What are your thoughts on this? Case closed in buyers favor
I sold an item, used eBay shipping label, and it was successful delivered to the address as shown in the tracking.
The buyer lives outside of the US, and he shipped to a freight forwarder called "fishisfast" I guess they contacted the buyer saying it was not delivered.... even though tracking shows it is.
The buyer opened a case, and then he was refunded. The email says:
"We reviewed this case and decided to issue the buyer a full refund.
We didn’t receive valid proof of delivery from you. Sellers must provide tracking information showing the item was delivered to the address provided in the order details."
Is this some type of joke? No idea how I lost this case.
13 comments
jonathanbrightlight
·5 months agoI don't know that it needs to provide a lot more detail than it does. This is the wording in the message from eBay currently when you get an INR case:
We want to let you know that your buyer opened a request because they haven’t received their item.
Here’s what you need to do
If you’ve already shipped the item to the buyer, just make sure you’ve uploaded tracking details that can confirm the item’s delivery to the buyer’s address.
If you can’t fulfill the order, please issue a refund to the buyer, and we’ll credit eligible fees to you as per our fee credit policy.
Please be sure to respond to your buyer’s request by Mar 19, 2026. After that date, if the request is still open we’ll help find a resolution. Keep in mind, if you don’t respond, there’s a chance it could affect your seller performance level.
Resolve the request
If you have any questions or concerns, just get in touch. We’re here to help.
Thanks for being part of the eBay community.
gurlcat
·5 months ago@jonathanbrightlight I respectfully disagree, in fact it's even worse than no instructions at all. Jeez I hadn't seen that in a while. It's AWFUL!
It starts out saying "Here's what you need to do" but (in the option for if you've already shipped), it sounds like "doing" is just a matter of double-checking, ("making sure") you "already" did what you were supposed to! As in, uploading tracking. Any seller who either bought their label through eBay or entered it from the counter receipt at the time of shipping is likely to read that instruction as if it's just a reminder for sellers who might have forgotten to enter tracking. But as long as they've "just made sure" it's there, then they've "done" all they need to do! Just making sure IS a response, according to that!
And even if they click the Respond button out of curiosity or whatever, they see the correct tracking number already there but with an "Update" button .... which .... why would they click that? For all they know, it would erase the number, leaving a blank for them to "update" with a different one, which they don't have, so maybe that would mess everything up. Lord knows there are plenty of disasters waiting to happen by accidentally clicking the wrong thing on eBay, and the way this is written, the safer bet is not to click anything.
As a former high school and college teacher, I assure you that even my very best students wouldn't have understood those instructions. It's as clear as mud. And no matter what anybody says, I bet every regular here either failed their first time, or had to come here and ask, but they may not remember if it was years ago.
gurlcat
·5 months agoI wonder if even half of all sellers know the correct way to deal with an INR, whether the item was already delivered or not.
This is not something sellers should have to keep coming to the Community for help, or even go dig around in the policy pages. The INR notification could come with simple instructions that make it clear what to do, and what will happen if the seller doesn't respond.
HOW HARD WOULD IT BE for them to include those instructions, for handling a situation that can so easily cost innocent sellers BIG money, and BIG account defects?
12345jamesstamps
·5 months agoIf the item was scanned as 'delivered' it was delivered.
But tracking has to show 'delivered'.
Hopefully, you input tracking in the claim.
As a thought...a buyer can do a dispute with their credit card saying item was not delivered to their real address as issued by their bank which shows their real address.
Just an idea and not sure if this might have happened.
Freight forward can be tricky and some buyers know how to beat the system.
albertabrightalberta
·5 months agoDid you respond to the case with the tracking number? It sounds like you didn't respond.
@kibble-net
Signature confirmation isn't required unless the buyer's payment amount is $750. (It hasn't been $250 for years.) I don't see anything in @vault_collections01 's sold listings that would have required s.c.
vault_collections01
OP5 months agoI did not respond in the case at all, since all of the messaging was done directly between me and the buyer. I also contacted eBay twice and spoke with an agent, and they said there is nothing for me to do and I will be covered. I appealed the case after this post was made, and they already replied saying they will refund the money back to me. Luckily.
caldreamer
·5 months agoSending an email to the customer is not good enough. When customer "open case" you must provide EBAY tracking# proving item was delivered to address (shown on EBAY). When you do that, the case will automatically close in "your favor".
mtgraves7984
·5 months agoI appealed the case after this post was made, and they already replied saying they will refund the money back to me. Luckily.
@vault_collections01
Fingers crossed! 🤞
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoFile this result under Shot Myself In The Foot.
You must respond to any case opened, responses by message to the buyer are not responses to the case.
kibble-net
·5 months agoWithout seeing everything from your end, I can think of two possibilities:
1. This was an item $250+ and there was no signature confirmation.
2. You did not respond to the case with the tracking information.
If neither of those apply, maybe another seller can chime in.
bgt_masters_of_tiki_d
·5 months agoI assume you meant $750 or more for signature confirmation?
As for why OP lost the case, only thing I can figure is like you mentioned they never replied to the INR case.
I believe I remember someone mentioning some of the freight forwarders items are marked scanned into a different zip code than what was on the label and sometimes even though it can scan as delivered, in ebay's system it can look like it was scanned into a different zip code.
Was the zip code it was marked as delivered to the same as on the label and did you respond and update the tracking number in the INR case?
toomuchstuffagain35
·5 months agoAnd ebay has known about it for years (as have board posters) and has done zip to combat the INR succeeding.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoMy vote's for #2.
Unless the value is at least $750, there is no requirement for signature confirmation.