Why does eBay have 30 day money back guarantee for electronics, feels like it screws sellers?

[levakurdian-0]

I understand the need for buyer protection, but in my opinion, the 30-day money back guarantee and the 180-day paypal thing are just a pure scam to sellers on this platform. Especially for electronics, like let's be completely honest here, the buyer has 30-180 days to break the item and request a refund, and the seller has to comply, now the seller is out of an item and out of the money. 

My main issue is the PC market on eBay, it's so easy to buy a PC, take out the GPU, say it came with no GPU, get your money back, and have a free GPU...

With certain items, like a watch winder I sold, the item shipped to an eBay facility first, from where they shipped it to the buyer, after (I assume) conducting an inspection on the item. They released the funds to me immediately, before it arrived to the buyer.

Why is this not a thing for at least all items over say 100 or 200$ or even 500$? EBay can verify an item is as advertised, release funds to sellers, and ship it to the buyer. I understand the number of items sold on eBay but come on, this multi-billion $ company can figure out a way to make it safe for sellers too, I'm sure.

At least make it so the seller submits images and videos of an item before they ship it out so that if the buyer requests a refund for it, they have to send the item back to the seller, exactly as it was in those images and videos. If the item is missing a part (like my GPU in a PC example), or broken, then the refund gets voided and the seller gets to keep their money, with the buyer keeping the item they broke or took apart... (I get that items get broken during shipping, but that's what shipping insurance is for :))

Anyways, enough with my rant, I would love to hear some thoughts on why eBay continues to let sellers get shpoinked in the behind... seems like if someone had the startup capital to make a better eBay with lower fees and better seller/buyer protection, it would take OFFFFF!

[levakurdian-0]

Actually an additional point: Why in the flying d-uck, is there a no-refund option for sellers to put on an item, when the buyer has refund protection regardless of what you put on there?? Feels like just a courtesy, obviously if the buyer is happy with their item they won't refund it anyways... but if they are unhappy, the seller is forced to refund them REGARDLESS... so why have it in the first place lol?

[wastingtime101]

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@levakurdian-0 wrote:

the 30-day money back guarantee and the 180-day paypal thing

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PayPal is 30 days for not as described and 180 days for non-receipt.

As of May 20th:

In addition to meeting all other eligibility requirements for PayPal’s Purchase Protection Program, disputes asserting Significantly Not as Described claims must be opened by the buyer in the Resolution Center within 30 days of the delivery or fulfillment of an order or within 180 days of the date a payment was sent by the buyer to the seller, whichever is sooner. The timeframes for opening other disputes asserting other claim types (including Item Not Received, Unauthorized Transactions, or other errors) are not changing at this time.

[rosachs]

Back in the late 90's, when I was figuring out if this online selling thing was really going to be a thing, I did a bit of research.  I like to know as much as I can about things I'm getting into, especially if money is concerned.

What I found was a Federal regulation going back to the good old days of the emerging catalog sales market.  Seems there were a few snake oil salesman who got tired of roaming from town to town and decided to just mail everything.  Less travel, same money - what's not to love?

Consumers complained, LOUDLY, that they were receiving damaged goods or goods they did not purchase or that were not as shown in the catalog.  So lo-and-behold, the functioning Congress of the day put the onus on the seller.  If you ship and the customer is not happy, for whatever reason, the seller must make it right or they could face Federal penalties.  And this has been the law of the land for quite some time.

Being that eBay has far more money than any of it's individual sellers, it has a lot more to lose in this situation, as lawyers tend to go for the deep pockets first.  So, to keep sellers out of trouble and buyers out of eBay pockets, the policies we see today are simply eBay's way to ensure we all follow the law of the land.,

The 180 day thing is similar - consumers complaining about credit card abuses, so the 180 day rule was put in place.  Again, venues that process those credit cards are required to follow those rules, or Uncle Sam is going to be putting his hands way down in their pockets.  And then go your yours as well.

Venues don't accept things like videos of packing and shipping because they are simply too easy to fake or create after-the-fact to support any position/claim the buyer or seller is making.  Ever set the clock back on your pc or phone to get a different date/time stamp on something?  And faking emails is just as easy.

The rules, in this case anyway, are not written to eBay's advantage... they are written at the Federal level to the consumer's advantage.  And the rules were written to stop a few bad apples from rotting the who mail-order/eCommerce marketplace.

Who would shop online if they had no consumer protections?  You'd pay your money and pray that a) the purchase actually arrives, b) it's reasonably close to what you were shown, and c) it doesn't break too quickly.  Who would shop online if you could scribble on a cardboard box, call it a PS5, and then ship it to someone with no fear of repercussions?

-Bob.

[redmodelt]

All buyers have 30 days to break something or claim not as described, does not matter what the item is. Electronics is no different than anything else.