Help! eBay message on return that ITEM SHOULD NOW BE DELIVERED is wreaking havoc!

[real_solid_gold]

This holiday season I got an unusual amount of returns opened.   I provide free returns and had no problem with any of them as they were mostly "it didn't fit" or "I changed my mind" type returns.   Since the "free return" labels ebay charges me for my customers are all first class (there is no option to provide anything else) a lot of these returns are taking longer than usual to get back which is normal this time of year.  A few days ago a customer messaged me asking about her refund and I explained to her that her return had not arrived back yet.  The next day I got a bizarre message from ebay saying something like "xxx indicated she posted her return..it should now be delivered".  Not verbatim but pretty close.  The message continued on to say that I should refund for it within 2 days.  This despite the fact that both within the eBay return and on the USPS website tracking showed the item was delayed and still in transit.  Soon after receiving this eBay message I got another message from the buyer saying her eBay told her that the item had been delivered and she should get a refund within 2 days.  This erroneous information provided to both me and the buyer was eBays FIRST action leading to my situation.  I called eBay and told the rep that their information about the delivery was wrong and tracking clearly showed the package delivered.  The rep said not to worry that she would put a pause on the refund requirement for 10 days.   I said thank you and hung-up.  What the rep failed to tell me is that she had put this "pause" on the refund requirement by turning my "return" into a "case/dispute" that was on hold.  I now no longer had a way to initiate a refund myself as my return request was gone and I had a case/dispute instead.  This opening a case/dispute on my behalf without me requesting it...instead of just correcting whatever initiated the erroneous messages was eBay's SECOND action leading to my situation.  I now had no way to refund the money myself as I had an open case and funds of mine to cover the return were now on hold.  I messaged the buyer apologizing for opening a case and assuring them I didn't ask the rep to open it; I doubt they believed me.   The next day the item finally arrived and I called eBay, told them I had no way to process the refund myself, and to please refund the buyers money and close the case which I had never wanted.  They said no problem.  Soon afterwards I got an upset message from my buyer saying eBay messaged her saying that they were closing the case and refunding her, but the money would take 4 days because I'd refused to refund her.  I don't know how accurate her message to me was but I myself got a message saying eBay was closing the case and refunding the buyer because "You agreed to give the buyer a refund but didn't issue it."  This way of closing the dispute by telling the buyer I wouldn't refund their money was eBay's THIRD action leading to my situation.  And so the situation this all led up to is that by simply trying to follow eBay rules and wait till I got my return before refunding....I infuriated my buyer and on top of that I'll have a defect for a case closed in the buyers favor.  Even if I'm able to get the defect removed records will probably forever look to eBay like I didn't want to refund the buyer when the exact opposite is true - I called immediately after the item arrived and asked them to refund the buyer since I couldn't.  After all this, I called and explained everything to a member of eBay's escalation team.  They offered to appeal the closed case.  I replied "NONONO - I WANTED the buyer refunded, I just don't want a defect and bad feedback".  The fact that they almost opened an appeal on my behalf terrified me!  No one I talked to ever seemed to grasp the concept that I only wanted:  1. ) to wait till the item arrived back and then  2.)  refund the buyer!!  They just wanted to open cases and appeals which imply I was trying to avoid refunding.   Doesn't eBay have a way of correcting problems without opening disputes or appeals?  Not everything has to be a dispute between the buyer and seller, I just wanted the erroneous "you item should have arrived by now" thing to be fixed so I didn't have to refund my buyer before receiving the return!!

Now...after all this I just got an email from eBay on another return saying "xxx indicated they posted their return..it should now be delivered...please issue the buyer with a refund by..."!!  The item has NOT arrived and once again the item is delayed in transit.  I'm terrified that if I call eBay to let them know the item has not arrived they'll turn my return into a case and this nightmare will start all over again.  If anyone has experience with this and can offer advise please help!! 

Sorry for the super long post.  I'm super frustrated like I've never been in many years of eBaying.

[downunder-61]

If tracking shows the item is on it's way - refund as eBay have told you to.

If it does not arrive later then appeal to eBay using the appeal process or by contacting them on Facebook eBay for Business.

[real_solid_gold]

Thank you kindly for the answer as any help is greatly appreciated.   Is this just a guess or do you know from experience for sure that if the item does not arrive back later or has been damaged that eBay will refund me?  These are not cheap items.  I'd want to know for sure that if I refund and item before it arrives and need to appeal later because it never arrives that eBay wouldn't say "you shouldn't have refunded before receiving the item back".  eBay's message that say's the item "should have been deliverred" even though it hasn't also gives me a few day deadline to refund but then goes on to say at the bottom that if the item hasn't arrived back that I can contact the buyer or contact eBay if I can't reach a solution.  So it seems this final statement would be something they'll refer to if I just refund by the date they gave me in order to deny my appeal.  It's like they are giving me an option of refunding early or opening a case which I 99.9% will lose later when the package arrives.  What is this?  a new policy of penalizing sellers performance for slow return shipping which is out of our hands?

If there is anyone who has dealt with this before or actually works for and has some authority in eBay I'd greatly appreciate knowing exactly what we are supposed to do when this happens.  No one I've talked to at eBay has had any options except opening, closing, and appealing "cases".  I don't want to open a case every time shipping is slow.

Thanks downunder for your suggetion.  Maybe something I'll end up having to try but it's scary refunding before receiving the item back cause its a lot of money.

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry this happened, I would be frustrated as well. I just skimmed over your post as it was really difficult to read without paragraphs but I'll give you my take on it.

I have to disagree with @downunder-61.  They are right in that you wouldn't have received the defect if you had refunded right away but  ebay does NOT expect  us to refund until the tracking shows delivery.  

For some reason ebay automatically sends out a message after xx number of days stating that the item should have been delivered and to refund within x days. Note it doesn't say that the item HAS been delivered.   I've gotten those messages and I've read about other people getting them as well.  In my situation, the buyer had never mailed the item back and there was no tracking showing that the item was on its way.  I ignored the message and eventually ebay closed the return as there was no tracking showing that it had been returned.

It sounds like you received the same standard email although in your situation the item was on its way. It's possible that the buyer phoned ebay complaining that you hadn't refunded yet so that prompted them to send the message at that time.   Then, when you phoned ebay, the rep took it as you having 'asked them to step in' (open a case) and since you 'asked' ebay for help, the situation was taken out of your hands and you automatically received an unresolved claim defect.   I realize that wasn't your intention and that you didn't ask them to step in  but some of the reps seem to be follow a script without really looking at the entire situation.

If I were you, I would send a private message to ebay for business Facebook or to askebay at Twitter and appeal the defect.  When you send the message, give them your ebay ID, full name, zip and email address and explain the situation with just the facts.   I hope that it works out!

[pjcdn2005]

If you never received the item back and refunded early, I don't know what would happen in an appeal.  I suspect that it wouldn't end well but I don't know that from experience.

 The way that I understand it, the person responsible for delivery is the person who paid for the return label. Since you offer free returns, you would have paid for the label so if the item got lost, they would consider that your responsibility.  But again...I don't know that from experience, just basing on it on things that I've read.  It's possible that free returns works differently.

[real_solid_gold]

Thank you so much for your help pjcdn2005!  I thought I had posted a reply thanking you previously but now I see it didn't get posted so sorry for the late reply.

I do think that it would be very unfair for eBay to hold the seller responsible for a return lost in transit.  When originally sending an item to our buyers we understand that we are responsible and we have the option to buy insurance and/or upgrade the shipping class.  Offering free returns is highly encouraged by eBay and when the buyer prints the return label which is charged to the seller, it is a standard first-class postage label.  There is no option to add insurance or upgrade the label to priority or anything like that.  The buyer gets an uninsured first-class label if the item is worth $1 or $5000 and as the seller you really can't do much about it.

[timzbiz]

I have noticed this happening too. Just more seller bullying by ebay.