Ebay Buyer Protections that hurt sellers

Question

Recently sold a card. It was listed as near mint. Buyer complained there were print lines so it wasn't near mint. I gave a $15 refund. Seller put in a claim that the listing wasn't accurate. I contacted ebay and got no response. Ebay gave the buyer a full refund and let him keep the card. Is there anything else I can do to get my money back?

rfmtm · Accepted Answer

Did buyer agree to the $15., discount? If not you want to make sure to always accept the return to make sure you get your item back before refunding or ebay will refund without asking, especially if you list with no returns accepted.

Best you can do now is ask buyer to return the card if you supply a prepaid label or send them a PayPal invoice if they want to keep it. You can also appeal the refund.

simply-the-best-for-you · Answer

I'm sorry but you handled this incorrectly on several levels. If you have SNAD case filed against you, you MUST work with the buyer to resolve it within 3 business days. If you do not, eBay will not only rule for the buyer, but you will get a Defect on your account. Had you simply chosen to let the buyer return it, you could have chosen to receive the item back & you wouldn't have to issue the refund until you got it back. Also, you would NOT have received the Defect. It doesn't really matter if the claim is true in your opinion or not. Once the SNAD is filed, you have 3 days to make it right.

Additionally, why would you send a buyer money without finding out first if that satisfies them? That's a terrible idea! It bought you nothing & cost you an additional $15. In the future, find out what the buyer wants & try to work with them. In some cases, it may be a partial refund, but you must be sure that your buyer is good with that.

There's really nothing you can do to get your money back, as you should have followed the proper procedure. Count yourself lucky that this is the first time in almost 5000 FB that you've run into this! eBay's Money Back Guarantee trumps your return policy & it's your responsiblity to work it out with your buyer. Unfortunately, it's sometimes not fair b/c buyers can lie (so can sellers), but even if they're lying, you must follow procedure & then contact eBay after you've resolved the issue, to discuss a possible refund to you. Given that this is a simple you said/they said, it's unlikely that they will do anything.

Always be sure you receive the item back (and you will have to pay for the return shipping label) before you refund! If you offer a partial, be sure that they consider that a reasonable solution. It doesn't really matter what you're return policy is, you are bound by these rules with any of the policies. Although if you allow returns, the system will usually accept the return automatically. Sorry this didn't work out for you, but now you'll know for next time.