Frustrating Resolution Center Decisions...

[alloy_and_carbon]

Hey all!

Im selling here since 2005 and I never felt that I had to complain about anything but what happened to me this time, violates common sense.

I had a sale to Israel on April 24th and shipped it on 27th. This item was taking a lot of time to arrive because I guess it stucked in Israeli customs. Naturally the buyer was concerned so he opened a case which is ok by me. Although not a month had passed as he opened it on 20th of May. I provided the tracking information right away. After about a week ebay closes the case in favour of the buyer because as they say I did not provide tracking info...!

Just to explain here that the tracking of the service I use does not works by clicking a link and directly it gives you results (as USPS for example). You have to go to the tracker, add tracking number and then search for the results. Obviously that was too much work to do for the person deciding the case....

Anyway a week ago the results of the Israeli post tracker showed that the item was delivered to the buyer so I asked an appeal of this case and reversal of the refund.

Resolution center refused numerous times giving various excuses...

1)First answer:"we won't be able to approve your appeal because you didn’t provide this information prior to the case being escalated to us."

Well I did but none cared to check the tracker...

"Once a case is closed, the decision is final."

I dont know about that either, the exact thing happened to me again few months ago and they changed their decision right away!

2)Second answer: "I understand your situation at this point, but if there's no valid tracking information that eBay can use to revert the previous decision, we will still stand firm on not approving your appeal."

I wonder do they even checked the tracking results that I provided? It was clearly shown that the item was delivered at the address of the buyer!

3)Third answer:"as the tracking number does not show delivery to the buyer's address at the time the case was decided, the reason why we're unable to grant your appeal."

Oh that makes sense! So any buyer can open a case while the item is in transit-delayed by customs and post service and then get both the item and the money. Very nice guys, great job!

Needless to say that in all messages resolution center representatives was moving the problem they created, from themselves to the buyer and that I should solve it directly with him.  It was ebay though that rushed in taking a decision against me.

I dont care about the amount I lost neither if the buyer will pay out of his good heart. I care about what ebay will do in similar cases in the future. I felt there was no way I could reason with resolution center representatives and I got a sense they didnt care to solve the problem by not looking into the facts provided. Im very dissapointed because of this incident.

[phcd1]

I stopped selling Internationally a long time ago, but if you insist on doing it, you must follow the guidelines with online viewable tracking or you will always lose INR claims. INR cases are one of the easiest cases for sellers to win because all they have to do is upload the tracking number to case and then it will close. Most of these things are done by bots, so if your tracking needs a human, that might have been the issue. Appeals are rarely won by sellers.

[tarpedge]

The reluctance is: For an appeal, any refund will now have to come out of eBay's pockets, because eBay cannot take the money back from your buyer.

[alloy_and_carbon]

Exactly as you say tarpedge! Thats the problem, they dont want to put their hands in their own pockets to fix a problem they created. Thats why they should be more careful with the decisions they make!

[alloy_and_carbon]

phcd1 My whole business is based in international selling. Maybe you did not understand but I did not provided a tracking that can not be viewed online. I did uploaded all the information needed but ebay paid no attention at all.

And the buyer was not some scammer, it was a returning customer which in a polite manner opened the case.

[papermoneyforme]

Send an invoice through Paypal with a nice note that it is delivered and please repay. That will tell you if buyer is honest or not.

Claims do not care if you have tracking. They only care about if it shows on line delivery. En route means very little.

[alloy_and_carbon]

I will do so thank you.

I guess you are right about claims but such practise does not make any sense. Because deliveries are delayed all the time due to customs and slow shipping services. So if everyone were opening a case that will be decided against seller maybe I should just close it and get outta here...

[18704d]

"...the tracking of the service I use does not works by clicking a link and directly it gives you results (as USPS for example). You have to go to the tracker, add tracking number and then search for the results. Obviously that was too much work to do for the person deciding the case...."

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You were dealing with a 'bot', I'd say.  A computer program that defaulted against you once the link didn't give it the proof of delivery.

Lynn

[*eponymous*]

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@18704d wrote:

"...the tracking of the service I use does not works by clicking a link and directly it gives you results (as USPS for example). You have to go to the tracker, add tracking number and then search for the results. Obviously that was too much work to do for the person deciding the case...."

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You were dealing with a 'bot', I'd say.  A computer program that defaulted against you once the link didn't give it the proof of delivery.

Lynn

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At some point last year or maybe the year before, word was that eBay stopped having CS reps click any link other than USPS, UPS, or FedEx to avoid ending up on one of those fake tracking websites.  The fake sites I've seen are really good - they apepar to be searching a database and then come back with "results" that keep buyers fooled that their item is en route...at least for some period of time.

It could be that this was more than a rumor, based on the OP's experience. I guess if one of the big 3 cannot be used for international sales, don't do international sales...?

[alloy_and_carbon]

Assuming that I would be located in US, I could use the big 3 as you say. But Im not located there and the cost to use UPS or FEDEX in my country is so ridiculously high that you would not believe. So offering a shipping option with them would end up to: none buys from me.

[rw011164]

I also do not sell internationally anymore- too much risk for the seller when other parties (customs) is involved.

But, regarding your case, this will not help you now, but in the furture if you have shipped with online viewable tracking then you must enter that through the case (whether or not it was uploaded to the sale). We ship by freight with online viewable tracking though we cannot enter the tracking into a case (the system does not recognise freight carriers) so I have to call EBay case resolution team and tell them the tracking info. They can enter it on their end. You must do this when the case is opened, but BEFORE it is escalated.

I am sorry to hear you were hit with that loss.