eBay reps that I have called over and over again claim to understand what happened. Then today, eBay refunds buyer from my PayPal account.
I have no doubt the eBay rep understood exactly what happened. But eBay reps do what they are paid to do, not what eBay users want them to do. eBay reps are not advocates for you, they are employees of them.
Sounds to me like eBay enables this kind of behavior for buyers and offers no assistance to those that find eBay through fees and such.
eBay has no way to tell who is telling the truth. If any seller could claim "empty box" to avoid refunding for a return, then unscrupulous sellers would be scamming buyers instead of buyers scamming seller.
In eBay's eyes, the only difference between the two is whether the scam discourages buyers or whether it discourages sellers. And eBay has clearly indicated over the past decade that it values buyers over sellers.
Beyond disappointed.
On eBay, any buyer can steal any item from any seller by filing a fraudulent dispute. It has been this way since 2008. Now that you have been made aware, you need to decide for yourseslf whether that risk is acceptable or not.
