Buyer returned materally different item. Ebay refunded. Case appealed

[powersteeringseals]

First time posting-

I've been selling on ebay for 7 years now.   The appeals and buyer refunds have gotten progressively worse.   I had a buyer buy one of my more expensive (over $100) items.   Buyer was recently registered and 0 feedback.  Well, guess what, they started a return and returned a little business card that said thank you!   I reported the buyer to ebay and didn't do a refund.  Ebay granted the refund to the buyer and closed the case saying they had no proof this was the buyer's fault.   Come on ebay.   I took pictures of everything and upload all of them.   I appealed.   The appeal is pending.   Ebay said they'd get back with me in 48 hours.   That was a week ago.  What can I do here?    This is the 3rd one of these this year.   All the same.   Same card returned.   I really think I'm being attacked by another seller.   But where is the seller protection??

Can anyone provide some advice here please?

Is ebay here listening?

TIA-

[tic-toc-parts]

Been selling over 20 years. Ebay always sides with the buyer. I have lost money many times Ebay has gotten worse in the last 5 years. Time to close the doors.

[mam98031]

I am so sorry you are having to deal with this, but WELCOME to the Community.  I hope you will consider coming here more often.

When Ebay said they refunded the buyer, was that from your funds or did Ebay cover it?  That is a very important distinction that you need to find out which way it went.

How did you report the buyer?  Did you use the link on the EBay site to report buyers or did you use some other method.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

Sadly Ebay will not get involved in Returns when one says they returned the item and the other says they got something different.  They never have gotten involved in these things.

In a position like this, What I would have recommended before Ebay got involved, would have been, because you are TRS, you can deduct up to 50% on a refund.  And due to the condition of the item being something you never sold them, I would have used that protection as a TRS and refunded only 50%.

[chapeau-noir · Accepted solution]

It's one of the risks of selling online - eBay is buyer-centric, yes, but they also have no way of judging what you sent and what you received (taking photos/videos is useless - they can be faked even if it's something you yourself would never do). eBay is not handling the item itself, so it cannot adjudicate.

I'm not sure about eBay Motors, but on regular eBay if one is a top rated seller and takes returns (or not top rated but takes free returns) you can deduct up to 50% and at least get some of your money back from this fraud.

[mam98031]

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@tic-toc-parts wrote:

Been selling over 20 years. Ebay always sides with the buyer. I have lost money many times Ebay has gotten worse in the last 5 years. Time to close the doors.

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Yet you are still an active seller.

Returns aren't usually a frequent thing.  How many do you average in a month, 6 month period or a year?  

[cstpos]

@powersteeringsealsIf you have the shipping labels, it will show a weight discrepancy between what you sent and the weight of the card they sent back. ebay does side with buyers because there's no way to prove absolutely who sent what. ebay might take the shipping weight in your favor and refund you. We have cut way back on our ebay listings. The cost and the uncertainty make us wary. It's the same for almost all online selling.

[powersteeringseals]

I'm automotive and people are buying the wrong stuff all the time.   But, like I said, this is the 3rd return since March with this card in it.   That is making me think it's a competitor.   Aside from the $$ I'm losing, it's hitting the cases closed without seller resolution metric.  

[powersteeringseals]

I know I could've taken the 50%.    But why should I?    Where is ebay's touted seller protection????

[powersteeringseals]

On the return/refund screen, bottom right, there is a report buyer link.   That is what I used.

[mam98031]

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@powersteeringseals wrote:

I'm automotive and people are buying the wrong stuff all the time.   But, like I said, this is the 3rd return since March with this card in it.   That is making me think it's a competitor.   Aside from the $$ I'm losing, it's hitting the cases closed without seller resolution metric.  

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I should have looked at what you sold, sorry.  Of course you have more returns than the average seller outside of Motors.  But still it looks like you do a good business on Ebay despite the returns.

It only gives you a Defect [on the seller dashboard] for closed without seller resolution if you don't resolve it and allow Ebay to step in.  Hopefully you don't ever do that.

The shear fact a case was open gets you a ding on your Service Metrics.  The ding you no matter the reason and INAD is opened or the outcome of the INAD.

[buyselljack2016]

But why should I? 

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one reason is that the "unresolved" (as deemed by eBay) can result in a seller going "below standard" resulting in higher fees and getting other account restrictions.

[farmalljr]

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@powersteeringseals wrote:

I know I could've taken the 50%.    But why should I?    Where is ebay's touted seller protection????

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The 50% IS your "protections". You can't not refund buyers. even scam buyers. Keep up not refunding and leaving eBay to do it, and your account will end up banned. 

If you think eBay will protect you 100%, you couldn't be more wrong. In the case of the scammer, your "protection" is the ability to with hold 50% of the price (IF you qualify). That is the extent of your protection. It's not 100% of the price. Like it or not, that is what you have to work with. 

[powersteeringseals]

I guess lesson learned.  50% is better than ...arrgh....nothing.

[powersteeringseals]

But, it's not right.  I know it's not ebay's fault.   It's the thieving buyers!

[dbfolks166mt]

     You have the buyers address how far away are they? Same mailing address on all three items?