Why is their no option for "Buyer did not return item" to close a return? Why do we have to wait?

[bangordiscount]

I don't understand the return process.

I had a buyer open a fraudulent return claiming the item he bought was "fake". I assured him it wasn't and told him to return it for a refund if he was unhappy as I offer free returns for any reason (I provided him the serial numbers and let him know the same item would need to be returned).

He was provided a return label on January 15th and eBay gave him until February 8th (seriously, 3 weeks?!?) to send it back.

It's now February 11th and I see this screen in my return details:

The item should have already been delivered? And a green checkmark for "delivered"?

Obviously the tracking shows he never sent it back, and his account is now NARU (I'm assuming he was banned).

I called customer service yesterday because I was fed up that the 8th had passed (original date he had to send it back) and was told I had to wait until the 14th for the case to time out...

I'm worried though that the above screenshot shows that the item was delivered (even though tracking doesn't) and that I have until today to refund and that if I just wait for this to time out it might glitch and refund the buyer and give me a strike for not resolving the matter.

Regardless, why isn't their an option to escalate it for the reason "Buyer did not return the item". And why does the case suggest, let alone claim, that the item was delivered?

[calntom]

You might have talked to a REP that did not have access to close a case.  If it doesn't close out by the 15th, if it were me, I would present my case to an eBay Rep via direct messaging thru Twitter by messaging @AskeBay. The Reps on that team can get issues closed, etc.  If the account is NARU, I would expect they might do it in advance of the drop dead date. 

[d-k_treasures]

"Something" might have been delivered to your zip code to "someone", and that's the tracking # that they entered in.

I don't know if you can see the return tracking number, but I would try to get that. If they used their own, they could send a piece of paper with tracking to a store or restaurant in your area, enter that tracking # as the return tracking #, and ebay will consider it delivered to you.

[femmefan1946]

Avoid the subcontracted phone reps.

Use Twitter/ FaceBook / or Chat.

https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en



https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851

[bangordiscount]

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@calntom wrote:

You might have talked to a REP that did not have access to close a case.  If it doesn't close out by the 15th, if it were me, I would present my case to an eBay Rep via direct messaging thru Twitter by messaging @AskeBay. The Reps on that team can get issues closed, etc.  If the account is NARU, I would expect they might do it in advance of the drop dead date. 

---

Yes, I'm sure that was definitely the case. I also, at the same time, needed an INR dispute closed as the tracking confirmed delivery and the buyer stated via messaging and feedback they had received it (they just weren't able to figure out how to  close the INR case on their end) and the rep had to put me on hold so she could submit a request for someone else to review and close that particular dispute.

But in regards to this she told me I had to wait until the 14th for it to time out. I mean It's already been just about a month---I don't mind waiting but that screenshot concerns me... as well as the way this e-mail is worded (see below screenshot):

Only with eBay could you have something so contradictory:

"...[buyer] indicated that they posted their return. The item should now be delivered..."

and

"...If they item hasn't arrived yet, the buyer may not be returning it"

and my option are to contact the buyer (his account is now NARU so I can't, and I wouldn't regardless) or I can escalate to eBay (also a bad decision in my opinion because an alogrithm decides the outcome)

[bangordiscount]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

Avoid the subcontracted phone reps.

Use Twitter/ FaceBook / or Chat.

https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en



https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851

---

I hate using the facebook option for something like this that is pretty cut and dry. The buyer didn't return the item, the return label he was presented never got used (their isn't even an acceptance scan) and his account is NARU. This is a textbook example of when a return should be closed without any higher level decision makers.

[bangordiscount]

---

@d-k_treasures wrote:

"Something" might have been delivered to your zip code to "someone", and that's the tracking # that they entered in.

I don't know if you can see the return tracking number, but I would try to get that. If they used their own, they could send a piece of paper with tracking to a store or restaurant in your area, enter that tracking # as the return tracking #, and ebay will consider it delivered to you.

---

I am aware of that scam and I don't think that's the case in this situation. If you look at the screen shot in the original post the tracking information is there from the label they were provided and it only has the pre shipment info that is generated once a return is opened and approved. That is from January 15th and the tracking never got activated and his account has since gone NARU. If he used his own label it would have had to have been uploaded or added into the case details.

[calntom]

You certainly have an overall handle on this issue. Hopefully it will close on it's own Monday at some point. 

[babclassics]

@bangordiscount 

Agree this is distressing due to it being self conflicting, sure hope it closes out as it should. 

For some background: This appears to be another recent case of new over zealous automated bots churning out emails that are misleading to sellers.  My guess is that the green "delivered" circle is a poorly programmed returns bot that uses "estimated return delivery date" to show delivered.  Since the tracking number is available, obviously it should have used the "actual" delivery date as shown (never shipped), not estimated as in buyer opened the return label print screen is assumed to be shipped!  But a bot programmed to handle cases with no useable tracking number might just do math to say delivered and they did not bother to make it smarter.

There is another recent case of messages from eBay "collections" warning of account demerits because they "could not collect money owed".  But the facts were that no money was owned and the balance was zero and that in fact, they did not even try to collect.  It seems it was trying to see if sellers needed to pay  sooner and just poorly programmed again with bots not checking current amount due.  This one has caused quite a bit of distress on the boards.  eBay knows about it and there are open tickets to fix it but still happening in the last 24 hours to more sellers.

I would bet we will be hearing more about this new return delivered poorly worded message as well.  it is not easy to get eBay to create a case and get this fixed.  If you fully document it and send it to eBay US team members via private message in Facebook or Twitter they will likely create a case ticket  for it if you have the time to follow up on it. 

Let us know how it turns out.

[katzrul15]

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@bangordiscount wrote:

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

Avoid the subcontracted phone reps.

Use Twitter/ FaceBook / or Chat.

https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en



https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851

---

I hate using the facebook option for something like this that is pretty cut and dry. The buyer didn't return the item, the return label he was presented never got used (their isn't even an acceptance scan) and his account is NARU. This is a textbook example of when a return should be closed without any higher level decision makers.

---

Even if you reach out on social media, they will not assist in closing it early.  Has to run its course.

[inhawaii]

Why is their no option for "Buyer did not return item" to close a return? Why do we have to wait?

Because buyers are given X amount of time to return the item.

Why should you be able to close a return before that time has elapsed?

After the time has elapsed the case will be closed in your favor. 

[bangordiscount]

---

@inhawaii wrote:

Why is their no option for "Buyer did not return item" to close a return? Why do we have to wait?

Because buyers are given X amount of time to return the item.

Why should you be able to close a return before that time has elapsed?

After the time has elapsed the case will be closed in your favor. 

---

Yes, the buyer was given until 2/8 to return the item.

I then (see screenshots in this thread) was both told in e-mail and in my seller dashboard that the buyer has "probably returned the item" and that it was "probably delivered" and that I needed to refund the buyer by 2/11 even though the tracking never was activated by USPS.

I was also told by a phone support CSR some arbitrary date that case "should time out" that was not any of the dates the buyer was given to return the item by, or that I was told I had to refund the buyer.

The problem is that eBay is not transparent on the amount of time it allows a return to stay open for. IMO, if the buyer has until "X" date to return the item, the item should be returned by "X" date or the case should be closed----and at the very least it should show in transit by "X" date with movement towards being delivered.

In instances like this where the buyer never used the return label (verified by lack of tracking) never uploaded his own tracking, got his account suspended (it's NARU) the case should be allowed to be  cloesd on the date provided with the return was opened (i.e buyer has until "X" to return item).

Tell me where in the user agreement it states something concrete like "Buyer has 21 days to return (but actually just ship the item) the item, then is given another 4 days to make sure that if he did return the item (we actually just mean ship) on the last time it can still get to you, and then for good measure we'll add in another 1-2 days you have to wait.

[stainlessenginecovers]

The return window was extended sometime after Covid started and was because of Covid. Not that it won't stay that way; but that is how it happened. You will find it by scrolling through all 'announcements' and is it probably NOT in the policy- so you won't get what you want.

If a buyer doesn't ship, it will close 1-2 weeks later all on its own. You don't need to contact anyone. They also announced that they will NOT close it earlier than 'when it closes'; so again- best to just stop trying to get them to close it when they cannot and will not because someone asks. 

[bangordiscount]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

The return window was extended sometime after Covid started and was because of Covid. Not that it won't stay that way; but that is how it happened. You will find it by scrolling through all 'announcements' and is it probably NOT in the policy- so you won't get what you want.

If a buyer doesn't ship, it will close 1-2 weeks later all on its own. You don't need to contact anyone. They also announced that they will NOT close it earlier than 'when it closes'; so again- best to just stop trying to get them to close it when they cannot and will not because someone asks. 

---

That's great.. but do you understand how that sounds? LOL

"...it will close in 1-2 weeks"

Which is it? 1 week? 2 weeks? 1.5 weeks?

And "1-2 (or maybe 1.5?) weeks from what? The date the buyer "doesn't ship the item back"? How are we determining the date of "a period of time after the buyer doesn't ship the item back"?

And don't forget to add in that eBay will send e-mails telling the seller the buyer probably sent the item back and you should definitely refund because you (the seller) probably received the item back but if you didn't the buyer may not be sending it back and you can contact him to see if he did.

What I'm trying to say is that at this point, when 2-3 (in my case four) weeks have passed since the buyer opened the return, if the tracking hasn't updated, eBay should STOP sending e-mails telling me "I should have received the return by now" or "you should refund by "X-Date" because the buyer probably sent it" and instead just give me two options of "I received the return---refund the buyer" or "I did not received the return (verified by lack of tracking) close the case" instead of the garbage daily e-mails eBay sends that include an incorrect graphic that marks the package as in the "Delivered" stage back to me when that clearly isn't the case.

[wrong66]

I agree. It's a terrible system.