Buyer's angry rant over 6 months post-sale

[adamcartwright]

Very low $ sale over 6 months ago.

Buyer angrily ranting about items. First time I've ever heard from him after the sale.

I plan to ignore, but if Buyer messages eBay about it will there be any effect on my account? 

Does eBay keep track of complaints outside the return window?

[albertabrightalberta]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

Disclaimer: it will also block their messages, which may be a good thing in this situation.

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This is something I've wondered about.

If a seller blocks a problem buyer after a sale and if that buyer ultimately opens a case (within the 30 day MBG timeframe), will the seller be notified of the case? 

I assume it's messages from the buyer/blocked member that are blocked and a message of a case being opened comes from ebay but I just want to verify.

[mam98031]

This is a nothingburger.  There is nothing to affect your account in any way.  I would suggest reporting the buyer's message.  You can do that right from the message.  And I would make sure you have them on your Block Bidder List.

[wastingtime101]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:
If a seller blocks a problem buyer after a sale and if that buyer ultimately opens a case (within the 30 day MBG timeframe), will the seller be notified of the case?I assume it's messages from the buyer/blocked member that are blocked and a message of a case being opened comes from ebay but I just want to verify.

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Yes, correct.

[mam98031]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

Disclaimer: it will also block their messages, which may be a good thing in this situation.

---

This is something I've wondered about.

If a seller blocks a problem buyer after a sale and if that buyer ultimately opens a case (within the 30 day MBG timeframe), will the seller be notified of the case? 

I assume it's messages from the buyer/blocked member that are blocked and a message of a case being opened comes from ebay but I just want to verify.

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@albertabrightalberta 

Yes they will.  The email would be coming from Ebay not the buyer.

[brightlightbookseller]

Yes, they will still receive a notification about the case, and significantly in this situation, the buyer can send them messages through that case that the seller will see.

[albertabrightalberta]

@wastingtime101 @brightlightbookseller @mam98031 

Thank you. I've hesitated to block potential problems between purchases and 30-days post purchase just in case I wouldn't get notice of a dispute. I'm happy to know that I can block to avoid a subsequent purchase. 

[wastingtime101]

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@brightlightbookseller wrote:

Yes, they will still receive a notification about the case, and significantly in this situation, the buyer can send them messages through that case that the seller will see.

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I thought those messages are only sent with INRs, not returns @brightlightbookseller .

[brightlightbookseller]

Hmm, I'm not sure on that distinction.  I was indeed thinking of INR/INAD cases with messaging within the case, not just a generic return.  I want to say there is messaging inside of a normal return too, but I'm not confident of that.

[wastingtime101]

You're able to send messages through INADs @brightlightbookseller ? I haven't been able to do that for years.

INRs yes - returns (doesn't matter if it's not as described or remorse) no.

[brightlightbookseller]

Huh, you might be right about that too, I just checked, and none of our cases for the last 18 months appear to have been INADs, so my memory may be of old cases or just faulty.  Oh well, good problem to have in this case (to not be able to confirm)!

[mam98031]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

@wastingtime101 @brightlightbookseller @mam98031 

Thank you. I've hesitated to block potential problems between purchases and 30-days post purchase just in case I wouldn't get notice of a dispute. I'm happy to know that I can block to avoid a subsequent purchase. 

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You are correct.  We have no way of blocking buyers for the ability to file a claim nor can we block them from leaving feedback on a transaction by putting them on our BBL.

[mam98031]

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@brightlightbookseller wrote:

Hmm, I'm not sure on that distinction.  I was indeed thinking of INR/INAD cases with messaging within the case, not just a generic return.  I want to say there is messaging inside of a normal return too, but I'm not confident of that.

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My experiences support this.  I typically always send my buyers a message through a claim [INR or INAD] just to let them know I've seen it and I'm processing or researching or whatever is appropriate for the complaint filed.  

[mam98031]

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@brightlightbookseller wrote:

Huh, you might be right about that too, I just checked, and none of our cases for the last 18 months appear to have been INADs, so my memory may be of old cases or just faulty.  Oh well, good problem to have in this case (to not be able to confirm)!

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Your memory is fine.  Unless it is a really recent change.  Which I don't see why Ebay would take that option away.  We need the ability to communicate.

[iamalwaysright]

I'm going to side with @wastingtime101 here on this. Sometimes we forget (myself included) that INRs are different than returns (regardless if they are remorse or SNAD). They are very similar in a lot of ways in terms of processing, but they are still categorized as different things and are not completely the same. INR's are labeled as "Requests and Disputes", and SNAD/remorse are labeled as "Returns". They are in their respective separate sections as you can see on the left margin of your Seller Hub.

Like many others, I had to do a double take and think if returns allowed buyer/seller messaging and communication within the return details itself. If it were off the top of my head, I probably would have said yes. But I started to look into and recall each open return I have (sadly quite a few) and see that none of them allow me to message the buyer or vice versa. All of these returns are remorse btw. So I went into my recent old SNADs (also quite a few) to check the communication logs. None of them have any messages between me and the buyer EXCEPT  when the buyer initially opened the SNAD and when I officially closed the SNAD (with a refund or lack of). Only then can a seller and buyer type a message in the return details, but I wouldn't personally consider that "messaging" because they are situational. Buyers/sellers can't freely message each other in there, it would have to occur during the opening or closing of the return. This might be where some confusion lies.

When looking at my recently closed SNADs, I recall times that I needed to communicate with the buyer before choosing how to act on it (process return/process refund/upload my own label/etc). And I recall cringing because I had to do extra work and message the buyer OUTSIDE of the return thru standard ebay messaging. I still have those message logs. I'm a lazy guy, there would be no way I would choose to do that extra effort had there been a way to message the buyer within the return page itself.

Bottom line, no there isn't a way to freely message buyers and sellers within the return page but I can see how many would recall differently because of obvious confusion. Feel free to challenge this and prove me wrong with screen shots if you have them. 

[wastingtime101]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

Bottom line, no there isn't a way to freely message buyers and sellers within the return page but I can see how many would recall differently because of obvious confusion. Feel free to challenge this and prove me wrong with screen shots if you have them. 

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Thanks a lot @iamalwaysright for that in-depth review. You are confirming what I've experienced for several years.

I remember pretty well eBay cutting off messaging through returns several years back, but I don't remember exactly what year that change took place.

I want to say it was around the same time eBay rolled out TRS protections, or maybe the year after. eBay made a lot of changes to the returns flow at that time with partial refunds. And they made further changes the year after TRS protections.

Like when it first rolled out you could add comments and pics to show abuse that went solely to eBay - then they changed it the year after to where you add comments and pics at the end through the refund flow that are visible to the buyer - no longer for-eBays-eyes-only.

Anyway, it was some time during that period when we lost the ability to add back and forth messages through the return and had to do it through eBay messages instead.

Edit to add (because I'm not going to skip an opportunity 😂 ) : not being able to message through returns is one of the many reasons the BBL message block is so frustrating and problematic kyle@ebay !