Regards,
I have never seen anyone explain this in detail, rather I've only seen people just say "eBay sides with the buyer all the time." So it just seems like people are upset about some kind of interaction that they have had with eBay in which they as a seller have done something wrong.
The defect policy does not accurately reflect what actually occurs when you ask eBay for help with a return case. eBay simply accuses you of trying to take advantage of the buyer even when the buyer returns an item in a suspicious manner (such as returning from a different address & name, and making unnecessary excuses about how the description is off in one part even though it is accurate in another). In this case the buyer refused to acknowledge that the returned item is a pinky ring and labeled as such, and used some detail in the AI generated description to make some kind of excuses which raised suspicion. However I had free returns on, which means that there was no need to make any excuse in order to submit a return.
Most people in this thread will argue about the legitimacy of the return reason that the buyer provided, which is not what this thread is about, but we will just have to ignore these people.
Simply asking eBay to step in and investigate a potential fraud return results in a defect on my account and a negative point in the "Cases closed without seller resolution" graph. The transaction defect count system suggests that a seller must provide good customer service and not rebel against eBay conventions in the context of providing buyers with good customer service. There is no consistency here with how we receive defects just for simply asking eBay to help investigate a case.
The "Cases closed without seller resolution" section clearly states that a negative point in this account measure results from us contacting eBay BEFORE refunding the buyer. This is somewhat understandable as it is clearly worded and it is very clear as to what would result in a negative point in this section. They simply want you to refund the buyer (and potential criminal) before asking eBay to investigate the case.
However the transaction defect section does not accurately describe the fact that you get a defect on your account for simply asking eBay to investigate a potential scam return. In which case you are told that you have 48 hours to resolve the case with the buyer. And this 48 hour policy apparently is no longer applicable when you ask eBay to investigate the return. This is also not stated anywhere. It is not stated anywhere that I will receive a defect on my account as a result of asking a question, and it is also implied that I have 48 hours to resolve the case regardless of asking eBay for help.
Not only this, but when you ask eBay to investigate the issue, they send you an email explaining that you have 5 days to submit documents (unspecified) to eBay about the case. As you can see below, this is also deceptive as it can imply that you now have 5 days to resolve the case on your own regardless of the ongoing investigation.
So there are a bunch of implications here that eBay is out to punish people who play mind games with eBay, but their written policies and the absence of warnings when it comes to actions that might result in defects shows us that there is administration in the eBay corporation that has temperamental issues when it comes to sellers asking eBay for help.
Why is it that it seems like eBay is accusing me of trying to scam a buyer who is returning an item when the email that they sent me includes a form that seems to have absolutely nothing about the case at hand? I am being deceptive for submitting a document that they sent to me in error or as a result of a lazy or temperamental administration that regards most sellers as being obnoxious?
As you can see above there is clearly no section that allows me to specify what my issue is. All I am able to do is check the box that is closest to what my issue is. And so you give me an option that is deceptive, and tell me that I am being deceptive for choosing an option listed above that you forced me into selecting as opposed to providing a detailed explanation as to what is happening and what my concern about the return is?
And there is absolutely no formal explanation as to why I have received a defect for this interaction. Another underhanded accusation that I am acting rebelliously, and am only capable of responding with mind games. Tell me, what is the mind game that I am employing?
Below is the descriptions for both defects and cases closed without seller resolution. As you can see, here, eBay is being very specific about what constitutes a case closed without seller resolution, yet at the same time does not give us any information about how simply asking eBay for help about a potential scam will result in a defect on our account, which can ultimately revoke our selling privileges. And they use an underhanded accusation that the only possible thing that we could be doing is trying to scam a buyer. Really nice, eBay administration does not have a good future.
It is very clear that eBay has the resources to make these changes, as we can see from the arbitrary changes that they make to the website on a fairly frequent basis, yet they do not find it to be important to change these sloppy policies and traps that we can run into as sellers, the people who are really behind the driving force of eBay, not eBay's investors.
So what is the idea? eBay administration is telling us that we are being obnoxious and non-communicative, and thus blocking out opportunities for communication. They are underhandedly accusing us of being rebellious and sneaky. Yet they do not provide the means for us to communicate effectively with them. Why should I be punished for the mistakes of other sellers? Very temperamental, and immature of eBay's admins to accuse the whole lot of eBay's sellers of obnoxious behavior as a result of either a minority or majority of eBay sellers being aggressive towards customer service and administration through either emails, calls, or legal action.
Not only this, but it is very clear that the above charts do not accurately report the timing of these defects. It states that the transaction period that the graph is referring to is December 2023 to November of 2024, yet the chart is reporting data that is from December 2024. What am I supposed to gather from this? Are they stating that they will do whatever they want without care and you have no rights?.. because other sellers act like idiots?
-Many of the metrics are subjective.
-Some rely heavily on the honesty or dishonesty of the customer, thus not fair to the Seller.
-Comparison with one's "peers" is subjective too, especially in collectibles. It might work comparing 100 Sellers who are selling brand new Depends. It would not apply to 100 Sellers selling the same 55 year old used electric train locomotive ... they would NOT all be the same, thus NO comparison
@fern*wood wrote:Honesty of sellers needs to play a big role too.
True enough ... I know it is an attempt at some indirect control over Sellers.
@mr_lincoln wrote:
-Many of the metrics are subjective.
-Some rely heavily on the honesty or dishonesty of the customer, thus not fair to the Seller.
-Comparison with one's "peers" is subjective too, especially in collectibles. It might work comparing 100 Sellers who are selling brand new Depends. It would not apply to 100 Sellers selling the same 55 year old used electric train locomotive ... they would NOT all be the same, thus NO comparison
edited
@mr_lincoln wrote:
@fern*wood wrote:Honesty of sellers needs to play a big role too.
True enough ... I know it is an attempt at some indirect control over Sellers.
Looks like the transaction period range has been updated so that the period rests within the year instead of spilling over from the previous year.
@stabron17 wrote:I'm having a similar issue under the Return category. The first item I sold the buyer reported as not described and started a return request. I offered the buyer a price reduction and the buyer kept the item. My metrics are all "above standard" however in this category under Service Metrics I have a high rating as compared to other sellers.
This item wasn't returned, and I can't figure out how to contact support. Any suggestions?
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Hi @stabron17
Here is a link to the eBay Help page on Appealing a defect: Appeal a defect | eBay
Unless you contradict this, what sounds like happened was you refunded the Buyer but they never closed the INAD return claim, so you got a defect when it timed out if you did not accept the return.
You can request a call back here: eBay Customer Service
