eBay must not trust the return department reps

[chasearooauctions]

As long as eBay has been around and as many foolish changes they have made, a simple one is still a challenge and aggravation. A customer purchased 16 pieces of the same item for $185. He returned 2 of the items for being defective. There is an exchange between the buyer and myself confirming he is returning two items. $185/16= $11.56. $11.56x 2 = $23.14.Simple enough. I can't refund him that little so it requires a phone call. The return rep says he can't refund that until I send a message to the buyer confirming the refund of $23,14. Again, there's already been a conversation that has taken place between the buyer and I. eBau, give your representatives the tools to do their job so sellers can do theirs and everyone will be more profitable. Sheesh!

[buyselljack2016]

and it may still not fly even with a message confirming the refund of $23.14.

Your next call may result in......................   we see no notes about this

                                                      or.................  what you were told was in error

                                                 or ...........  the rep has no ability to do that anyway

[chasearooauctions]

I had to call back once the buyer confirmed the amount. They then wanted to verify who I was! What was the last email address you used with your account? Was their next question. Who cares? Just give the poor buyer back his $24 dollars! It's absolutely painful to have to deal with the bureaucracy of eBay. In the meantime, the rep is talking in broken English over the phone and saying everything she is typing!

[buyselljack2016]

and most likely making it up as they go...............

That off-shore rep likely has no authority to approve any refund.............  confirmed message or not.

Letting those reps do such would result in a gigantic mess from both directions.

The rep is telling you something that likely will not happen to placate you so that they can end the call and move on to the next call.

They are there to assist, and many times can be very helpful for situations for which they have "scripted" replies.

Once they go off-script on the phone call...............  the caller may be told lots of things that may not be applicable and may not be possible.

[kalyoth]

So what is stopping you from refunding the buyer, as the seller, for returned merchandise? ebay does not do that for you, unless you refuse act upon it, which then triggers seller consequences when the seller ignores it. There is no restriction preventing the seller from refunding any amount to the buyer so:

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@chasearooauctions wrote:

As long as eBay has been around and as many foolish changes they have made, a simple one is still a challenge and aggravation. A customer purchased 16 pieces of the same item for $185. He returned 2 of the items for being defective. There is an exchange between the buyer and myself confirming he is returning two items. $185/16= $11.56. $11.56x 2 = $23.14.Simple enough. I can't refund him that little so it requires a phone call. The return rep says he can't refund that until I send a message to the buyer confirming the refund of $23,14. Again, there's already been a conversation that has taken place between the buyer and I. eBau, give your representatives the tools to do their job so sellers can do theirs and everyone will be more profitable. Sheesh!

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this does not make sense.

[chasearooauctions]

I can only refund the buyer up to 50%. The amount I need to refund him (reread post) is less than 50%. I have to call in to eBay for any refund less than 50%.  For example, if I purchased your 3 GameBoy games at $149.99 and it turned out one of those was not good and I only wanted to return the one ($50 refund) the way eBay returns is set up, you don't have the option to just refund me $50. You can refund me 50%-100% of the TOTAL purchase price. Nothing less. In this case, you would have to call eBay CS.

[ebooksdiva]

When a buyer buys a number of items from the same listing then opens a return, they have to return ALL the items, eBay isn't set up for returns on part of an order. 

You really should handle the refunding yourself because asking eBay to help you would never turn out the way you want it to. They will probably give the buyer a refund for the total amount and let them keep the items, then they will give you a defect for cases closed without a seller resolution. I see this happen quite often from reading posts in this forum. 

Your only option is to refund 50% because you can't refund less than that through a case. 

[house*of*paws]

Hi @chasearooauctions 

If the buyer opened a return request for 2 of the 16 items they purchased … you should be able to send a partial refund of $23.14.

Did the buyer open a return request … or did you just discuss the issue through messages?

[xadexane]

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

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@chasearooauctions wrote:

A customer purchased 16 pieces of the same item for $185. He returned 2 of the items for being defective.

I can't refund him that little so it requires a phone call. 

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When a buyer buys a number of items from the same listing then opens a return, they have to return ALL the items, eBay isn't set up for returns on part of an order. 

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That's probably correct -- "they have to return ALL the items" -- although it is completely wrong.

Unless the buyer mistypes, when they buy quantity 30 from a listing, they can return 2 of them for a prorated refund.

Or as eBay explains it, if you buy 5 shirts from a listing, you must return ALL five shirts -- because "eBay isn't set up for returns" of just 2 of those shirts.

[kalyoth]

Well - that has not been the case for the 3 times I have utilized the system. An exact dollar amount was possible to enter if the refund was a partial. This was through the seller interface. For buyers purchasing a quantity higher than 1, they define the quantity involved in the return up to the entire purchase for return. It's not complicated or difficult to utilize.

There is no ebay customer service to call, only the group of magical gremlins in india that answer the phone to make you go away & do not actually work for ebay.