Forced Refund for Item Stuck at Authenticator

[3rdhandarchive]

Hi there,

I recently sold a watch that was to be shipped to eBay's authenticator. The buyer made the purchase on the 8th and I had shipped it on the 9th. When it reached the authenticator on the 18th, I was expecting that maybe it'd take a day or two to get it authenticated and then shipped to the end buyer, but it's now the day after Christmas and the latest tracking update is still from the 18th when it arrived at the authenticator.

The buyer was rather patient but in the end, they opened an item not received case and it was instantly closed in their favor. Because of this, I'm now at a net loss of over $170 because of shipping and fees combined. I have had tens of watches go through eBay's authentication service without such drastic delays so this transaction really puzzles me.

I have no control over this matter regarding shipping and now because of the authenticator's delay, I'm hit with a forced refund at a net loss.

If anyone has any words of guidance, please do assist. I truly believe there's nothing I could have done to remedy this and I know the holiday season can be hectic, but this is entirely not my fault.

Best.

[albertabrightalberta]

As long as tracking shows that the item was delivered to the authenticator, any claims would be handled by ebay. 

In a case such as this, the INR case should have been resolved with you keeping your payment and ebay issuing the refund to the buyer. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

What sellers need to know when shipping orders

The authenticator's address will be provided to the seller in the Order details. When the buyer reports that they didn't receive an item, we'll look for evidence of successful delivery to this address.

Evidence of successful delivery to the authenticator

We require all of the following to prove a successful on-time delivery:

• Tracking number from an integrated carrier which was uploaded to eBay and shows a shipping scan before the latest estimated delivery date;
• A delivery status of "delivered" with a receipt scan by authenticator;
• The date of delivery;
• The recipient's address, showing the authenticator's address that matches the one found on the Order details page; and
• Signature confirmation, on orders with a total cost of $750 or more. Learn more about our signature confirmation requirements

[3rdhandarchive]

So you're saying that I shouldn't have been at a loss here? How would you go about resolving this then? I appealed the case and the decision was instantly marked as final. 

[bashort]

ebay makes policy then follows it when it benefits them, when the policy does not benefit them they are likely to not follow it.

[slippinjimmy]

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@bashort wrote:

ebay makes policy then follows it when it benefits them, when the policy does not benefit them they are likely to not follow it.

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Sellers have to follow the stated eBay procedures to get the benefit, if they don't then they loose.

If the OP followed the procedures posted by @albertabrightalberta they would have been covered.