post got edited out. Congrats Laura(mod) for making my case against eBay!

[eastlakelabs]

Yup! That's how it works. This is why tech giants like Best Buy, HHGregg, etc. have changed their return policy to a maximum of 15 days, and major carriers force phones to be returned within 14 days. People can basically use a phone for free for 45 days, return it, get a brand new phone, and keep doing it. The same goes with everything. It's utterly ridiculous. There's no point in selling on here. Go for cash on CL, or something.

[luvinit21921]

I totally agree with u ..ebay needs to protect us sellers as well..to think if u sell someone a used item an it says used an they still give them 45 days to fike a claim against u .thats is horse **bleep** well what if they broke it. I do everything i cqn to protect myself i even go rite down to takin photos of the model an serial numbers on things so they cant send me something back that they just wanted to replace thqt he had...EBAY .U NEED TO CHANGE UR POLICY..I WOULD SAY 7-10 DAYS TO FILE A CLAIM AN IF THEY DONT QT LEAST US SELLERS CAN HAVE A SIGH OF RELIEF AN SOME PROTECTION

[magalimai12]

Does anyone know where else to sell products like phones and electronics.  eBay has become a buyers world, and truly if I wanted, I could buy several items and request returns for no reasons at all, and just hope that I get refunds and keep the items.  It has really become a poor place to sell items in the last 6 months.  I sell phones and electronics and have so many scammers now that I cannot deal with it.  Plus all the fees, and when the scammers do what they do it negatively impacts the seller.  I am tired of these scams.  

[vgames4saleandstuff]

45 days is insane. I sell game codes and I would be screwed over if the buyer just decided to scam me from the code which they could easily do seeing how biased eBay is towards the buyer. Not only that but I've just recently had a scammer claim my item was counterfeit and extorted me from my purchase on the threat of reporting my account and leaving a neg. And since I don't want to lose the case or receive a neg I let that thief get away with his demands and just block him.

This kind of policy is unacceptable. They take a good chunk of our profits from each sale with listing, ebay + paypal fees and taxes and we as sellers can't even receive decent protection? I'm thinking of leaving eBay and setting up shop on Amazon or other sites that don't treat their sellers, their lifeblood like **bleep**.

[vgames4saleandstuff]

Try eBid and Amazon. eBid has lesser fees but lesser traffic. Amazon is about the same as eBay but the seller protection there is better from what I hear. You can always do it up and personal on Craigslist.

[mayfern_toh]

Do not sell anything that you can't risk losing. I no longer sell anything expensive on ebay anymore. 45days is ridiculous, too many **bleep**py people out there. There are many other better sites.

[lauraj2967]

You should only have 4 days from the date received on used items and 10 days for new items. I believe they are trying to force sellers to do what they want them to do like run your items like a big chain store. 

[bagdittybags]

I had the same thing happen to me. Buyer purchased a genuine Coach purse from me in early April. Just a few weeks ago (mid July) she files a claim with PayPay indicating it was an imitation. Despite me telling PayPal that it was purchased at a Coach store and Coach does not sell imitations they ruled in favor of the buyer. The buyer then emailed me stating she has no money to ship the purse back to me. I do not sell fake knockoffs. I am absolutely livid at PayPal and their decision. They are basically screwing an honest seller (me!). I'm now afraid to ever sell anything on eBay again and certainly don't think I want to use PayPal anymore. I thought buyers had 45 days to make a claim. The fact that a buyer would make a claim three months later should raise nothing but red flags.

[perfectlytuned]

I get it about the no returns policy but accuracy is important

I paid some real money for a cell phone sold as "used", and it arrived with an obvious defect: when the display went dark during a call (after screen time out) t it never lit up again, not from movement and not from light. so you could not dial an extension or hang up or conference or......  Only way to turn the display on was to reboot.  It turns out the proximity sensor was broken and this is a very common problem with this model.  This seller was trying to get rid of junk. No way you can make a call for over 30 seconds on this thing and not see that problem.  He did not reply to my email,   I opened a case a week later, and he tried to hide behind his "no returns" policy.    If you list as "used" you have an obligation to disclose noted defects.  If you sell as "for parts", then the no returns notice will stand!  I would never pay real money for a cell phone "for parts"  To me it is very telling that he did not re-list.

As a seller of used and new items on ebay (I am a manufacturer) I always disclose completely.  As a buyer, if a seller is using the fact that I cannot examine an object over distance to sell me an innacurately described item, we'll have a problem with that. 

Thorough honesty and knowledge of policy are paramount.  I have never had trouble with an ebay buyer, but OTOH I invisibly tag parts of a cell phone and other electronics.  I have heard too many horror stories.