eBay

jackhandy · ‎12-19-2023

Sold a desk lamp, new - bubble wrapped in box. Buyer messaged me to say he wasn't happy and mentioned it was falling apart, which was not the case when shipped. I told him no problem, I would send a return label as soon as he clicked "request return" and a reason. I then have heart issues, out for 3 weeks and unable to respond to their dispute they sent me. Come back home finally to see my funds on hold. Wasted 3-4 hours on phone with support to be told that the buyers bank is investigating..... another 2 weeks, message stating they charged me $20, refunded the buyer. And yes, I informed support there was a reason I couldn't respond... being in the hospital. I message the buyer to ask for the lamp back and he said he THREW IT OUT and was cold, rude and unapologetic. Here I sit, feeling totally screwed out of over $150 with no desire to call ebay support and waste more time. I am officially DONE selling on ebay. I have over 100 items listed and the worst sales performance of all time.... Now this. I am done!!!

martin2001 · ‎12-19-2023

Come on, bad things happen from time too time. First, hopefully, your health is back to normal, that's what matters. $150 loss, is a lot, but there are worse things happening in the world.

Most of the cases, complaints, refunds etc are resolved automatically. Technically, the automated system resolved this situation correctly, so it would be a waste of time to call ebay. Ebay can' t really take into consideration everybody's personal situation.

Just keep selling, in a couple of months you will have forgotten this episode.

Stay healthy and have a Merry Christmas.

4pawsup* · ‎12-19-2023

I have in place someone who would take care of my store in the event i get sick. Rather than closing your listings down is there someone who could take over until you feel better? I get your mad at Ebay . I hope you mend quickly wish you the best have a Merry Christmas.

lakefor94 · ‎12-19-2023

Hope you are making a solid recovery from the medical problems.

FWIW, my son has my eBay credentials in case of an emergency.

I hope some of your 78 listings sell to help make up for the loss. Hang in there.

Posting ID

mtgraves7984 · ‎12-19-2023

I told him no problem, I would send a return label as soon as he clicked "request return" and a reason.

@jackhandy

I would have thought that an INAD would have been approved automatically and your buyer would immediately receive a return shipping label.

Also, you mention that the buyer's bank was investigating. Was it a CC chargeback that you've suffered?

12345jamesstamps · ‎12-19-2023

I think part of the story is missing.

"Buyers bank is investigating"....sounds like dispute of buyer's bank credit card that the buyer made...it does take 2 weeks for investigating...bank usually always win.

"they charged me $20."...that would be you contesting the dispute with the bank of a credit card charge.

I am sorry about you being in the hospital and hope you feel better.

jackhandy · ‎12-19-2023

Nope... I got charged the $20 because the buyer disputed it.

Makes no sense

jackhandy · ‎12-19-2023

He apparently had to choose return item or dispute charge and he clicked dispute charge and that triggered my $20 fee and the investigation. It was all because the guy chose the wrong way to return the item. I've never tried to return something so I'm not sure what it looks like from buyers standpoint... according to support chat the guy chose the wrong option.

jackhandy · ‎12-19-2023

Without going into details, this is about the 10th such bit of ridiculousness I've encountered and it makes me feel so powerless that this corporate giant is ok with charging us little guys everytime we turn the corner. Every fee has skyrocketed and profits have shrunk to the point of it not being worth selling here. My sales dropped off to near nothing if I don't promote the listings... I went from selling 2-3 things a day and deciding to stop promoting.. then sold 5 items in a month. I'm not a full time seller, I'm doing this for my inheritance. My Father passed a few years ago and he was a collector, hence I work for my inheritance....

And for those who say I should have a backup, I didn't plan on having a heart attack 2000 miles away from home... by myself. I didn't have the ambulance guy put my status to "away".

ed8108 · ‎12-20-2023

Sometimes bad things happen,

things may go wrong, & you will be hurt

Realize having someone within your life that loves you should communicate being fortunate & blessed.

With the cards that life has dealt you, there will be some happy moments ahead

May you have a happy holiday !

dbfolks166mt · ‎12-20-2023

He apparently had to choose return item or dispute charge and he clicked dispute charge and that triggered my $20 fee and the investigation. It was all because the guy chose the wrong way to return the item. I've never tried to return something so I'm not sure what it looks like from buyers standpoint... according to support chat the guy chose the wrong option.

First sorry to hear about the heart attack and I hope you are recovering quickly. There is some detail missing but I believe the buyer actually opened a NAD chargeback with their CC company as opposed to an eBay NAD or return request. Sadly since you did not respond to the chargeback because you were in the hospital I am assuming after 3 days the buyer asked eBay to step in and eBay assumed you were disputing the chargeback and applied the $20 dispute fee from the CC company.

NAD chargebacks are almost impossible for the seller to win since the CC company only looks at the financial aspects of the transaction in a he said/she said situation. The CC companies also do not worry about the logistics and most will not require the buyer to return the item before they fully refund the cardholder.

I suspect you have been the victim of what is referred to as friendly fraud which is becoming an increasing problem for merchants everywhere. Since the CC company found in the buyers favor eBay fully refunded them for the full purchase price of the item along with probably still charging you the FVF's. I could not find the $150 item but I did find a $60 lamp that you sold on 23 September. Not sure what the total transaction amount was (item + shipping + sales tax) or if you promoted the item but if it was around $80 excluding sales tax the FVF's would have been around $10.60. EBay would have refunded the buyer the $80 and still charge you the $10.60 in FVF's. So in addition to the $80 refund you would also be out the $10.60 in FVF's and whatever you actually paid for the shipping label.

While unfortunate that this happened it would have been no different on any other ecommerce site as the chargebacks are becoming more prevalent everywhere. Sorry this happened and while of little consequence this loss is a tax write off you should remember to take when you do your taxes.

luckythewinner · ‎12-20-2023

Got return request / in hospital couldn't respond/Screwed by EBAY

You were not screwed by eBay. You were screwed by your lack of planning because you did not have an emergency backup plan.

broto_64 · ‎12-20-2023

I have learned a lot of lessons since selling on ebay began, some the hard way.

If you were 2000 miles away from home, hospitals have excellent wifi and you can do things by downloading the mobile app on a cell phone. And I can remember this happening myself and I don't recall how I was able to gain access to my account since I could not possibly remember my alpha-numeric upper/lower symbols password nor could I gain access to my email because it's a POP/IMAP connection but I remember I had plenty of time and I was able to do it.
It took critical thinking, I wasn't able to gain access in the first few minutes, probably took a few hours, but I got in. That said right after I became aware that I needed to go I actually made a quick side trip to put the store on vacation before going to the hospital, and it wasn't much fun but I'll weigh the risks of death vs. metrics anytime.

Ultimately ebay's ways do frustrate, I agree, of particular interest is that since the self-promoting started I just noticed a few days ago that ebay isn't the cheapest anymore because sellers are tacking the cost on to the items for sale... But that's another story, just to illustrate the many ways in which ebay can trip us up.

However the CEO doesn't care, so why should we?

They make their money via any means necessary, so why shouldn't we?

As well I am sure the people working at or for ebay face similar pay structures and headaches as we do, and I'm sure they face their metrics they must satisfy even if it makes no real difference to customer, buyer, seller, sub-contractor or employee.

Do they get upset when things don't go their way and throw in the towel?
I am sure some do, others don't.

Choice is yours, you can take this as a lesson learned and sell off the rest of the inheritance...

Or go on and quit now.

I can't make that choice for you, have a nice day.

dbfolks166mt · ‎12-20-2023

Got return request / in hospital couldn't respond/Screwed by EBAY

You were not screwed by eBay. You were screwed by your lack of planning because you did not have an emergency backup plan.

I would be willing to wager that 90+% of sellers and buyers have no backup plan. There are a ton of things that most people don't have emergency backup plans for and they generally don't realize it till they need it.