Seller Hub, Managed Payments, Free Returns, Free Shipping, Seller since 1997 and now this!

[ranger6230]

I have been selling on ebay since 1997 and have adapted to each change on seller hub, managed payments, 1 day handling, free returns, free shipping and now ebay has allowed a buyer to return a used nightgown, without tags, and a brand I have never purchased nor sold. The buyer sent a picture prior to using my paid for label and I immediately let her know that was not mine. She would not respond. Called customer service and let them know and they said just to wait for return. Sure enough I got back her used nightie. Contacted customer service and they said to file claim-which I did. Now they have closed it siding with the buyer:

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 $32.00 was issued on Sep 1, 2020 to the buyer. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping.

The refund amount will be recovered from you by eBay.

It is not the money but the principal.  It appears as long as a buyer provides a return tracking number showing

delivered sellers are out of luck.  I have been blessed this is a first and hopefully last but do not have a good feeling about dealing with customer service or investing a lot in new inventory.

[donsdetour]

"It is not the money but the principal. It appears as long as a buyer provides a return tracking number showing

delivered sellers are out of luck."

That is it:  The eBay buyer guarantee out weigh the seller protection all the time..

[ittybitnot]

 It appears as long as a buyer provides a return tracking number showing

delivered sellers are out of luck. 

Yes, all they have to do is choose a "not as described" reason for a return, and they can return anything they like with the label you will pay for.  That is how it works now.  At least your buyer sent 'something' back.  An empty parcel would have provided the same results. 

[c.b.]

at the last ebay meeting i attended, ebay said they were dealing with this issue and were going to swing the pendulum back toward the seller to better protect sellers.  you should contact people in the ebay seller group and see if they have any suggestions or if there are solutions that the auto system or the reps did not follow.

[fern*wood]

Hopefully you won't have another for a long time, but most of us have had faulty returns from time to time.  You are very lucky to have had little exposure even though you are a big volume seller.   It is just hopeless to try to fight a not as described return.  Keep in mind, though, the ability to refund only 50% on faulty returns is available to TRS or sellers that offer free returns.  That is about the best you can do in these situations.

[ranger6230]

The 50% refund button can only be used if you do not ask ebay to step in. When you lose like I did, the button disappears they take the money immediately and give back to the buyer. I have appealed so ebay assigned a case number  with  info on filing a Police report.

Now I need to take time to go to the station and wait for an officer to take the info and send to ebay.  They are making it as hard as possible on the sellers, yet the scammer keeps the item and gets paid. What is wrong with this picture?

Will let you all know the final outcome.

[csbbct]

I would recommend though that you DO file an appeal with eBay.  It will put another set of eyes on this.  It is not just for the sake of receiving the piddly $6 credit for the return shipping you had to pay, or even for the sake of your service metrics, but most importantly it will put a record of this behavior on that buyer's account.  I read somewhere that if buyers receive multiple complaints of this kind of activity their MBG's are gone!  These kind of criminal buyers need to be stopped!

[gracieallen01]

I believe that ebay considers receiving and/or accepting 'faulty returns' to merely be a cost of doing business online.

[whatmorefabric]

On another site,  I received back a return of 1  yard of fabric,  from the 3 yards that  I sent,   but I had to return the money for 3 yards.

Another site,   unless you have signature confirmation,   a buyer can claim that the item was not received.     I still had to refund and refund every item that is claimed as not received because I do not use Signature Confirmation,  even though the item shows delivered.

It is part of the cost of doing business and part of the changing e commerce business.   Ebay is no different than any other selling site.

Figure out the losses and add them to the price of your item.

Pay for returns,   you will anyway,  and than you can at least have deducted 50% of the item.

[myboardid]

From post from other sellers who have been in similar situations, buyers who only get 50% back from their sellers can go to Paypal (if they paid that way) and get the other half of their money back. 

[fern*wood]

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@myboardid wrote:

From post from other sellers who have been in similar situations, buyers who only get 50% back from their sellers can go to Paypal (if they paid that way) and get the other half of their money back. 

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I believe ebay covers the other part.  I still appreciate not having to suffer the whole loss myself.

[ranger6230]

We accept returns for ANY reason and have had  many nonsense returns but do just block and write off. This is our first with an item used, tagless and a brand we do not carry. I sent repeated messages which were ignored.

Ebay customer service and seller protection were worthless.

I spent over an hour at the Sheriff's Fraud Department (Not handled by Police-another wasted trip) so hopefully this is a lesson other sellers don't have to repeat. 50% would have been much easier and less time consuming.

He gave me a case number but stated it could be 2 weeks with the holiday weekend. Said this happens a lot on ebay.  Will update-on hold with ebay as they only gave me 11 days and 2 are already gone.

[corvettestainless]

They can even call ebay and get the other 50% back from ebay. Twice I've used the 50% thing (for what I received now had to go in garbage (not re-sellable), and both times customer 'opened a case' and ebay paid them (out of their pocket, but I'm sure it still effects me)

[robla3575]

i recently had a customer buy a very exspensive pack of cards then said item not as described and then shipped to an adress that didnt exist and when it finally said delivered back to his owen adress they refunded the buyer this is ridiculous ebay is one step away from losing all sellers i have been selling on ebay for long long time and as a seller we just have no protection you have to pray that the buyer is trustworthy 

[robla3575]

they said that just to appease you for the moment nothing is going to change ebay is just a joke now and thats why they are losing in the space of online sales i have even started selling on mercari for less fees and you dont have to compete prices