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Our seller inquiry to eBay Headquarters via USPS mail on 10/20/22.
We are an eBay seller with more than 6,000 positive feedbacks.
On 8/30/22 we sold an item that was delivered on 9/3/22. The buyer stated that the item was defective and that he would probably donate it to his church rather than keep it for himself. We replied "that may be a good idea" if the buyer wanted to keep the item. The buyer took that to mean that we said it was okay for him to keep the item and cancel the order for a full refund. That was not our meaning or intent. We expected the buyer to cancel the order and return the item to us. We asked eBay to cancel the order and have the item returned to us. eBay said they allowed the buyer to keep the item and issued a full refund to the buyer. We sent a letter to eBay as shown in the subject line. We have not received a response from eBay via U.S. Mail or in our messages inbox and are extremely disappointed in the outcome of this matter. We are left with the loss of a much- loved personal item and its cash value as well.
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoAs a seller, you never want to ask Ebay to help with a return.
Usually when Ebay gets involved, the buyer keeps the item and gets a refund.
mega-ma-roo
·3 years agoIt sounds like the buyer requested a refund through eBay and that you failed to respond to the case they opened. When that happens, eBay does allow the buyer to keep the item and issues a full refund from the seller's account.
I doubt there is anything you can do about this now. There is an arbitration process you can use to seek your money back. See the Legal Disputes section of the User Agreement for how to request that.
jerlice
OP3 years agoThis is a big late as we missed seeing your message.
eBay should do more to provide a "best effort" proviso for a seller. We did not tell the buyer to keep and donate the item. The buyer stated that he could donate it to their church upon purchasing it and we said "that would be a good idea." In no way does that imply the buyer should keep the item as a donation by the seller. An eBay representative should have interceded to determine what the seller's intent was before presuming the item is a "giveaway." It cost us more than $250 and the loss of a much loved classical guitar. Not right!
mega-ma-roo
·3 years agoI'm sorry this happened to you, but I'm having a hard time understanding how it happened. Did the buyer request a return/refund through eBay? I believe they must have done that, otherwise I don't see how the order could have been cancelled. Buyers do not have the ability to cancel an order on their own.
When a buyer requests a return/refund for a defective item through eBay, a case is opened and the seller is notified that the buyer has made the request. The seller has 3 business days to respond to the request. This must be done through the case that was opened. When the seller responds they can: have eBay send a return label, send a return label themselves, or let the buyer keep the item. It's obvious you wanted the item back, so if you responded I assume you would have had a label sent to the buyer.
If the seller does not respond, eBay will refund the buyer and let them keep the item. What the buyer said or the seller said in messages back and forth have no impact on the resolution of the case. The only thing that makes sense in this situation is that there was a case opened and you did not respond to that case. It sounds like you contacted eBay after the case was closed and it was too late for them to do anything.