mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@ittybitnot wrote:eBay doesn't require refund before receipt of package
@chapeau-noir
Apparently, they do now. eBay will do it for you 'since you should have received it by now'. The parcel need not be scanned as "delivered" anymore.
This isn't new. This is what I posted in a similar situation on another thread.
This is an issue that catches sellers off guard sometimes. And you likely will not like my answer.
Let's start with when you ship an item. You are the shipper on the shipping label and therefore you are responsible for the package until it gets delivered. So if it is damaged in transit the seller is held responsible. Of course if you have insurance on the package, you can make a claim against the carrier.
Same with returns. When a seller issues a return label to a buyer so they can return the item, the seller is the shipper on that label. That means you are responsible for that package too like you are in the original shipment to your buyer.
So if your buyer shipped the item back to you and it is just now stuck or lost during transit, it is your responsibility and the buyer should still receive a refund. I know that isn't what you want to hear, but it is how it works. That is likely why a Customer Service rep did not close the claim as they learned after talking to you that they could not.
Don't allow this to have Ebay step on on the claim and that will happen if you don't take care of this in the next day or so. If Ebay steps in, you will be forced to refund, get a Defect on your Dashboard and will not get your FVFs refunded. So it isn't worth it to try and fight it as you will be the only one that gets hurt.
Now to your product. You can likely get that moving back to you. What carrier did you use? Was is USPS? If so, call up the tracking on their website www.usps.com . When you are on the page, there is an option to sign up for email updates every time an entry is made on the tracking. Sign up for that so you get notification if the package starts moving.
Now go to the link below and file for a TRACE. Doing this often gets the package moving within about 48-72 hours.
https://usps.my.site.com/emailus/s/package-inquiry
There is still good reason to believe you will get your product back if you follow the instructions above if you shipped via USPS.
Good Luck!
The new AI system will send out a guess as to when the item should arrive by.
An AI system has nothing to do with this. It is based on the carrier that is being used and the delivery times they estimate. That is the way Ebay has always done this. Certainly not always right, but they get the estimates from carriers.
I've had this happen a couple times recently. The item will still be in transit and the system will tell the seller "your item should have arrived, you need to refund the buyer". You go into tracking, a tracking number provided through eBay purchase label, and it shows in transit. If you do not refund by the 3 days, even if the item hasn't arrived, the system will give you a defect.
True, but not for the reasons you state. It has nothing to do with the ETA on the package, lets stress that "E" stands for Estimate, not guarantee. The seller is held responsible to go ahead and refund the buyer because they are the shipper of record on the return shipment [the seller issued the return label]. So that is what makes the seller responsible as I explained in my post up thread a post or two.
Now, I've called and chatted with eBay and they are aware how this is not fair and it goes against their policy.
It does not go against policy. It is just often misunderstood by both sellers and CSRs.
@monster-deals wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
because you are the shipper.The buyer returned for doesn't fit so the buyer purchased the label and is responsible for delivery.
Then that does change things. Sometimes sellers still issue the return label on a Buyer's Remorse Claim, but you would be right if the buyer purchased their own label, then they are the shipper.
I don't know what to tell you. What I described is how it has worked for years when the seller issues the return label.
Now putting the claim on hold for a period of time does happen. I've seen that before. It is usually acceptable to both the buyer and the seller when they see the tracking and it hasn't arrived back to the seller just yet. That doesn't mean that if it never arrives to the seller that the seller doesn't have to refund, because they do.
I don't doubt what you say, I have no reason to do that. Sometimes CSRs handle things differently than they are suppose to. We see it all the time on threads. BTW as for the Defect, that only happens when the seller allows Ebay to step in and force the refund. Sellers should not be doing that, it never ends well for the seller.
And when Ebay steps in and forces the refund, not only does the seller get a defect, the seller doesn't get their FVFs refunded. So it is best to refund the buyer short of Ebay stepping in.
@yuzuha wrote:
@chapeau-noir wrote:eBay doesn't require refund before receipt of package, and as it has the tracking number, it will track the package to delivery back to you.
In fact, the returns procedure SPECIFICALLY tells you not to refund the buyer until you have received the item back.
You are correct, it does. But there is more to that and I explained it in my long winded post earlier on up thread.
