Return never arrived

[mynewfindstore]

I have a return that did not get shipped back before the deadline of June 18.  On that day, I received an eBay message to refund the buyer!  It would usually close automatically but this one did not.  I contacted customer service THREE times and they said they would close it.....it is still open!  The only option now is to refund.  The tracking shows no movement.  Where can I get real help on this?  It says to respond to the return buy June 24....then what?  I get a defect and money taken from me with no item back??  eBay for Business on Facebook is not there anymore and I can't find where they moved to....was going to go wherever they went.  Very frustrated!

[funfactorychannel]

if they said they will close it, then say great ill wait here on the line for you 😄

[femmefan1946]

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.


https://www.facebook.com/ebay— Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/


https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
 

[mynewfindstore]

It was my understanding that eBay on Facebook is gone now or moved somewhere but I cannot find it.  The second way you describe is what I did THREE times but I did not do the chat....I asked them to call me.  Maybe I will try the chat option.  Thanks!

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

This is an issue that catches sellers off guard sometimes.  And you likely will not like my answer.

Let's start with when you ship an item.  You are the shipper on the shipping label and therefore you are responsible for the package until it gets delivered.  So if it is damaged in transit the seller is held responsible.  Of course if you have insurance on the package, you can make a claim against the carrier.

Same with returns.  When a seller issues a return label to a buyer so they can return the item, the seller is the shipper on that label.  That means you are responsible for that package too like you are in the original shipment to your buyer.

So if your buyer shipped the item back to you and it is just now stuck or lost during transit, it is your responsibility and the buyer should still receive a refund.  I know that isn't what you want to hear, but it is how it works.  That is likely why a Customer Service rep did not close the claim as they learned after talking to you that they could not.

Don't allow this to have Ebay step on on the claim and that will happen if you don't take care of this in the next day or so.  If Ebay steps in, you will be forced to refund, get a Defect on your Dashboard and will not get your FVFs refunded.   So it isn't worth it to try and fight it as you will be the only one that gets hurt.

Now to your product.  You can likely get that moving back to you.  What carrier did you use?  Was is USPS?  If so, call up the tracking on their website www.usps.com .  When you are on the page, there is an option to sign up for email updates every time an entry is made on the tracking.  Sign up for that so you get notification if the package starts moving.

Now go to the link below and file for a TRACE.  Doing this often gets the package moving within about 48-72 hours.

https://usps.my.site.com/emailus/s/package-inquiry

There is still good reason to believe you will get your product back if you follow the instructions above if you shipped via USPS.

Good Luck!

[mam98031]

Ebay merged there two Facebook accounts.  Below are all the ways you can contact Customer Service and the Facebook link is updated.

FYI, see my other post.  Contacting Customer Service will not help the OP at all.  What they were told was incorrect information.

********************************

On each Ebay page there is a link to contact Customer Service at the top of the page and again at the bottom of the page.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/ebay

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[pjcdn2005]

If they haven't shipped back the item and there is no proof that it is on its way the return will eventually close. 

[12345jamesstamps]

"tracking shows no movement"...but it has tracking...if it has tracking it is being returned.

I would refund to play it safe before June 24th...shipping can be slow.

If funds are on hold...for this item...I would refund.

If the 30 days of receiving the item has expired for the buyer doing a refund then that's another story.

"customer service"...It's more like a shoulder to cry on than anything else.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Once 'tracking' shows that they buyer SHIPPED it back; it's ALL on you, the seller- whether it makes it to you or not does NOT matter. Once ebay's system determines "it's time" you have to refund as the buyer did what they are supposed to do. 

This is the REAL, TRUE answer and is EXACTLY what happens (I've had it happen a couple times). 

[buyselljack2016]

So is it "no movement" or is it that it "never got an acceptance scan"?

That matters.

[gurlcat]

Can you clarify what you mean by "tracking shows no movement"?  Like no movement at all, or no recent movement?  Huge difference, and key to your situation.
If it shows that they printed the label but that's all .... then I think this should close in your favor because I've had plenty of those, where the buyer did print the label but then apparently procrastinated actually going to the post office, and my funds on hold got dispersed to me.    
If it has an "Accepted" scan then it IS in the carrier's hands and on it's way back to you, even if it hasn't shown recent movement.  In that case then Mam is right.  

[asset_liquidators]

The ebay reps on facebook have become as bad as the overseas phone reps. I had a return that was in transit (it was not late and it was moving through the system) and I got e message from ebay saying it was delivered and to refund the buyer. I contacted them on FB and asked why I am being told that it was delivered when the tracking CLEARLY showed it was still in transit. The rep looked and said, "yep it is still in transit and moving throught the system. I will put the case on hold to allow more time for delivery". (even though it hadn't even come close to being late). Well the next day it arrived, I went to refund the buyer and I could NOT refund. Ebay had removed that option. A short time later ebay refunded the buyer and I got a defect for case closed without seller resolution! When I had NO intention of not refunding.

The ebay reps on FB used to be competent, not anymore. The last few times I have contacted them they have been worthless.

[gurlcat]

Yeah they are not anywhere as awesome as they were just a couple years ago.  Too many people know about them now, and they're probably having to field every rookie question when they should be a last resort only. But that ^ story is the worst I've heard yet. 

Let me ask you something -I know you said the package wasn't moving slowly but what was the timeline on the buyer's end.  Like did they wait until near the end of their 30 day return window to file the return, and/or wait until the end of their 15-day window to get an acceptance scan on the return label?  I'm just trying to figure out what could have caused Bonkers Issue #1 (the false message from eBay).  

[ebooksdiva]

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@mynewfindstore wrote:

I have a return that did not get shipped back before the deadline of June 18.  On that day, I received an eBay message to refund the buyer!  It would usually close automatically but this one did not.  I contacted customer service THREE times and they said they would close it.....it is still open!  The only option now is to refund.  The tracking shows no movement.  Where can I get real help on this?  It says to respond to the return buy June 24....then what?  I get a defect and money taken from me with no item back??  eBay for Business on Facebook is not there anymore and I can't find where they moved to....was going to go wherever they went.  Very frustrated!

---

If the buyer opened a return and failed to ship on time what will  happen is  this ..the return will close, it may take about 21 days. When it closes it will say for inactivity. You shouldn't get a defect because eBay hasn't been asked to step in. You don't need to do anything but wait for the return to close on its own.  

[onlinecentral]

If a return label has NO scans in 19 days, eBay will close the case in the seller's favor.

If a return label has ANY scan within the 19 days, the seller should refund before the deadline eBay places on them.