Now I Understand Why Sellers Say Ebay Mistreats Them

[sbattle]

Just adding my voice as yet another cautionary tale for other sellers.  

I sold a purse for $19 with free shipping. It was new with tags attached, but had very minor scuffs from storage, which I noted.  

Buyer  received package then claimed purse had other problems that I had not disclosed.  Naïvely, I was surprised because I am a careful and responsible seller, and had examined the bag carefully before posting it. 

 I requested photos of the problems from the buyer; she claimed not to have a camera capable of capturing them.   This seemed a bit fishy to me, but to be accommodating, I accepted the return through eBay anyway, and had Ebay email her a return label to be paid by me. 

She then claimed to be having problems printing the label.   She asked me to help, and I tried, but could not figure out a way to assist her or to send a second label. 

Ebay then contacted me to tell me to provide her with a label.   This initiated a very frustrating round of emails between me and Ebay, where I  explained that I had already provided a label, etc etc.  Each eBay  response came from a new person who seemed not to understand the situation or to even be reading my emails.   Meanwhile, as I reported to eBay during these exchanges, each time I try to pull up the case details, I got an error message. 

Then, without responding to my last message at all nor requiring the buyer to return the item, eBay refunded the full purchase price to the buyer, and debited my PayPal account.  So I'm out  both the item and the money. 

I posted this item responsibly, was responsive and helpful to the buyer even though her behavior was questionable, and tried repeatedly at some length to get Ebay to understand and help.  At this point I have no idea what I could have done to avoid being shafted this way.  

Ebay  offered the option of calling them to appeal, but at this point I have already spent more time on an inexpensive item than it's worth, and have no confidence that talking to Ebay would  lead to anything other than additional frustration. 

 Thank goodness I only lost $19.  I'm done selling here though.   If Ebay can do this to me on this item, they can do it to me on anything I list.  

 I've had friends tell me that Ebay is unfair to sellers, but I did not fully  appreciate how true that is until now. 

[robot-hands]

The only way that happens is if you let it time out.

You need to respond within the time frame given.

[retrose1]

If you properly supplied a return label through ebay - then the lack of return is not your fault, and you should not have been forced to refund.  AND gotten the nonresponsive defect for the buyers lack of action.

After 7 days, you should have called ebay and asked the CS to close the case.

[retrose1]

OP what was happening is that the buyer was hoping that you would become frustrated and just send them the money to buy their own return ship label.  It is an unusual but common partial refund scam. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

You had ONE bad transaction out of hundreds for $19 and now you're going to quit?

People die in car accidents but I'm not going to quit driving.

You may never have another problem but if you want to give up potential earnings to go off in a huff go for it.

[sbattle]

All of my multiple responses were within the required timeframe.

[sbattle]

No huff here; just older and wiser. Surprised that you would criticize me rather than eBay, but whatever - Yep, no reason to continue using a platform that treats people this way. I have plenty of other options for selling things.

[imakesugar]

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@retrose1 wrote:

OP what was happening is that the buyer was hoping that you would become frustrated and just send them the money to buy their own return ship label.  It is an unusual but common partial refund scam. 

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[sbattle]

Thanks retrose1 and imakesugar.  It did smell of a scam.  In this case eBay could have protected me pretty easily had they chosen to invest just slightly more attention and energy into their "investigation".   

If other sellers here are happy with eBay, great; I wish them well.  After this happened, though, it's not for me.   Too much hassle and risk.  

[retrose1]

It's not that I am 'happy' with ebay, ebay is a job and there are always aspects of a job that people don't like.  I recognize that there are things about ebay that are not fair or make sense and so I learn about them and work around them in order to make money on ebay.

I know that there are scammers and that a seller can not get ebay to see things the sellers way - no matter how blatant the scammer is, so I sell things on ebay that scammers don't care about, at prices scammers won't waste their time for.

Like right now, I have a lovely item that I can easily get between $250 - $750 for, but it isn't getting listed on ebay because the scam potential is very high.  Even though it would do very well at auction.    Sold a $100 item on another site yesterday - ebay never saw it.  I sold a $12 item on ebay yesterday.  That's $12 I wouldn't have made if I totally cut ebay out of my internet selling business.  If you know that thieves break into cars in a specific lonely area of a parking lot at the mall, you avoid that area of the parking lot, you don't stop shopping at the mall.

[sbattle]

I understand your point and your logic, and do not disagree. I'm just personally choosing to head to a different mall, since I have plenty of options.

[gramophone-georg]

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@sbattle wrote:

Just adding my voice as yet another cautionary tale for other sellers.  

I sold a purse for $19 with free shipping. It was new with tags attached, but had very minor scuffs from storage, which I noted.  

Buyer  received package then claimed purse had other problems that I had not disclosed.  Naïvely, I was surprised because I am a careful and responsible seller, and had examined the bag carefully before posting it. 

 I requested photos of the problems from the buyer; she claimed not to have a camera capable of capturing them.   This seemed a bit fishy to me, but to be accommodating, I accepted the return through eBay anyway, and had Ebay email her a return label to be paid by me. 

She then claimed to be having problems printing the label.   She asked me to help, and I tried, but could not figure out a way to assist her or to send a second label. 

Ebay then contacted me to tell me to provide her with a label.   This initiated a very frustrating round of emails between me and Ebay, where I  explained that I had already provided a label, etc etc.  Each eBay  response came from a new person who seemed not to understand the situation or to even be reading my emails.   Meanwhile, as I reported to eBay during these exchanges, each time I try to pull up the case details, I got an error message. 

Then, without responding to my last message at all nor requiring the buyer to return the item, eBay refunded the full purchase price to the buyer, and debited my PayPal account.  So I'm out  both the item and the money. 

I posted this item responsibly, was responsive and helpful to the buyer even though her behavior was questionable, and tried repeatedly at some length to get Ebay to understand and help.  At this point I have no idea what I could have done to avoid being shafted this way.  

Ebay  offered the option of calling them to appeal, but at this point I have already spent more time on an inexpensive item than it's worth, and have no confidence that talking to Ebay would  lead to anything other than additional frustration. 

 Thank goodness I only lost $19.  I'm done selling here though.   If Ebay can do this to me on this item, they can do it to me on anything I list.  

 I've had friends tell me that Ebay is unfair to sellers, but I did not fully  appreciate how true that is until now. 

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@Anonymous

How can a seller be awarded a defect and wind up being out item and money by following eBay policy... again?

"Closed without seller resolution" because buyer  couldn't/ wouldn't follow through? C'mon.

[plumbingspecials]

The "not being able to print the return shipping label" is a common scam. Fight it, appeal if you must.

Report the buyer for every violation he has committed. 

Help to stop that kind of buyer!

[sg51]

How can a seller be awarded a defect and wind up being out item and money by following eBay policy... again?

That't the big kahuna.  The ebay equivalent of a felony conviction.  Take a second one anytime soon, and seller just might experience the ebay equivalent of deportation.

[usgamecollector]

if the buyer did not return the item then it should be found in your favor if you call in and appeal.