Received a defaced armchair - seller has become abusive - how can I contact Ebay?

[masseyseller]

Hello,

All help welcome! I bought a (not cheap) leather armchair on Ebay, supposedly in perfect condition. I then paid £62 for shipping as I do not live locally to the seller. On receiving the item I noticed white marks on the arm which had been filled in with black pen (marker or biro), which looks terrible and ruin the chair. There are other differences between the chair and how it was described too, but the white marks and terrible covering-up is the main one.

In starting a return, the buyer has become abusive, accused me of harassment, and demanded I stop contacting her. The messages between us are all on Ebay and I would be delighted if someone official could look at them. 

To say the least, I do not believe I am going to get any cooperation from the seller. The status of my return makes it sound like my return can be closed without refund if I do not return the item, but the responsibility for paying and arranging the return lies with the seller.  I do not want to pay another £62 that I will never get back to have the armchair transported back to the seller, especially as I suspect the seller won't accept it anyway, and it will be returned to me.

What can I do?  How can I contact Ebay for help? There does not seem to be any button to click in order for me to do this.

Thanks in advance!    Jeff

[kensgiftshop]

@masseyseller 

If the seller doesn't provide return shipping, return to the case on day 4 and ask Ebay to step in.

[masseyseller]

Thank you, I will try this on day four. I think this must be day two.  To be honest, this whole thing had me a little worried.

Very much appreciate the help.

[rebell45]

Don't worry, the seller is required to provide return shipping, either by sending a prepaid label or money for the buyer to purchase return shipping themselves.  Read the MBG policy and be sure to follow it to the letter. Don't miss any deadlines and don't close the case until you have the money in hand.

No use communicating with the seller any further unless they are offering  a solution.

[kensgiftshop]

---

@masseyseller wrote:

Thank you, I will try this on day four. I think this must be day two.  To be honest, this whole thing had me a little worried.

Very much appreciate the help.

---

The seller has 3 days to accept the return and provide return shipping.

Just be sure to return to the case on day 4 and Ebay will see to it that you're taken care of.

[tikisoozhut]

I don't find ebay helpful at all.

After accepting a return that was a wholly a different item (wrong serial number!) my description states NO RETURNS.

I recently sold an item of broken parts for restoration. The item was clearly in bad condition & I described it as such.  Buyer complained it was "misrepresented" and no matter how much I asked buyer for an explanation, received no reply. 

I then tried involving ebay in some sort of arbitration. The suggested links just take you around and around to the "Refund Buyer" options with ZERO Seller Assistance from ebay available.

Reading the threat if I didn't refund the customer, I would lose my top seller status, I just refunded the money. What a scam!

[donsdetour]

---

@tikisoozhut wrote:

I don't find ebay helpful at all.

After accepting a return that was a wholly a different item (wrong serial number!) my description states NO RETURNS.

I recently sold an item of broken parts for restoration. The item was clearly in bad condition & I described it as such.  Buyer complained it was "misrepresented" and no matter how much I asked buyer for an explanation, received no reply. 

I then tried involving ebay in some sort of arbitration. The suggested links just take you around and around to the "Refund Buyer" options with ZERO Seller Assistance from ebay available.

Reading the threat if I didn't refund the customer, I would lose my top seller status, I just refunded the money. What a scam!

---

Please do not hijack a topic about a item not as described with your item returned is fraud and theft case.

Please start a new topic about this.

[masseyseller]

@kensgiftshop @rebell45 

The Seller has accepted the return, but not provided any means to send the chair back to her. She will not cooperate with this.  It is now day 6 and I have no option to contact Ebay.  Is there anything I can do?

[masseyseller]

I've just realised that I did not make this clear at the start.  The seller accepted the return almost immediately, before my first post.  Her communications since (the ones I refer to in my original post) make it clear she is not going to co-operate, nor arrange postage back to her. She is basically just telling me in a variety of nasty ways to 'go away'.

Has she found a loophole in Ebay's process here? As I appear to have no direct recourse to Ebay, do I need to pursue this through other channels e.g. small claims court?

Thanks again for your advice - it is very much aprreciated.

[downunder-61]

I think the loop hole could be a mile wide depending on how things went.

The seller listed it as Local Pick Up, then you asked and paid for delviery  -  did you pay via the sellers amended invoice showing shipping or organise your own shipping ?

[masseyseller]

Thanks for this.  I organised my own shipping, I didn't know of any other options given the seller has been unhelpful.

I have a sinking feeling...

[downunder-61]

Yeah, I don't think the MBG will cover the shipping return, but please wait and come back here to check later for more responders as  I am in Australia and may be things are different over there in the US. 

Sorry this happened and good luck

[masseyseller]

Thanks for your help.  Just for clarification for people reading this, I am in the UK - but I take the point completely! 

Right now I would  gratefully accept a refund for the chair only, although that would stil leave a bad taste in the mouth.  

The shipping back is only a problem because it's so expensive, would have to be initiated at my expense - with no way of reclaiming the money - and I know the seller would not cooperate with the courier any way.

[kensgiftshop]

---

@masseyseller wrote:

Thanks for this.  I organised my own shipping, I didn't know of any other options given the seller has been unhelpful.

I have a sinking feeling...

---

If you did the shipping off of Ebay, sorry, I think you'll have to pay to have it returned.

[donsdetour]

First you are in the UK and this is the US site.

In the US. the seller would need to authorize a return label.  If they do not, then escalate the case to get a refund.

Note if you purchased out off country, you may need to pay for return of the item.

 What it is in the UK I have no idea.

So was the item listed as pickup only??

How did you pay for the item?