eBay

retrogamescrafts · ‎03-13-2018

I sold an item internationally (I'm located in the US) through the Global Shipping Program, the item arrived safely at the distribution center in Kentucky and arrived damaged to its final destination. The buyer requested to return the item to me, I denied and explained that he needed to talk to eBay to get a refund since the GSP agreement clearly states that the seller is not responsible for damage during transit. He instead opened a claim on PayPal, and of course, PayPal decided in his favor, giving him the option to ship the damaged item back to me for a full refund and put a hold on my account for the full value of the sale.

I've talked to both eBay and PayPal numerous times over the past 30 days to try and resolve the issue. Ebay closed the return request and closed the case in their system, but now PayPal is making me accept the return of the broken item and refund the buyer for it.

Ebay is clearly at fault, but they have told me that closing the case in their system is all they can do. Now PayPal refuses to change their decision regardless of all evidence presented to them, and I'm forced to accept a damaged item back and refund the buyer for the full amount. I'm seriously considering taking eBay to court for breach of contract.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

retrogamescrafts · ‎03-14-2018

Yeah. Unfortunately, I've read quite a few other stories on here regarding the same GSP problem. I have no doubts it will continue to happen, and not everybody will push this hard to get it solved. So, they will get away with it a lot.

lovtaco0 · ‎03-14-2018

@retrogamescraftswrote:
the system didn't do what it was supposed to do

Great that Trinton got this resolved for you! Not great that it was necessary.

You said the system didn't do what it was supposed to do. Upthread I think you mentioned that you declined to refund the buyer. You did this through the return request messaging, right? After you declined the buyer then went and filed in PayPal which automatically closed the eBay case? If that's what happened then it sounds like a step was skipped.

Trinton said that you or the buyer would have had to escalate the eBay request in order for eBay to resolve this. We've seen plenty of reports where the system still doesn't work as it should when that happens, but we don't know what would have happened in your case since that step was skipped. If you had escalated or called eBay before denying the buyer's request then at least the case would have stayed within eBay and may have been easier to resolve.

Throwing that out there in case you decide to continue with the GSP after a cool down period...

retrogamescrafts · ‎03-14-2018

I may have confused where I declined the return when I posted, but looking through the chain again, the return wasn't denied on eBay. It didn't give me an option to decline the return, the best option it gave me was to contact the buyer, which I did and requested that he contacted eBay and mentioned that this was a GSP return due to damage in transit, and reassured him that it was covered under the terms of the program and he should receive a refund shortly. He instead went straight to PayPal and requested a return there, and even mentioned that I had ignored his return request on eBay. That's where I had an option to decline the return, which I did and provided PayPal with all the documentation I had showing that GSP was responsible for the refund. The next communication came from PayPal informing me that they had decided in favor of the buyer and pulled the sale value out of my account to refund him.

According to Trinton, eBay's system automatically knows if a return request is from a GSP sale and jumps in to resolve the issue as such. That didn't happen. The system treated it as a regular return for a damaged item.

carlmarxx · ‎03-14-2018

@lovtaco0wrote:
@retrogamescraftswrote:
the system didn't do what it was supposed to do
Great that Trinton got this resolved for you! Not great that it was necessary.

You said the system didn't do what it was supposed to do. Upthread I think you mentioned that you declined to refund the buyer. You did this through the return request messaging, right? After you declined the buyer then went and filed in PayPal which automatically closed the eBay case? If that's what happened then it sounds like a step was skipped.

Trinton said that you or the buyer would have had to escalate the eBay request in order for eBay to resolve this. We've seen plenty of reports where the system still doesn't work as it should when that happens, but we don't know what would have happened in your case since that step was skipped. If you had escalated or called eBay before denying the buyer's request then at least the case would have stayed within eBay and may have been easier to resolve.

Throwing that out there in case you decide to continue with the GSP after a cool down period...

The seller as to respond to the dispute to let ebay know it is a GSP Case , to close it and send buyer over to GSP rep to deal with the claim . Far as International buyer returns go. it is very tough to get done ,since buyer will have to spend more for shipping with tracking.

lovtaco0 · ‎03-14-2018

@retrogamescraftswrote:
I may have confused where I declined the return when I posted, but looking through the chain again, the return wasn't denied on eBay. It didn't give me an option to decline the return, the best option it gave me was to contact the buyer, which I did and requested that he contacted eBay and mentioned that this was a GSP return due to damage in transit, and reassured him that it was covered under the terms of the program and he should receive a refund shortly. He instead went straight to PayPal and requested a return there, and even mentioned that I had ignored his return request on eBay. That's where I had an option to decline the return, which I did and provided PayPal with all the documentation I had showing that GSP was responsible for the refund. The next communication came from PayPal informing me that they had decided in favor of the buyer and pulled the sale value out of my account to refund him.

According to Trinton, eBay's system automatically knows if a return request is from a GSP sale and jumps in to resolve the issue as such. That didn't happen. The system treated it as a regular return for a damaged item.

Thanks for clarifying. It sounds like the buyer didn't see your response and jumped the gun by moving over to PayPal.

eBay's system is supposed to know it's a GSP sale, but I don't think that automatically kicks in until the request is escalated to eBay. Since your request was never escalated to eBay we don't know what would have happened, but at least if the system did not recognize that it was GSP the case would have still been on eBay and they could have resolved it when you called.

The buyer's rash actions played a big part in making this so complicated and PayPal's error in recognizing that this was GSP made it worse.

Next time call eBay as soon as the request is opened, that way they can handle the situation before an impatient buyer moves the request over to PayPal. We've seen many issues with this and being pro-active seems to be the best way to handle these requests.

retrogamescrafts · ‎03-14-2018

I was given no option to respond to the dispute in such manner. My options were to either offer a full refund, a partial refund or contact the buyer. Since the first time I contacted the buyer, eBay and PayPal, it was made clear that this was a GSP issue, yet it made no difference to how the system treated the claim.

lovtaco0 · ‎03-14-2018

@retrogamescraftswrote:
I was given no option to respond to the dispute in such manner. My options were to either offer a full refund, a partial refund or contact the buyer. Since the first time I contacted the buyer, eBay and PayPal, it was made clear that this was a GSP issue, yet it made no difference to how the system treated the claim.

The option to escalate does not appear until 3 days have passed and it sounds like your buyer moved the request to PayPal earlier than that. That's why in a GSP situation it's good to call eBay and escalate as soon as the request is opened letting them know that the GSP is responsible. You can respond to the buyer afterwards if you want to but at least by escalating right away you are reducing the chance that an impatient buyer will have time to move the request to PayPal.

The system did not treat the request incorrectly... it didn't treat the request at all because it wasn't escalated to a case for eBay to review.

retrogamescrafts · ‎03-14-2018

You are correct, maybe if it had stayed on eBay the resolution would have been simpler. Still, there's a major flaw in that relationship if all it takes for the system to break down is for a buyer to request their money back through PayPal. A lot of people will do that after hearing that their refund won't come instantly from you, but rather from GSP (something they maybe don't even know about). Out of fear of being scammed by the seller, they will resort to the next option to get their money back, which going to the company handling the payment. It is also very concerning to know that PayPal didn't even bother to look through the claim before letting a machine decide its resolution.

lovtaco0 · ‎03-14-2018

It was definitely a fail on PayPal's part!

thinkbefore · ‎03-18-2018

Canadian buyer here. On my last purchase, the so call ''Global shipping program'' fee was added to my purchase. This amount never was disclosed BEFORE the transaction. I understand thart American sellers have to many clients and dont need my business. Message well received and understood. Never again I will purchase anything from a seller using the Global shipping program scam.

steveross · ‎03-21-2018

@carlmarxx

I have heard story's over the years on the boards about GSP folks repacking Items up into smaller boxs to lower their cost's to ship them .And alway wondered if there was any truth too them.

Yes, I know a guy who got a package through the Pitney-Bowes GSP, and the protective filling inside had been removed, and he got some CDs with damaged jewel cases. He contacted the seller, who said he had packed it much better than the buyer described to him, but he didn't keep any documentation, just vowed to never buy anything that used GSP again.

This fellow did document what happened to him, though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijmdVlQ36-w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZwZgcoc_zw

carlmarxx · ‎03-21-2018

@thinkbeforewrote:
Canadian buyer here. On my last purchase, the so call ''Global shipping program'' fee was added to my purchase. This amount never was disclosed BEFORE the transaction. I understand thart American sellers have to many clients and dont need my business. Message well received and understood. Never again I will purchase anything from a seller using the Global shipping program scam.

Not all Of U.S. sellers are in GSP.

gjlutz · ‎04-29-2018

The EXACT same thing is happening to me right now.
I sent an item through global shipping and it was damaged during transit. Usually I have had no problem with getting reimbursed in the past for this, until now.... Buyer filed through Paypal as "not as described" instead of filing through Ebay, and because of this it has been a nightmare! It has been 2 weeks, and now Paypal is saying another month to look into this??? My $200 in funds is being held, and I've called them twice with no luck. They informed me that it should have gone through Ebay, (which I'm aware of ), instead of them, but now there is nothing they can do about it.
I see that you got this resolved, who stepped in for you and helped you with this??

a1robotrepair · ‎04-29-2018

I have taken all my items off GSP also. Almost everything will be sold and shipped to the lower 48 only. I suggest all small and mid sellers do the same.