Buyer blocked after requesting a return

[s.u.n.rise]

Hello people,

I am seeking help here since ebay support is not very helpful.

 
I recently sold an item, after receiving it, the buyer requested a return stating it arrived damaged. He then started a case on that item. I agreed with the buyer to have him send the item back, that did not happen for a while. I reviewed the case and the only options I had were sending a message to the buyer and issuing a refund. I then did issue the refund.

The buyer is now blocked on ebay and communication with him is not possible anymore.

Ebay is basicaly telling me in the most incompetent ways to to communicate with the buyer over and over again and that I 'voluntarily' refunded him since he's not covered under the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

Can anybody tell me how I find out if a buyer is not covered under that policy?

Is there anyway to solve that problem? What could I have done different?

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

OK... uhm, maybe I'm missing something, but I have no clue why you refunded him...

He opened a return case. You agreed to accept. It was on him to return the item. He did not. You voluntarily refunded. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?????

You had no obligation. You provided him a way to become whole. He return, you refund. You had no obligation to refund and no obligation to do anything further until you received the item, which he had not sent. If he did not send it by the end of the time alotted to him, the case would have closed, he would have kept the item and you would have kept the money.

WHY DID YOU REFUND????

PLENTY OF BUYERS OPEN RETURNS AND NEVER SEND ITEM BACK ...I'm not talking about sending an empty package I mean they don't bother with the return. No return no refund. They keep item you keep money.

AM I MISSING SOMETHING??????

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

I sincerely hope it wasnt the $749 mandalorian thing. If so, that was very dumb.

[vintagecraze50]

You never refund the buyer until you have received the merchandise back. Ebay would have automatically closed that return case after a certain amount of time when they see that this buyer never returned your merchandise. Looks like you prematurely refunded the buyer. I am not sure why this buyer is not covered by the money back quarentee. Maybe they did too many returns, not sure.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

They may not have been covered by MBG to begin with, or the buyer is not technically covered by MBG now since the case is closed because he was refunded already. Who knows what CS meant... Maybe CS meant MBG is void and EBay's part in the matter is null because the transaction was refunded and now EBay can't do anything. Only when there was an active case and dispute does EBay have a part in the matter.

I mean... maybe the buyer was never covered by MBG but that makes very little sense to me... Could be that he abused it, but then that's a whole other issue than the issue of OP refunding too early.

[vintagecraze50]

You always give them as much time as they want to get that item back to you. You are never under any obligation to refund when you told the buyer to return the merchandise. If they do not to return it, or wait TOO LONG to return it, ebay steps in and closes the case.

[whattheactualfox]

>I agreed with the buyer to have him send the item back, that did not happen for a while.

Ebay seller simulator lol

>I then did issue the refund

Red Flag OP

>The buyer is now blocked on ebay and communication with him is not possible anymore

Red Flag #2

OP please take the advice of @ajs_coins_and_alchemy because you NEVER want to refund without inspecting the item after they sent it back

>I sincerely hope it wasnt the $749 mandalorian thing

Oh no

[soh.maryl]

You never want to refund before receiving the item back, that's correct.

But inspecting the item will make no difference.  eBay will require that you refund the buyer no matter what condition the item is in.  You can contest this, but the end result will probably be the same.  

[Anonymous]

IF a buyer opens an Item Not as Described Case and you want the item back,  you first issue a return shipping label and once you receive the item back, you then refund.  If you just issued a refund, you are not going to get the item back.  The seller is responsible for return shipping when  a buyer receives a damaged item.  You don't give details.

[48hrs-clothing]

Re: The buyer is now blocked on ebay and communication with him is not possible anymore.

I assume buyer was not blocked by you and I further asssume buyer's current status is " No longer registered" on eBay and if this is the case then eBay system has determined that buyer is not trust worthy and have closed his/ her account and this is why you are unable to communicate with buyer.

Seller has 2 choices after return case is opened and accepted by seller.

If you want item back then issue a refund after you have received the item back.

If you do not want the item back then issue a refund and case will close. 

[1tuna]

I am sorry this has happened

perhaps you thought that you had to do something

when you review a return case or have a look at it all you need to do is nothing

you can just keep on waiting the 7-8 weeks until it closes out all by itself

it sounds like you went looking for trouble instead of ignoring it which is what most sellers do when a return does not come back

@s.u.n.rise