This is an update of my previous post. Check out the original post to see the full details of what happened earlier (eBay took the side of the buyer again). Here is the short version of the story. I sold a laboratory vacuum pump for $1000, the buyer claimed that he received some books, which is obviously **bleep**. Despite all the evidence I provided to prove that I sent the pump, Bay ruled in favor of the buyer, took my money of about $1050, and refunded the buyer.
Here is the update as to how I got my money back.
After all the appeals through normal means failed (chat, email with eBay reps, etc.), I started preparing a small claim lawsuit against eBay. I first filed a police report because I believed that the buyer was committing fraud. Police came and did some recording. They were frank that they would not do any actual investigation but provided a case number, which is good enough for me. I then sent a Notice of Dispute letter to eBay's litigation department. This is a procedure that you need to complete before actually suing eBay, based on my understanding of the eBay police documents. After a month of the delivery of the letter, I did not hear from eBay and filed a claim at my local small claim court earlier this week. Today, I received a full refund from eBay. It is not because of my small claim lawsuit, since my local court probably hasn't received the application yet, but as a response to my Notice of Dispute letter. They just moved too slowly.
Here is my takeaway from this experience. I agree with most sellers's belief that eBay almost always rules in favor of the buyer, but sellers shouldn't give up. In my case, the threat of a lawsuit is enough pressure for eBay to take it seriously. I honestly don't think eBay could win in court, and they probably know it too, so settling outside of the court was probably a business decision. They have to hire a lawyer, and may still lose, then pay the refund if this goes to court. From my experience dealing with various businesses in disputes where they clearly did something wrong, the business often adopts the tactic of ignoring you and hoping that you give up. Honestly, it is not a bad strategy because more often than not, we give up and the business saves money. So it is all business/financial decisions, ruling in favor of the buyer initially or refunding me later. If we want to get our money back, make it so that it makes no business sense for eBay to keep ignoring us. Sure, pursuing takes a lot of time, which is money for any business; I spent a lot of time in this case already. So it is your decision whether your loss is worth the time. I hope that at least my case gives you some confidence that you could win in the end.
Hope this helps, and hopefully, as more sellers fight for their rights, we can finally get eBay to reevaluate their "buyers always win" practice.
