I have to refund a Buyer, even though he damaged the item I sold him so badly, I can't resale it again. And I still have to refund the Buyer. What the Heck????
Here is the situation . . . . .
I sold a model train to a Buyer (an MTH Diesel Locomotive / Proto 2.0) The item was checked out by a licensed MTH Certified Technician and he certified it to be in working order. I also said in the listing that the battery needed to be changed. The Buyer receives the item, said the locomotive didn't work, that there was no battery (we told him it needed to be changed out) and he begins to try and fix the item. He opened up the locomotive, exposing all of the wires and electronics, and he takes photos of him trying to fix this locomotive. He then says the locomotive does not work and wants a refund.
We received this locomotive back from the Buyer and it is all screwed up, AND DOES NOT WORK AT ALL! We took the locomotive back to our MTH Technician, and he said the Buyer blew out the computer board, and it will cost $175 for another board, plus the labor to install the new board; a $235 repair bill. And that is approximately what we got for that locomotive when we sold it to the Buyer.
We contacted eBay about this situation, and told them that the Buyer received the item, tried to fix it, showed eBay the photos of the Buyer trying to fix the locomotive that was in his return details. And eBay said, "we are sorry, but you will have to refund the Buyer the money." WHAT!!!
So eBay is saying that a Buyer can purchase an item, destroy that item, sent it back to you so damaged that you can not sell it again, and the Buyer still gets his money back?? In what world does that make any sense at all? I know for a fact, that if this went to a court of law, the judge would side with me, the Seller. It would be a slam dunk case, because the Buyer admits to screwing around with the insides of the locomotive!
You know, it would have been far easier for me just to hand the Buyer $235, and not even list the darn item.
Unbelievable!!
Several years ago, we were able to leave a Buyer negative feedback. Can't do that anymore. And we use to be able to show eBay that a Buyer damaged an item we sold them so badly, that we couldn't resale it. And eBay would not refund the Buyer. Not anymore. eBay has given Buyers all of the power to do whatever they want, and have taken all of the mechanisms away from the Sellers to make eBay a level playing field.
Because I have been with eBay for over 24 year, I use to had a "Concierge Status" with eBay, where I could call them at anytime to have them help me with issues and problems. Not anymore. They took that away from me too!! And now, I have to sell one of kids, in order to talk to a live person now.
Doesn't eBay understand that without the Seller's, they wouldn't have a platform to make money? If nobody lists / then nobody can buy. It's that simple. But now because they are so large and so big, it will only be when enough Sellers start complaining, that the needle will move back to the correct position of fairness once again.
