Unethical sellers

[herbi-65]

I am currently very unhappy, because I have wasted a lot of time on this matter with no outcome, after messaging a seller for the past 3 months regarding a faulty item received and being constantly told that they will help me, I now realise that they have just been stalling me in the hope that I will give up. It is now too late to be able to access the details of the transaction so it would be my word against theirs. I even agreed to a 50% refund along the way, but it did not happen. I have a record of all my messaging and have complied by being courteous, even though it was difficult at times.

The eBay system seems to allow these unethical sellers to continue to trade this way without penalty.

 This has changed my continued confidence with eBay in future, because online purchasing options have become very competitive now.

[mudshark61369 · Accepted solution]

@herbi-65,

You realize you have posted your issue on the U.S. based site, not on the Australian site ebay.au  still the answers you'll get should work.  When you open a return request, if the seller does not provide a solid solution such as providing their address (if they are foreign so you can send them a return shipping cost) or a refund. You have to escalate the dispute by using the ask ebay to step in option in the resolution center console. 

Because you did not ask ebay to step in within 30 days of sending the return request, you lost your ebay Money Back Guarantee (MBG) protections.  In order to get a refund through PayPal you have to pay the  shipping cost, to return the item with door to door tracking,   which can be much higher that the original item & shipping cost combined.  Those who read and pay attention to the MBG time frames do not get scammed by dishonest sellers.

You should also check each seller's feedback profile before buying from them. Keep in mind that ebay's best high volume sellers will have a feedback percentage of 99.6% or better.  Those with less than a 98.9% rating should be avoided, especially if they are registered in China.