Hello all. I recently purchased two items with combined shipping of $18.98. After checkout I realized there had been an error and I was charged $25.98 for postage. I let the seller know, which lead to a series of odd excuses: they first said they didn't know how to process a refund, then they claimed they'd given me a $5 refund but "sent it to the wrong account." The tracking number I was given didn't work, and when the package arrived it was two full pounds lighter than it had been calculated as.
That's because the items were much flimsier than advertised (and dirty with lawn clippings, too, but that's another story). I asked to return them for a refund, the seller agreed, but when they got the return they reneged on the agreement. They claimed it was just "buyer's remorse" and sent me a smaller partial refund than agreed. eBay closed the dispute before I could do anything about not getting the refund agreed to earlier, so I called them.
At that point I discovered the seller had submitted a FedEx invoice for $25.98, so on eBay's end, it looked like that entire amount went toward shipping.
I kept telling eBay that the postage at checkout was incorrect, that the tracking number was fake, that they didn't send it via FedEx (not even Smartpost), and that I never got that fake $5 "courtesy refund" from the seller, but they were just confused by the whole thing.
Pretty sure the seller is pulling a fast one here, but I'm not sure if there's anything else I can do to report it. The package only cost $11 to return to the seller, so they pocketed probably $14 in extra postage that didn't get any eBay fees taken out and is tax deductable. They have 875 items for sale right now, so those shipping shenanigans sure add up.
Anything left to do or just move on with my life?
