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What happens if a buyer initiates a return while I am on scheduled time away?
I will be out of the country for 3 weeks. I scheduled the away time on eBay and also put an autoreply on messages. My question is, what if a buyer decides to return something I already sold while I'm away? I will not have access to eBay during those 3 weeks to approve the return request. How does eBay handle that situation? I tried to get a live agent to ask, but the AI assistant puts me in an endless loop and won't connect me. My concern is that, because I won't be around to respond, eBay will step in, I'll lose the FVFs, and I'll get dinged on seller metrics. I've had a couple of returns on gold auctions since the market tanked, and there are still a few items I sold that would fall within the 30-day return window.
I'm actually pretty nervous about this, so would appreciate hearing from anyone who has info or experience with this situation. Thanks!
stuff4divas
Mentor5 months ago@drmar u need someone u trust and knows the process while u r away to deal with returns
eastlaneave
Mentor5 months ago@drmar
Adding to what @disneyshopper said,
-- Be sure to have returns automatically accepted and labels automatically sent without your action (don't have a RMA) .
OR
-- You could just automatically send a refund when someone requests are return during your away period. That way you would not get a defect, but you wouldn't get the item back.
The settings are here
https://www.ebay.com/rtn/Return/SellerRules
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/protections/returns
In case of a Return
- The buyer would open the return and get the label, then
- actually return the item,
- shipping time to reach your home,
- you have 2 business days to issue the refund before eBay would force the refund and you would get a defect.
Realistically 8-21 days before the refund may be issued.
If you have a trusted friend you leave you phone with, they could monitor your account.
drmar
OP5 months agoThanks for the ideas. I set up automatic acceptance of returns and I'll entrust a family member with monitoring the account while I'm gone. I haven't historically had a lot of returns, but recently got stung by 2 fraudulent "item not as described" returns that eBay forced me to honor even though they were clear cases of buyer's remorse. I'm seriously disenchanted with eBay at the moment. Buyers get away with murder and sellers have to bend over backwards to stay in eBay's good graces. Not sure I'll be doing much more selling here if this continues. 😞
disneyshopper
Mentor5 months agoIf you will be unable to respond, then the buyer will most likely Ask ebay to step in on day 4, and ebay will refund the buyer from your funds, you will receive a defect for an unresolved transaction, you will not be credited for the FVF, and the buyer gets to keep the item.
When did you schedule your timeaway? I would END your listings now so no one can make a purchase. You can relist after you return.
drmar
OP5 months agoI did end all of my current listings. I'm just worried about items I've already delivered that will still be in the 30-day window for returns when I leave town. It's not very likely that someone will request a return, but it's possible. In my 27 years selling on eBay, I don't think I've had more than 1 or 2 returns total. In the last month since I started selling my gold jewelry, I've had THREE. The market price of gold went down and the buyers initiated bogus "not as described" refund requests. I guess I'm just nervous because I only recently got "top seller" status and don't want to screw that up.