eBay

songwind_retro · ‎11-20-2023

Not a huge deal but could have been a much bigger issue... Had an item returned with an original part missing.. Ebay decided to refund them the full ammount with not forcing the buyer to ship the correct item back or allow me to do a partial return for me losing out on the value of the item... Ebay policy is awful. Sellers and buyers should both have protection. Seems like ebay always sides with the buyers..

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This case is now closed

Hi ,

We reviewed this case and decided to issue the buyer a full refund.

We understand that you received your item in a different condition than when you shipped it, but unfortunately we couldn't determine that this was caused by the buyer, or that this was something in the buyer's control.

A refund of US $550.00 was issued on Nov 20, 2023 to the buyer. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping.

The refund amount will be recovered from you by eBay.

inhawaii · ‎11-20-2023

If you follow proper procedure, you will never have to give a refund AND not get the item back.

*Buyer asks for a return.

*Seller accepts the return and pays for a return shipping label.

*Buyer ships the item back.

*When the seller receives the item back, seller issues buyer a refund to the buyer.

Were these procedures followed?

Smooth Operator - Sade

songwind_retro · ‎11-20-2023

You must not understand my statement. I received the returned item, which had a missing part. Contacted ebay about the issue, then ebay said there was nothing they could do and gave a full refund to the buyer...

inhawaii · ‎11-20-2023

@songwind_retro wrote:
You must not understand my statement. I received the returned item, which had a missing part. Contacted ebay about the issue, then ebay said there was nothing they could do and gave a full refund to the buyer...

I did misunderstand. Sorry.

Yes in a he said/she said situation, ebay does usually side with the buyer,

and rightly so, but it sucks to be the seller.

Smooth Operator - Sade

12345jamesstamps · ‎11-20-2023

Sometimes you get everything returned...or sometimes a box of rocks.

My protection: I screen out the buyer before a large purchase$$$...their feedback....ID how long they been on eBay and what they have bought....and google the address: this is only for high money purchases...by the way.

And of course a bad buyer gets blocked immediately.

Lucky you got something returned and lucky they didn't do a credit card chargeback.

gb58 · ‎11-20-2023

Yes in a he said/she said situation, ebay does usually side with the buyer,

and rightly so, but it sucks to be the seller.

Why rightly so? If a seller has been on the ebay site 10, 15, or 20 years or more and their accounts are in good standing with no issues to speak of in all that time, no ebay should not usually side with the buyer. When a seller has that much history, ebay should back off and allow the sellers to handle their own transactions as the seller sees fit.

Also if a seller has that much history on the site, they should also be allowed to leave a negative for a buyer when the situation calls for that also. There should be alot more freedom allowed to sellers with a long history of selling on the site, to run their business as they see fit, without big brother (ebay) watching over their shoulder.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎11-20-2023

@gb58 wrote:
Yes in a he said/she said situation, ebay does usually side with the buyer,
and rightly so, but it sucks to be the seller.

Why rightly so? If a seller has been on the ebay site 10, 15, or 20 years or more and their accounts are in good standing with no issues to speak of in all that time, no ebay should not usually side with the buyer. When a seller has that much history, ebay should back off and allow the sellers to handle their own transactions as the seller sees fit.

Also if a seller has that much history on the site, they should also be allowed to leave a negative for a buyer when the situation calls for that also. There should be alot more freedom allowed to sellers with a long history of selling on the site, to run their business as they see fit, without big brother (ebay) watching over their shoulder.

None of that is the 'way it is' and rightfully so.

This is a 'selling' site and wouldn't have made it past year 2 had they treated customers (yes, ALL buyer are 'customers', whether we as sellers see them that way or not) that way.

History means nothing- again, rightfully so as this is an 'internet' site and sellers accounts can be compromised and taken over by 'bad guys' at ANY time; so WHO'S to say you are really that SAME seller?

What's to say after 'selling here' for 15 years, that a seller has decided to just F as many people as they can before they sail off into the sunset?

Therefore, 'longevity', RIGHTFULLY so, means NOTHING!

xadexane · ‎11-20-2023

@songwind_retro wrote:
Ebay decided to refund them the full ammount with not forcing the buyer to ship the correct item back or allow me to do a partial return for me losing out on the value of the item...

Ebay policy is awful. Sellers and buyers should both have protection. Seems like ebay always sides with the buyers..

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This case is now closed
Hi ,
We reviewed this case and decided to issue the buyer a full refund.
We understand that you received your item in a different condition than when you shipped it, but unfortunately we couldn't determine that this was caused by the buyer, or that this was something in the buyer's control.
A refund of US $550.00 was issued on Nov 20, 2023 to the buyer. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping.
The refund amount will be recovered from you by eBay.

Nope when you fail to resolve the return yourself @songwind_retro to ask eBay to take over, eBay policy already told us:

Hopefully for Top Ratted Sellers this will help withhold 50% plus original shipping from the refund next time?

Are lyrics like *Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth* worthy of 41 number one hits?

mtgraves7984 · ‎11-20-2023

@songwind_retro

Well, that is a shame. We sellers empathize.

I see that the listing offered 30-Day Returns (that's how I sell) but have at times listed items with Free Returns just to have the ability to reduce the amount of the (impending) full refund for just such occasions.

It's always better to be proactive here and not involve eBay, but the damage is already done so look toward a way to mitigate it. Since eBay is who approved the refund, you can try to appeal the decision... it's a long shot, but it's all I got.

Good luck and hang in there.

jesusisyourgod · ‎11-20-2023

Very reasonable. A seller with high ranking in the Ebaysphere should atleast have some say in the situation and EBay’s recognition. The validity through their feedbacks and years of experience should atleast hold some weight to their legitimate claims. I don’t see veteran sellers out there scamming buyers en masse per se

gb58 · ‎11-20-2023

This is a 'selling' site and wouldn't have made it past year 2 had they treated customers (yes, ALL buyer are 'customers', whether we as sellers see them that way or not) that way.

You've been on ebay a long time, almost as long as I have, and Ebay made it way past the first two years allowing sellers to run their own businesses without the heavy oversite of everything a seller does. Don't you remember their early mantra, "we are just a venue".

History means nothing- again, rightfully so as this is an 'internet' site and sellers accounts can be compromised and taken over by 'bad guys' at ANY time; so WHO'S to say you are really that SAME seller?

Ebay monitors everything we do, every items we list, every shipment we ship, and every post we post to this board or any other board on their site. They would know if an account was compromise long before they had to figure it out due to a return dispute. In the early 2000's my ebay account was compromised, ebay knew it before I did and notified me on steps I needed to take to fix it.

What's to say after 'selling here' for 15 years, that a seller has decided to just F as many people as they can before they sail off into the sunset?

If someone has treated their customers with good service and a good product for all those years, what is the likelihood they are just going to "f" over as many people as they can. Good business people with longevity and a good standing in the community (yes ebay is a community) don't do that. If a seller was to do that, there would have been issues long before they made it to the 15 year mark.

Therefore, 'longevity', RIGHTFULLY so, means NOTHING!

Not just longevity. Longevity and an excellent record. You're correct, to ebay it does mean nothing.

If ebay feels we are "worthy" enough to bestow a "top rated seller" label on us sellers, then that label should actually mean something, which means giving us a little more freedom to deal with our own customers. Afterall, they are our customers, not Ebays. Ebay is just the venue buyers use to shop with us. Remember again, Ebay use to say that themselves, "we are just a venue", but that's not the case anymore.

mam98031 · ‎11-21-2023

@songwind_retro

If you didn't have this INAD worked out with the buyer BEFORE Ebay could be asked to step in, that may be what caused this to happen. You have to get it resolved within the time we are allotted and never allow the option to allow Ebay to step in.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

luckythewinner · ‎11-21-2023

@gb58 wrote:
Why rightly so? If a seller has been on the ebay site 10, 15, or 20 years or more and their accounts are in good standing with no issues to speak of in all that time, no ebay should not usually side with the buyer. When a seller has that much history, ebay should back off and allow the sellers to handle their own transactions as the seller sees fit.

So what would you propose as the cutoff point where a seller can start screwing buyers, and the Money Back Guarantee that eBay offers is no longer guaranteed?

gb58 · ‎11-21-2023

So what would you propose as the cutoff point where a seller can start screwing buyers, and the Money Back Guarantee that eBay offers is no longer guaranteed?

It's not a matter of allowing sellers to start "screwing" buyers. If you've been in business, 10 or 15 years, and many of us have been in business 40 or more years, long before ebay, you aren't going to just start "screwing" customers just because you've hit the 10 year or 15 year mark.

I'm also not saying there should be no oversite. I'm saying that if you have a good established business on ebay and are in good standing with no issues, ebay should give you the benefit of the doubt when you say, "this is not the item I sent this person". It should not just be an automated, "we've found in favor of the buyer" response.

Buyers are given the benefit of the doubt unconditionally. Even when it comes to non-paying bidders, how many passes do they get before ebay does something about it. We don't even know because ebay won't say.

An example of what I'm talking about. Seller A has a perfect record, ships out stuff on time, 100% feedback, never an issue, been on ebay 12 years. Buyer B been on ebay one month claims there is an issue with Seller A's item he received. This is the second IND item he has claimed in his first 4 weeks on the site. In a case such as that, the seller should be given the benefit of the doubt, or at least something more than an auomated "we've found in favor of the buyer".

We pay ebay enough money in fee's how about this, they take some of those profits and set up a fund where buyers in good standing for 10 years or more are given the benefit of the doubt twice a year, and any refunds ebay feels a buyer is entitled to, is paid from that fund.

They give non-paying bidders at least 3 passes, it's the least they can do for sellers with good records on the site, to give them 2 passes a year on returns.

songwind_retro · ‎11-21-2023

I wasn't aware that after you ask ebay to step in and help that they automatically do the return. Over all the years i've sold on ebay i've gotten very few returns and the returns I got back had all the items included, this was a rare case. Wish it had been made more clear that I needed to contact the buyer if there was an issue with the return. Will have to contact the buyer in the future if this happens again.