Locked
Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Return Shipping
I purchased a rather expensive car radio from a seller in China, I’m in the US. The item didn’t initially work and they had to ship me a different wiring harness. After I received the new harness and connected the radio, it worked fine for a few days then screen started flickering and went out. The seller asked to connect via WhatsApp so I could send a video of the issue. I sent the video and we started chatting directly from there instead of within EBay. They were unable to solve the issue and I told them I’d like a refund. They obliged but asked me to put the reason as install issue or I didn’t like the item. They didn’t want me to put that the item was defective. Since they had been cooperative until that point, I decided it wouldn’t hurt and hopefully wouldn’t hurt their seller rating. Big mistake, because I put a “remorse reason†they were not liable for return shipping. They said if I ship the item and give them the invoice they will reimburse me , but this was only said via WhatsApp. The return shipping cost is over half the price of the radio and I have zero confidence they would reimburse me. Any options here? Customer service simply keeps telling me to reach out to the seller who has went completely silent on eBay messaging.
shipscript
·2 years agoDue to the symptoms, I have to wonder if the wiring harness is not solidly connected at the solder/crimp joints, or if the LCD connection is loose, particularly if you drove around some. Loose connections are one of the most common causes of electrical failures in vibration installations. But I guess they walked you through all of that.
Because the return shipping expense to China is not govt subsidized like the outgoing shipping from China, you encountered a pretty common tactic. The only reason the seller would ask you to select a remorse reason for a defective item is to get out of paying for the return shipping (the return reason chosen by the buyer does not affect the seller metrics). That immediately shows that it is unlikely the seller would honor the shipping refund they offered. The typical response is to disappear and stop communicating, which seems to be the current situation. The seller may hope that you will simply go away at this point or miss your eBay deadlines.
Keep an eye on your return window that eBay has sent to your messages. If you miss that window, the return can be closed and you will be stuck with a defective item (which you could resell on eBay as "not working, for parts only").
You will have 60 days from receipt of the item to leave feedback. Keep an eye on that window as well. Many sellers do not like to see negative feedback, and may become more accommodating once it appears. However, you can not use the threat of negative feedback to extort specific performance from the seller. See the feedback rules here:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policies?id=4208
and see the feedback revision rules here:
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/leaving-feedback-sellers/viewing-changing-feedback-left-sellers?id=4031
As always, keep an eye on your timelines.
kvaughan82
OP2 years agoThank you for your reply. After posting the screenshots from the WhatsApp conversation in the EBay chat, the seller immediately sent me a shipping label. It showed that I told the seller the item was defective and that they coerced me into using a remorse reason for the return. The item is in transit back to the seller, so I suppose I will get my refund. Lesson learned!