eBay

kc-businesses · ‎06-28-2023

I had a customer purchase a $20 item. They received it. Then filed a dispute specifying "not as described." I responded stating that if they would like to return it then I'll be happy to provide a full refund. Of course they wanted to keep it and get a refund. I even included a note to ebay that the customer is choosing to keep the item AND wants a refund resulting in free product shopping. A long time later, I got an email today from eBay stating that they judged in the buyer's favor and gave them their money back. WTH???? This opens a HUGE window of opportunity for anyone to buy whatever they want off of eBay, file a dispute, keep the item, and know that eventually, eBay will simply give them their money back while letting the buyer keep the item. Major SCAM opportunity that needs to be addressed.

Trying to reach anyone at eBay was impossible. I called at 2:00 pm CST and they said I need to call them during normal business hours. They fail to include what those hours are. The chatbot was also worthless. Does anyone else have this issue? Would love to get a response from eBay.

kc-businesses · ‎06-28-2023

Yes. The return process is automatic once they request a return. However they did not request a return and just filed a dispute with eBay. That’s why I manually sent them a message to create the return but they never did.

bill.purvis2012 · ‎06-28-2023

This should never have happened. You offer free returns. That makes the buyer whole. Ebay should never have refunded. They automatically issue a return label for the buyer. You Don't have to. Of course, the buyer has to open a return. You can't do it for them. So, Ebay is in the wrong. Go on FB Ebay for business and report it. You should be refunded. All the buyer has to do is do a return. So, Ebay mishandled it.

monica-sells · ‎06-28-2023

@kc-businesses wrote:
First thank you for your response. Perhaps I didn't explain things properly... In my 2nd sentence I state that I reached out to the buyer requesting they return it. No response.
Here's a quick timeline:

May 2nd: Buyer purchases item for $20 with free shipping (for them)
May 20th: Buyer files dispute of "not as described." No details provided.
May 20th: I reach out to buyer apologizing for any issues they may have and requested for them to return the item and I would offer a full refund. (no response)
May 20th: I respond to the dispute itself in ebays system
June 28th: I received notice from ebay that they are deciding in the buyers favor and giving them a refund for $20 plus charging me an additional $20 dispute fee. As of today, the buyer never opened a return or responded in any way. End result is they keep the item for free and I get penalized an additional $20 for a dispute fee.

Hopefully this helps clear up what transpired and sorry for any confusion in my original message.

OK...that helps to answer it...this is not a dispute with ebay, the "buyer/scammer" filed a chargeback with their credit card company (thus the $20.00 dispute fee).

"...May 20th: I respond to the dispute itself in ebays system..."

That early on the only response to ebay system would be to issue a return label that the buyer obviously ignored....

jklfindings · ‎06-28-2023

I apologize if anyone else has mentioned this, but I didn't see it as I scanned the responses. In one of your replies you mentioned eBay charged you an extra $20 for the dispute. The only time that happens is when the buyer files a chargeback with their credit card company. So this isn't the normal open a return, and get a refund. This actually is beyond eBays control as the credit card company makes the decision, and ebay does not give sellers much ability to actually fight the case. In my experience, get a hold of ebay by using the chat feature, and type in "agent" and follow the prompts. Get a call from them and complain. If you get the right agent, they may be able to do a courtesy refund for you.

house*of*paws · ‎06-28-2023

@kc-businesses wrote:
Yes. The return process is automatic once they request a return. However they did not request a return and just filed a dispute with eBay. That’s why I manually sent them a message to create the return but they never did.

@kc-businesses

The ONLY ‘disputes’ a buyer is able to file with eBay are ‘Item not received’ and a ‘Return Request’. That’s it.

Whatever the buyer filed … it wasn’t with eBay … and eBay couldn’t/ wouldn’t have refunded them without having them return the item first. I’m perplexed.

rugerskick · ‎06-28-2023

Not always. They can see the weight of the return package isn't right and its possible the seller can win these fraud cases.

kc-businesses · ‎06-28-2023

That a great point. I’ll do that. I had no luck with the bot but I was putting in appeal help. I’ll put in agent and hopefully that will help. Thanks again for your help.

dbfolks166mt · ‎06-28-2023

NAD's are difficult situations for sellers and it depends on how the buyer filed the claim. It if was an eBay NAD the seller has some hope of at least receiving something back from the buyer depending on how they respond to the eBay case. Others have already described that process.

If the buyer files a NAD chargeback with their CC company it also depends on how you respond to the chargeback but in most cases the buyer is going to be fully refunded and allowed to keep the item. The refund decision is out of eBay's control as are the logistics pertaining to the return of the item. Under current federal laws the only thing the CC companies are focused on is the financial aspect of the CC charge and not the logistics of the transaction. Some CC companies will require the buyer to return the item before refunding but most don't.

mybigsale · ‎06-29-2023

@kc-businesses

I am still not completely understanding.

- You accepted the eBay return request for "not as described" and buyer was provided with return postage?

- eBay gave buyer a certain date to return the item?

- eBay decided to disregard return deadline in case, refund buyer and told them no need to return item?

- eBay notified you in this case they are overriding eBays return deadlines and prematurely deciding in favor of the buyer?

- eBay decided that in this not as described case they would charge you a $20 dispute fee?

This is concerning if eBay is now charging sellers a $20 dispute fee for eBay Returns as well as for Credit Card Dispute cases. 🙄

jklfindings · ‎06-29-2023

A lot of the helplessness sellers feel from chargebacks on eBay is related to us not being able to actually fight the case. EBay only allows 1 document to be uploaded as "proof" which is not anywhere near enough to be successful in this kind of fight. The seller summer update is changing all that though, so I'm very hopeful that a lot of chargebacks will end in returns now instead of buyers getting money back and keeping the item.

dbfolks166mt · ‎06-29-2023

A lot of the helplessness sellers feel from chargebacks on eBay is related to us not being able to actually fight the case. EBay only allows 1 document to be uploaded as "proof" which is not anywhere near enough to be successful in this kind of fight. The seller summer update is changing all that though, so I'm very hopeful that a lot of chargebacks will end in returns now instead of buyers getting money back and keeping the item.

I only hope you are correct about this. While eBay can do nothing about the CC process and the current Federal laws that frame the way the CC companies must address chargebacks one of the provisions of those laws, although not explicit, is that a cardholder should not utilize the chargeback as their first action when the merchant (eBay in this case) has their own process in place.

Historically eBay has simply ignored this and rather than issue the first response to the CC company to force the cardholder to first utilize the eBay claim process they simply defer to the CC company to handle the issue. A lot of buyers, especially the scammers, are aware of this and utilize it to receive a full refund and avoid potentially having to return the item.

There really needs to be a change to the Federal laws but that is not likely to happen anytime soon give the snails pace speed at which our government processes work. CC companies hate chargebacks as much as the merchants. It is a multi-billion dollar problem that consumes a lot of resources for the CC companies and results in significant losses for the merchants.

coolections · ‎06-29-2023

They filed a return with their credit card company. You have no choice but to pay the $20 fee. With that said if it is not too late and you have no responded, you can still get your item back if you say OK to the dispute but "make sure" you mention you will refund AFTER the item arrives back to you. You will not even need a return label as the credit card company will make the buyer return your item.

dbfolks166mt · ‎06-29-2023

They filed a return with their credit card company. You have no choice but to pay the $20 fee. With that said if it is not too late and you have no responded, you can still get your item back if you say OK to the dispute but "make sure" you mention you will refund AFTER the item arrives back to you. You will not even need a return label as the credit card company will make the buyer return your item.

Generally the CC company does not assess a $20 fee unless you dispute the chargeback. If you accept the dispute the buyer will be fully refunded, eBay may still charge you the FVF's and you have no choice in the refund it depends on the CC company since they are the ones refunding the cardholder and eBay is refunding the CC company.

Whether you get the item back depends on the CC company a lot of them don't require the return of the item to refund the cardholder. It also depends on whether it is legal to return the item. I have purchased a number of items over the years, mostly coins, that were proven to be counterfeit. It is considered mail fraud to send counterfeit items through the USPS.

coolections · ‎06-29-2023

@dbfolks166mt wrote:
Generally the CC company does not assess a $20 fee unless you dispute the chargeback. If you accept the dispute the buyer will be fully refunded, eBay may still charge you the FVF's and you have no choice in the refund it depends on the CC company since they are the ones refunding the cardholder and eBay is refunding the CC company.
@dbfolks166mt That is not what happen to me not long ago. The $20 was automatically taken out and given the the CC company. No, I did not dispute it and I told the buyer OK and return the item. Once it showed delivered Ebay paid the buyer back but I still paid the $20 fee.