eBay let buyer return an item and it was sent to a wrong address and it was lost!

[roy8765]

Around a month ago, I sold a used laptop on eBay, clearly mentioning in the item description that the battery was not good and it could hold only about half an hour of charge (to the best of my knowlege) and that returns were not accepted.  The buyer claimed that the battery was bad and requested a return which I declined.  However, eBay let the buyer return it and they even provided a return address to him which was 11 years old without asking me first and the laptop was sent to a wrong address.  I never received the laptop and for all practical purposes, the ~$250 laptop is lost!  I appealed eBay's decision multiple times and they always rejected my appeal and forced me to fully refund the buyer plus shipping.  Eventually I asked for their legal department and I'm considering suing eBay in a small claims court.  What are my options and chances of success here?  Any advice from the community and the sellers who have been in this situation?

This is a pretty clear mess up on eBay's part....  They turned a long time customer into an active enemy!  Any lawyers who would like to take this case on my behalf?

[goodluckselling]

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@mycarolinavintage wrote:

Fortunately it has not affected me but going by the many posts on that very topic, apparently 

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@readabouthorses wrote:

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@jason_incognito wrote:

the listing description is in many ways the equivilant of fine print. 

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Which is why, on every Item Condition section eBay tells you to read the listing description.

Personally I think both buyer and seller are at fault here. There were too many mistakes made by both of them.

Has the Money Back Guarantee made buyers so lazy that they feel they don't even need to read the listing descriptions anymore?

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Going by the many posts here on that very topic, apparently the best of the best listing description is not going to matter when a buyer whines about something. It seems the seller has no out. I can not imagine why ebay would allow it. I just don't get it. 

............................................................

energy flows where attention goes

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Anyone who thinks a dead battery in a laptop is okay IMO is promoting a bad experience to a buyer. 

It the item is worth selling, it is worth investing in a generic low cost new battery and creating a very good buying experience.

The seller had many outs but they either did not think about them or did not really care how it ends, which appears to be the later in this case.

I do not even think the OP is all that upset about the return request.  If the laptop would have made it to the seller I do not think they would be so upset.

At first in this thread they were upset that eBay allowed the return, but I think they now understand how a simply slip up can create this.  eBay is just following the path before them.  Since there is an issue on both ends the only logical thing eBay can do is to force the return and refund so both parties can start over.

The OP should be glad eBay did not just refund the buyer without a return although the return did not end well (sellers fault),  it at least saved them from an unresolved by seller defect.

eBay completes more than 1 Billions transactions daily worldwide.  It is a highly automated system.  They can not go into and research every issues deep into the sellers policies to ask and see if everything is up to date.  The fact that the OP has said they have sold a dozen years without any issues should be enough for all parties to assume everything is fine and forward the return as normal.

This is such a  silly notion that the OP can not even admit or take any responsibilty for 

• not up to date info
• refusing a return on a SNAD return request
• Not understanding the condition definition
• Not even knowing about the seller updates that talks about the very process of automated returns
• assuming selling a laptop with a dead battery was somehow going to be a great buying experience

The exact same laptop is for sale right now on eBay -   click here

• for parts = 35.00
• used condition from 75.00 to 250.00

The OP also is misquoting the selling price of the item which also lends itself to uncertainty about what they are saying here in this thread.

The entire thread and transaction is a complete mess. 

Good Luck Selling!

[roy8765]

And you don’t understand that this defect was clearly mentioned in the item description and that is the main point here.

Also you don’t understand that I never posted the exact sales price here. Only the approximate expenses.

Also you don’t understand that 1 billion transactions per day doesn’t mean that this one was handled properly.

[goodluckselling]

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@roy8765 wrote:
And you don’t understand that this defect was clearly mentioned in the item description and that is the main point here.  Yes I do understand you mentioned it and I gave you credit for doing so.  but you let eBay make a decision on your behalf which allows them to research all the finding and they found errors from both parties.  They did the best thing for both parties.

Also you don’t understand that I never posted the exact sales price here. Only the approximate expenses.  okay.  So now we know you would rather use estimates versus real numbers.

Also you don’t understand that 1 billion transactions per day doesn’t mean that this one was handled properly.  If you would just read the links we have given you, it would be very easy for you to understand what happened, why it happened and how to rpevent it from hapenning again.

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Have you even gone in and changed your info to be current?  If you have then that is the start to admitting you made mistakes. 

• We get it that you described the battery correctly, the buyer did not buy just a battery though
• We get it that buyers should read everything before they buy, so should you as a seller have read how to list a condition for a used item
• We get it that you feel you should not have to accept the return, but the marketplace policies allow for returns on not as described transaction.  You should know this stuff if you plan to be successful.
• We get it you would like a change to the way eBay handles returns, okay so make this point your mission and start to accept you did not perform very well in this transaction.

You have many more issues in this transaction than the buyer did.

What you do not get is that this is a marketplace with well defined policies that you and I both agreed to.  When an event like this happens to me, I figure out where I went wrong and make a plan to limit it in the future.

Good Luck Selling!

[tiramisu41]

OP, I'm sorry, but other than the cathartic value, I don't understand what you think you will accomplish by continuing to rail on for days about your problem.  Yes, it's unfortunate that you had a bad experience but no one here works for eBay; they have no responsibility for changing policy so continuing to cross swords with other sellers who took time to try and help you is a zero sum game.

You'd be better served doing an honest assessment of what caused your problem including identifying the steps you need to take in the future to prevent similar issues.  Or,  not to sound harsh, but if you aren't willing to do so because you object to how eBay runs its business, you have another choice which is to vote with your feet.

[missjen831]

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@lewisburggold wrote:

You must not read hear very much.  

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@lewisburggold  I “read hear” more than you.. You posted bad information. Selling with a no return policy has NEVER meant the buyer gets a refund and the item back. 

[roy8765]

As the accepted answer has indicated, according to eBay’s own policy, buyers are responsible for reading the item description. In this particular case, the buyer should not have been allowed to return the item and get a refund. This case was clearly mishandled and I’m looking into legal channels to recover my damages and also help other “real and independent” sellers in similar situations. I’m afraid eBay has messed with the wrong guy this time around.

[itsjustasprain]

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@roy8765 wrote:
This case was clearly mishandled and I’m looking into legal channels to recover my damages and also help other “real and independent” sellers in similar situations. I’m afraid eBay has messed with the wrong guy this time around.

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What exactly are your 'damages' beyond messing up and forgetting to update your return address? That was what you were all upset about at first. It was only later that you started arguing about the battery. If you had gotten your laptop back then we know you would not have spent all this time complaining about the battery.

Go talk to an attorney NOW and he will explain things to you. Dont waste more time arguing here becuase that will have no affect on your problem and will not get your laptop back. You can come back here AFTER you have talked to your attorney and update us on what you have done. 

You are not the only one who gets all honked off about Ebay and says he will pursue legal action. The action never happens and we never hear from them once they realize that a legal action will cost a ton of money and probably not succeed anyway. If you tell us what you have DONE and not what you are going to do real soon now then we will be interested to follow your case.

[buyselljack2016]

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@roy8765 wrote:
As the accepted answer has indicated, according to eBay’s own policy, buyers are responsible for reading the item description. In this particular case, the buyer should not have been allowed to return the item and get a refund. This case was clearly mishandled and I’m looking into legal channels to recover my damages and also help other “real and independent” sellers in similar situations. I’m afraid eBay has messed with the wrong guy this time around.

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Hopefully your legal services are free.

If your legal services representative(s) has any experience/sense/honesty they should immediately let you know that you are whizzing in the wind.

Request from USPS that they go recover the item that they delivered to the wrong person(s).

[goodluckselling]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

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@roy8765 wrote:
As the accepted answer has indicated, according to eBay’s own policy, buyers are responsible for reading the item description. In this particular case, the buyer should not have been allowed to return the item and get a refund. This case was clearly mishandled and I’m looking into legal channels to recover my damages and also help other “real and independent” sellers in similar situations. I’m afraid eBay has messed with the wrong guy this time around.

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Hopefully your legal services are free.

If your legal services representative(s) has any experience/sense/honesty they should immediately let you know that you are whizzing in the wind.

Request from USPS that they go recover the item that they delivered to the wrong person(s).

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The USPS did not deliver it to the wrong person?   They delivered it as it was addressed.

Good Luck Selling!

[castlemagicmemories]

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@lewisburggold wrote:

You must not read hear very much.  

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Sorry, @lewisburggold, you may not know this since you are relatively new to the Boards, but @missjen831, formerly missjen316,  has been on the Boards for decades and is a highly respected, extremely knowledgeable, and very valuable Board regular.  I've often called her a legend.

[lewisburggold]

Thats great .  Most that fight returns are losing the money and item.  have been watching it happen for months.  Defending that is wrong.

[missjen831]

Mmmmm. No. You are mistaken. All I did was calmly point out that misinformation was given. I’m not the one who said “you must not read hear much”. 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@lewisburggold wrote:

Thats great but shes is bieng a bully.  Most that fight returns are losing the money and item.  have been watching it happen for months.  Defending that is wrong.

Sorry, @lewisburggold, I have no problem with you.  I was originally defending your statement that @missjen831 didn't read here very much.  

However, I don't know what you are watching, but it is not a given that you lose the money and item in that situation.   

And the first thing a lawyer asks is not going to be if you filed a police report.  It will be if you know Ebay policy and understand the MBG~they will ask for the facts of the case and check them against policy~if you don't know policy, they will enlighten you.  They are not going to proceed without knowing that, and when they check the facts with the policies...

[goodluckselling]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@lewisburggold wrote:

You must not read hear very much.  

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Sorry, @lewisburggold, you may not know this since you are relatively new to the Boards, but @missjen831, formerly missjen316,  has been on the Boards for decades and is a highly respected, extremely knowledgeable, and very valuable Board regular.  I've often called her a legend.

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I agree and the issue the two of you were debating @missjen831 had the correct info and your reply was speculation that you heard here in the forum but has no creditability since it is just opinion based without any facts from anyone.

It is easy to start believing what we see here over and over but in this instance there are no facts to support your claim.

Good Luck Selling!

[castlemagicmemories]

Thank you, @goodluckselling!