eBay

petesite · ‎09-01-2020

I just have to say I've been selling on eBay since 2003 (17 years) and I've NEVER been treated this poorly by a company. After this I will be closing my eBay account due to the absolute total lack of help I've been offered as a long time member. A buyer purchased an item from me (a NES console) and when it arrived to them the cables did not fit their tv. The buyer wants me to refund them or buy them new cables because THEY DIDN'T READ THE LISTING. I shouldn't have to buy new cables for anyone, they did not read the listing because it clearly states the color of cables it comes with (in HD photos no less). I have called eBay customer service BUT THEY LITERALLY JUST HANG UP ON ME AND TELL ME TO VISIT THEIR AWFUL HELP PAGE THAT IS JUST A BIG ERROR SCREEN. I have tried the resolution center but there are no options that I can click, when I go to respond to the return request it only gives me the option to refund them??? Why can't I deny an absurd return request? Why can't I get ahold of a real customer service person? All I do is pay outrageous fees and receive NO help. Overall just done with eBay at this point...terrible customer service

petesite · ‎09-11-2020

Well, it's OVER. Took almost 2 weeks and I might add that at no point did eBay ever once step in to help me, even though I opened a case through their system and they flat-out ignored me and then retracted my case. All I received was (1) automated email and that was it. Never could get ahold of even 1 real customer service person. PayPal was forced to unhold the funds after the seller mysteriously closed the case after not communicating with me any further. I was not given the money back for the return label I paid for, so I lost a further $21. If it weren't for the fact I was able to reason with the buyer (after providing proof they had lied to customer service) then I'd basically be out everything.

So let this be a cautionary tale to all those of you who sell on eBay or are thinking about selling on eBay...there are OTHER places you can take your business with much less fees that also use PayPal. Instagram, Etsy, Pintrest, even the scam haven of iOffer probably has more to offer than this outdated digital garbage dump of a platform. ✌️

And thank you to those of you who offered support and words of real advice - Petesite

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mtgraves7984 · ‎09-01-2020

No... you're not required to buy new cables, but 'No Returns' does not mean no refunds. Your best bet is to ask the buyer to open a Return request which you will approve. When the console has come back to you, issue a refund to the buyer. (If the buyer selects a remorse reason for return, you can deduct the shipping charges. If the buyer cites Not As Described, it's a full refund.) Save your sanity and don't blame eBay customer service... they can't change policy.

Sorry this happened to you.

kensgiftshop · ‎09-01-2020

@petesite wrote:
Why can't I deny an absurd return request? Why can't I get ahold of a real customer service person? All I do is pay outrageous fees and receive NO help.

If they have filed an INAD, you can't deny the return, unless you want Ebay to refund the buyer from your account and let them keep the system.

Best to accept the return, pay return shipping and refund once the item is returned.

Once the buyer is refunded, then call CS and complain.

If you don't accept the return or you call CS now, they could refund the buyer from your account and not require them to return it, plus give you a defect for not handling the return, plus, you wouldn't get your Ebay fee's refunded.

Have a great day.

petesite · ‎09-01-2020

I appreciate the response but I refuse to pay out of my own pocket because the seller did not read the listing, I am in no way responsible for sending them a set of cables or returning ANY amount of money to them and losing my own money because they are incapable of reading a description. I sell used cars in my real job and I would not accept a return on a Toyota Corolla because a customer doesn't like the color of the tires on it so why would I return an item THAT WAS EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED IN THE LISTING? MAKES NO SENSE. They had the ability to read the description at the time of bidding and they did not. I will not let eBay (or the seller) bully me into a refund for their mistakes. I have opened a "report buyer" on the buyer of this item and that's where it will stay. I will issue no refund for them, and I WILL blame eBay customer service for poor quality customer service THAT I PAY FOR through expensive fees every month. That's like paying a union for 17 years and them refusing to help you...eBay is a joke and I will sell elsewhere from now on

donsdetour · ‎09-01-2020

@petesite wrote:
I appreciate the response but I refuse to pay out of my own pocket because the seller did not read the listing, I am in no way responsible for sending them a set of cables or returning ANY amount of money to them and losing my own money because they are incapable of reading a description. I sell used cars in my real job and I would not accept a return on a Toyota Corolla because a customer doesn't like the color of the tires on it so why would I return an item THAT WAS EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED IN THE LISTING? MAKES NO SENSE. They had the ability to read the description at the time of bidding and they did not. I will not let eBay (or the seller) bully me into a refund for their mistakes. I have opened a "report buyer" on the buyer of this item and that's where it will stay. I will issue no refund for them, and I WILL blame eBay customer service for poor quality customer service THAT I PAY FOR through expensive fees every month. That's like paying a union for 17 years and them refusing to help you...eBay is a joke and I will sell elsewhere from now on

I suspect eBay will refund them for you, or paypal or their credit card... Any way you look at this YOU lose.

mtgraves7984 · ‎09-01-2020

@petesite wrote:
I appreciate the response but I refuse to pay out of my own pocket because the seller did not read the listing, I am in no way responsible for sending them a set of cables or returning ANY amount of money to them and losing my own money because they are incapable of reading a description. I sell used cars in my real job and I would not accept a return on a Toyota Corolla because a customer doesn't like the color of the tires on it so why would I return an item THAT WAS EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED IN THE LISTING? MAKES NO SENSE. They had the ability to read the description at the time of bidding and they did not. I will not let eBay (or the seller) bully me into a refund for their mistakes. I have opened a "report buyer" on the buyer of this item and that's where it will stay. I will issue no refund for them, and I WILL blame eBay customer service for poor quality customer service THAT I PAY FOR through expensive fees every month. That's like paying a union for 17 years and them refusing to help you...eBay is a joke and I will sell elsewhere from now on

Feeling this way ^^^ is commonplace. Good luck.

fab_finds4u · ‎09-01-2020

Well, all I have to say is be prepared to lose the console AND the money.

You must not understand that eBay doesn't give a darn about your description, and they don't care what the buyer is complaining about and if it's a valid complaint or not. If you refuse to accept the return and provide a return label eBay will step in and refund the buyer and not require them to return it.

So continue to dig in and hold your ground on not refunding and see who wins.

petesite · ‎09-01-2020

I truly appreciate the quick responses from those of you who replied (mtgraves, donsdetour), I may sound upset (because I am) but in no way do I feel any anger toward this forum and the people who responded. You're just seeing this physical representation of how I feel typed out because I cannot contact someone in a human way directly over the phone, I decided to accept the return (which eBay charged me for and did not deduct from the total sale price) and now the buyer has simply stopped responding so this is just loads of fun, hopefully this gets settled because I just want my Nintendo back...

petesite · ‎09-01-2020

So here is another part of this story. Like I said the buyer asked for a refund so I accepted it, now the buyer says that the system itself isn't working and claims I only insured the system for the sale price ($94) because I purposely knew it was non-working and sent her a broken system in an elaborate attempt to scam her through the USPS insurance (I'm not kidding). She says that I was rude to her telling her that the system cables do not fit her tv and a return won't be good enough, that she wants my eBay account suspended (she sent all this over 2 emails). This person is literally out of their mind and opened a complaint against me claiming I was trying to take her money and keep the product even though I clearly accepted the return and she wants a refund before she will send the product back to me. This is literally ridiculous and eBay needs a better system to prevent absolute nonsense like this from happening, this is a huge waste of my personal time/money. I've included (2) pictures of the emails to prove she really said that (her name has been blocked in all of the images).

petesite · ‎09-01-2020

Here is a further image of a text where she states I refused to refund her completely, supposedly she is talking to an "eBay customer service representative" even though I'm not allowed to and could get ahold of nobody at all.

tdumonde2014 · ‎09-02-2020

No matter how upset you might be you must always remain professional. Insulting a customer never works out well for the seller.

"Those who enter the arena unarmed or unprepared are quickly dispatched."

petesite · ‎09-02-2020

The customer was NEVER insulted or treated poorly, the return was accepted and the buyer began making outrageous demands. I fail to see where the customer at ANY point was insulted

petesite · ‎09-03-2020

So we come to the next chapter, after almost a dozen emails I have managed to get the buyer to understand (somehow by God's glory) that the cables are incorrectly hooked up. I at this point however can do nothing but refund the money once I get the item back, I have already paid for a return label (nearly 3 days ago now) and the buyer has not used it or sent the item back. eBay has still not gotten back to me. Every time I have tried to directly contact eBay I am met with another (but unique and different) set of error messages. I have taken photo evidence of this to show outright the eBay customer service program is broken. On top of that my seller account says the return case has been closed but when I click on it the case says "awaiting buyer action" which is to return the system so I can refund them... Even just trying to post this response I was met with several error messages (see photos). The reason I'm going through all the trouble to post all of this is so somebody, whoever happens on this weeks or years later, can see what sellers have to go through on a daily basis just to try and sell honestly on a platform that actively does not care about its users. Maybe this can provide some hope for people who are also experiencing customer service issues or if I never get a resolution at least it can provide some caution not to use said platform.

candd205 · ‎09-03-2020

View the return details. I think you won the case since the buyer never returned the item. I hope you have put her on your blocked bidder list, so she can't do this to you again.

vintagecraze50 · ‎09-03-2020

I feel your pain. Online customers get away with murder. It’s the way it is. They really get away with it here. There really is very little recourse for a seller here when they are confronted with a truly bad customer. The best that can happen is that if this person in a pain in the behind to many sellers here they will get reported numerous times and get their selfs kicked off at least with that buyer ID. Some then create another ID, AND CONTINUE THE RAMPAGE.