Buyer is requesting a return. I've messaged him, but he's not responding.Will ebay rule in his favor

[stufftosell2002]

Buyer claimed item was damaged thought it was brand new in box. 

Cost was $165, so not a small amount. 

I messaged him back with a couple of suggestions.... a partial refund, or I would mail him another item in addition to the one he has to not take the return. 

I'm trying to avoid a full return if I can because I feel he damaged the item removing it from the packing and is trying to shift the blame. I can no longer sell this item as brand new or in excellent condition, so I was hoping to avoid the loss. 

He hasn't responded. My deadline is today. 

I have responded via message, but have not offically chosen the option for return, a refund, or an "official" partial refund. 

If I don't choose one of the refund/return options, will ebay side with him and issue a full refund and he gets to keep the item? I keep reading message boards that I'm basically going to have to eat it. 

If he's going to push I will allow the return, but if he's not answering, I'm worried he's running out the clock to then ask for a full return and be allowed to keep the item. 

Has anyone dealt with this? I hope I explained it well enough. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@justoneofthosedays wrote:

Ebays approach to "item not as described" cases is certainly a deterrent to swindlers as well (sarcasm). The sellers photos won’t help the seller but the deceitful buyer can use the sellers photo in their “item not as described” case because ebay won’t even look at it but will accept it as evidence for the buyers fraudulent case. The crooked buyer will then be able to return an empty box with the tracking showing “delivered” (possibly not to the sellers address) to receive a full refund and the seller is out while the buyer and ebay profit.    

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You are correct, @justoneofthosedays . This could be what happened. The buyer could be a scammer. Without evidence,  there is no hope of finding out. 

What you described is the risk every seller is subjected to every time an item is sold on eBay. Which is why every seller needs to do two things prior to listing an item:

1) Evaluate his/her risk tolerance, and

2) Learn eBay policies, including full understanding of eBay’s User Agreement.

Without those two things, having a successful endeavor on eBay is doubtful. 

It doesn’t make sense to me to just fault eBay when the risk is known—at least for the seller who does their due diligence. We know eBay is a buyer-centric platform.

But thinking on it, I am not sure if blame is very useful in these kinds of forum discussions.

Do we blame the buyer who may, or may not, be dishonest? Do we blame the seller for not knowing the liabilities he may face before listing a pricey object? Or do we blame the venue for carrying out its outlined directives and actions?

The bottom line may be this—we can all do better by accepting some responsibility, and leave blame outside the door as it’s pretty useless.

[mam98031]

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@stufftosell2002 wrote:

I just don't want to take the return because if he returns a broken item to me, I can't sell it as new and I don't know how he has handled it... so I wouldn't feel good about reselling it honestly. 

I was just hoping for an alternate resolution, but I get what you're sayin

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 @stufftosell2002 

That is your right.  Then you just need to fully refund the buyer and allow them to keep the item.

[safan80]

@stufftosell2002 

Has the buyer bothered to respond? This is a nightmare and is the reason I don't trust the bay with my personal bank account the buyer should at least be required to respond. I had one return and it was over a "broken" tablet that the buyer broke. Luckily it was just a software issue, the buyer managed to install 8GB worth of children's games filling up the storage and causing it to crash where it would fail to boot up. It used to be my own personal tablet, so I knew what they were saying it not working didn't make sense. 

[fbusoni]

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@stufftosell2002 wrote:

I've got about 40,000 baseball cards to sell next after I finish selling the trains... I'm not looking forward to it, but will keep your advice in mind! Maybe it's best to insure everything.  (It's my Dad's lifetime collection of cards that have been sitting in boxes from the 50s - present... I don't even know what I'm looking at so I've got a lot of learning to do!)

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My guess is that you have some very, very valuable cards in that collection.  Please be careful... my understanding from what I have read over the years is that thievery in that category is legendary.   regards

[safan80]

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I have read the same thing.

@fbusoni wrote:

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@stufftosell2002 wrote:

I've got about 40,000 baseball cards to sell next after I finish selling the trains... I'm not looking forward to it, but will keep your advice in mind! Maybe it's best to insure everything.  (It's my Dad's lifetime collection of cards that have been sitting in boxes from the 50s - present... I don't even know what I'm looking at so I've got a lot of learning to do!)

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My guess is that you have some very, very valuable cards in that collection.  Please be careful... my understanding from what I have read over the years is that thievery in that category is legendary.   regards

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[penny_sioux]

i've rarely seen ebay let the buyer keep the item, they'll force them to ship it back and the tracking should prove it was delivered back to the seller.  i know when i'm a buyer and i can see i am getting nowhere with the seller or we're so far apart on the resolution, that i'll just wait it out to escalate as i know ebay will get me the label and i'll send it back.  as a seller, you can't assume silence means everything is fine.  

[mam98031]

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@penny_sioux wrote:

i've rarely seen ebay let the buyer keep the item, they'll force them to ship it back and the tracking should prove it was delivered back to the seller.  i know when i'm a buyer and i can see i am getting nowhere with the seller or we're so far apart on the resolution, that i'll just wait it out to escalate as i know ebay will get me the label and i'll send it back.  as a seller, you can't assume silence means everything is fine.  

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If a seller does not resolve the Request for return and Ebay is asked to step in, that is when many times Ebay will force the refund to the buyer, not require the buyer to return the item, the seller gets a defect and the seller does not get their FVFs refunded.  This is most likely to happen when a seller has a No Return policy.

Ebay can not "force" a buyer to ship something back.  They can however withhold the refund until the item is received by the seller.