Buyer return reqest, I think I need help?

[iminbus_18]

I sold a brand new, factory sealed Logitech Harmony remote control with hub on Feb 19th. It was received, now the buyer sent a return request. You need to hear the whole story and why I have a problem with this return. I sent the purchase out on Feb. 20th around 2pm. USPS took they're time scanning this package into their system. At 8:42pm same day, item couldn't be tracked and appeared to never have been dropped off. I immediately messaged the buyer telling him that, I in fact did go to USPS, they do have the package and sometimes packages don't get scanned. I told buyer not to worry, it is on it's way. The next day it arrived at the buyers location, that was Feb. 21. Feb. 23rd, I get a message indicating that this customer has submitted a return request.

This is a Logitech Harmony remote with hub, but, this is not what I sent.

[chapeau-noir]

There are  a couple of misunderstandings in this thread of the deduction policy on returned items.

They do NOT have to be TRS-plus listings, they do not necessarily have to be free returns.

They DO need to be either:

• TRS with 30-day returns, or
• Above average with 30-day FREE returns.

[cezanne28]

If you have multiple clear photos of the item being new a sealed prior to shipment, and the item is returned opened and used, especially if they are stated the item was sent used, accept the return, when the item is returned it will send you a message it has arrived and inspect the package. In that message is the option to "report an issue". Click on that and select one of the options that applies, typically "item not returned in original condition". It prompts an explanation, at which point briefly and without lots of drama or adjectives or accusations, state that the item was mailed as picture in new condition and sealed, or new condition as pictured and the buyer returned the item in used conditioned or damaged. 

As long as you have multiple clear pictures that clearly show the differences in the item, ebay will either not refund the buyer and potentially flag them as fraudulent or refund the buyer at no cost to you. 

But you need clear pictures on the original listing, concise language, and you have to accept the return first. I have done this with scammers a handful of times. 

[farmalljr]

I could see in the 4 photos in the listing, that the box was not sealed. You can claim it was new, but it's not. It's been opened. Since it was opened, photos should have been taken of the contents and the item sold as open box. 

Is the buyer trying to pull a fast one? Who knows. What I can tell is the item in question isn't actually new. The box was not sealed. You could see the cuts in the seal. Why didn't the seller disclose that? IMO, you need clean hands before you go slinging accusations about what a buyer may be doing. 

[monica-sells]

After considering both sides of this, i agree...

since the factory seal is broken, clear photos of the contents should have been posted in the listing as well as "New-Open Box" as the condition.

[discountdeals_4u]

Hello kensgiftshop. I've been selling on eBay for about 17 years now. I'm telling you, return fraud is at an all time high. I'm not high volume, maybe 15 to 20 items per week. It used to be that you'd have one fraudulent return every 80 to 100 sales or so. Now there are two types in my book. There are the ones you can prove the buyer is lying and have a chance at justice, and there are the ones you have no way top prove if their claim is false or not. Those later are the ones you just have to eat. Just in the past 7 weeks, I've had 3 of the former and 2 of the later. The one I received back yesterday I predicted before I got it. She was a new eBay user (I never like sending higher $ items to them anyway and sometimes just cancel sometimes at the behest of negative feedback) and swapped the circuit board inside of a gate opener for her old, defective one. I never used to open the boxes up and take pictures of the board inside, just the serial number on the back of the box. She probably saw that and planned ahead. However, I lucked out and she left one of the circuit board screw out of the 4 off the board. Let alone the outer box was also missing 3 of the 4 cover screws. She also decided to keep the remote control for herself as well. Anyway, I'm just saying it has gotten much worse in the past year that it used to be. You can't blame it on the **bleep** poor economy, it's just that evil people will do evil things.