eBay's Flawed, downward spiral in regards to fraudulent returns

[busdriver4dashow]

On 4/25/23 I had eBay call me in regard to a sealed item I sold on eBay that was coming back as used. Needless to say, with 18 years’ experience on eBay I was easily able to convince eBay rep #1 of this fraud and she agreed with me. I was told eBay would resolve this and I didn’t have to refund the buyer.

The next day (4/26/23) I realized that I hadn’t recorded the ticket number from eBay rep #1 the previous day. I was given the ticket number and eBay rep #2 verified what eBay rep #1 had said the previous day. Fantastic, I thought.

So, today (4/27/23) I see the email from eBay that reads:

A refund of $[REDACTED] has been issued.

Hi [REDACTED],

This amount will be deducted from your automatic payment method.

In the future, be sure to refund the buyer or ask us to step in and help within 2 business days of item delivery.

What The [CENSORED] eBay!? That is exactly what I did.

I called today (4/27/23) and now have to wait 7-10 business days for a “Manual Refund Request”, and the buyer keeps on trolling eBay for free items or a free short rental courtesy of eBay’s Auto-Return Policy.

Note: Like most things I post in this “community”, I’ll get the standard pro eBay responses from members who haven’t read my entire post.  I can now see how people can abuse eBay just so easily.

[busdriver4dashow]

According to some YouTubers, you set up an account with your bank only for eBay payments and debits. eBay cannot draw funds from linked bank accounts. I may look into that. Others say if bogus returns are rampant and of course the size of your eBay business, these fraudulent returns could be a tax issue as well.

[busdriver4dashow]

I'm the seller. I wouldn't contest a deposit. It's the debit of my account.

[busdriver4dashow]

Well, I've read your ENTIRE reply and disagree with you.

I don't think any honest seller should expect fraud, or any kind of theft to be acceptable, especially when the platform isn't performing as expected or claims to promote secure transactions. eBay has become an auto-approved 'bot' company now. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

Ship to receive data? That is not a thing. If you 'ship' on time, where carrier has 'scanned it in' within the timeframe you state, you are covered and would NOT count against your 'metrics' for 'top rated'.

Auto Returns? you take returns, "30 days buyer pays shipping", so returns are automated. You would have to go into your preferences to 'uncheck' the 'auto approve'. If you don't, auto approve is set for all buyers regardless what your verbiage in description states. 

[dqdistribution]

Even if you hosted your own site and set all your own rules, your rules still can't go against the buyer protections provided by the card companies.

I guess they could, but that wouldn't stop them from taking your money anyways, and now you most likely would never even get back your item that way.

[lakefor94]

"Ah, the much coveted 'Top Rated Seller'. I was one of those for about 15 years."

You are probably not that far off from TRS. Looks like just a matter of listings and sales totals.  Your late summer and fall sales were more than likely much better than the last several months.

Your initial beef in this post would pretty much be covered if you were TRS.

And, they still throw some money back at you if you are TRS+.

I would not want to be operating without it.

[monster-deals]

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@busdriver4dashow wrote:

I was told eBay would resolve this and I didn’t have to refund the buyer.

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If you have 18 years of experience why on Earth did you believe that story?