eBay refunded customer too early on not as described case

[micahtuyls]

Customer contacted me and asked me to discount item due to one not working correctly. I responded that it clearly said in the ad that one did not work. The buyer immediately asked for a refund in which I have my account automatically set up to accept within 15 days of sale. After the buyer receive my acceptance he immediately esscolated the case to EBay. This is were it gets interesting. eBay sends me an email stating buyer has opened a case and "will review and get back with me  within 48 hours."  2 miniutes later EBay sends me another email and tells me I have 5 days to arrange and pay for return shipping. Then, 3 miniutes later I get an Email from EBay stating the case"has been put on hold and will get back to you with An update with 5 days. No addition action is needed from you at this time". Then on the 5th day I receive another email stating that they refunded the buyer. 

I am so confused. I get the part of the dishonest buyer wanting me to give him a discount when I say no,  then trying to force me to give him the discount or pay for shipping back (would be about the same $). However, what I don't understand is what EBay did. I followed everything they emailed me. I even paid the buyer for return shipping (it was on the 5th day) and sent eBay a screenshot of payment just like they asked. The email from eBay gave me 5 days to work it out, why would they refund on the 5th day. Their email clearly states I have 5 days. Why would they put a case on hold and tell me not to do anything just so they can refund the buyer before their deadline? I appealed and EBay stated I did not provide for return shipping within 5 days.( their email clearly states I had until 8/28 and I provided return shipping label 8/27) (Another email clearly stated to do nothing) Anyone have any idea what went wrong? 

[autopartspuller]

@Anonymous

alan@ebay

I think someone needs to look at this for him.  It seems like a possible glitch?

[postingmadly]

@micahtuyls

What time zone are you in? Was it Aug. 28 eBay time? (Pacific Standard Time)

[postingmadly]

I recently had a case with a seller who never shipped the item nor uploaded a tracking number.

The date changed at least twice on the case.   First it was Aug. 24, then it changed to Aug. 25, then it changed back to Aug. 24.

eBay closed it automatically because the seller had not uploaded a tracking number. 

Buyers are not told that eBay will automatically close a case when they open an "Item Not Received" case; I would have preferred to have given my seller more time to ship. I paid by PayPal so both the seller and I could have used the extra time. 

[mam98031]

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@postingmadly wrote:

I recently had a case with a seller who never shipped the item nor uploaded a tracking number.

The date changed at least twice on the case.   First it was Aug. 24, then it changed to Aug. 25, then it changed back to Aug. 24.

eBay closed it automatically because the seller had not uploaded a tracking number. 

Buyers are not told that eBay will automatically close a case when they open an "Item Not Received" case; I would have preferred to have given my seller more time to ship. I paid by PayPal so both the seller and I could have used the extra time. 

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You always have the option to email your seller and ask a question.  You do not have to open a Request or Claim to do that, unless your seller in non responsive to your emails.  But if you email your seller and ask where your item is, you can take all the time you desire without having Ebay involved.

[postingmadly]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@postingmadly wrote:

I recently had a case with a seller who never shipped the item nor uploaded a tracking number.

The date changed at least twice on the case.   First it was Aug. 24, then it changed to Aug. 25, then it changed back to Aug. 24.

eBay closed it automatically because the seller had not uploaded a tracking number. 

Buyers are not told that eBay will automatically close a case when they open an "Item Not Received" case; I would have preferred to have given my seller more time to ship. I paid by PayPal so both the seller and I could have used the extra time. 

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You always have the option to email your seller and ask a question.  You do not have to open a Request or Claim to do that, unless your seller in non responsive to your emails.  But if you email your seller and ask where your item is, you can take all the time you desire without having Ebay involved.

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@mam98031 Yes, the seller was nonresponsive. By the way, there is no longer an option to contact a seller directly through email. In fact, even if you ask eBay to exchange contact information, they will not provide buyers with the seller's email.  So if the seller does not want to respond, there is no way to get ahold of him/her.

I contacted him through eBay Messages a couple of times, requested his contact info through eBay and called him; no response from seller.  Seller did not respond until after the INR was opened, then said (via eBay Messages) he had gone on vacation. 

But now, given what I have learned -- and since I really wanted that item! -- in that type of scenario, I would have waited longer before opening the case -- and possibly not opened an eBay case at all, since I had PayPal as a backup. 

Anyway, I got a bit sidetracked 🙂 but the point I was trying to make was that I did have the date change on my case a couple of times for no apparent reason.  I wonder if something similar happened in the OP's case.

[micahtuyls]

Thanks I thought of the same thing but I am on Florida time from which I understand is 3 hours ahead of EBay time (California). I completed my transaction with PayPal well before the midnight deadline  but the case was closed at 5:58 pm on 8/27. I also thought that they may have given me a 5 day deadline of 5:30 on Tuesday to 5:30 on Sunday. But, their email (see attached) clearly states 8/28. 

[micahtuyls]

eBay should not be allowed to arbitrarily change dates or close cases early. What gets me upset is when I brought the dates to their attention they basically said "we stick to our original decision" with no ther explanation. 

[*eponymous*]

Any reason why you didn't send the shipping money sooner? Not excusing what happened, just wondering.

Their last message said they would update the case "by" August 27 (not "until"), which means they would update the case on or before August 26th.

If this was an international sale...asking because you had to send label money...is the time of the decision based on the buyer's time zone?

[autopartspuller]

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@*eponymous* wrote:

Any reason why you didn't send the shipping money sooner? Not excusing what happened, just wondering.

Their last message said they would update the case "by" August 27 (not "until"), which means they would update the case on or before August 26th.

If this was an international sale...asking because you had to send label money...is the time of the decision based on the buyer's time zone?

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Within a minute of each other ebay says ,"send a label" and then says they have put the case on hold for review to wait for a decision.  Personally, I would have called Ebay to find out what the heck was going on but, I dont think they should have refunded.  Specially since the OP said they uploaded a return label.  My gut says glitch but, maybe I am missing something.

[micahtuyls]

I waited till the 27th due to weather emergencies in our area (floods). It was the first chance I had to get on the computer. I thought Ebay was "reviewing the case and giving me an update" by 8/27 (never recieved an update); not a final decision. Ebay also told me that I didn't need to do anything. Both making me think I was covered and doing the right thing.

The buyer is in the same time zone as I am and its a domestic sale. Now since the buyer has my product and return shipping money, I am hoping he does the right thing and returns the product..... Also thought I would see if paypal could do anyhting for me (doubtfull).

Maybe a call to ebay is the way to go. It seems that all my emails seem to get "canned responses"

[Anonymous]

Hi all - When we place a case on hold to allow a seller time to arrange return shipping, it's set to be on hold 5-days from when we take that action. What that means is that, if we put it on hold on 8/22, you would need to respond by 8/27 to prevent the case from closing. That said, I'm not sure why there are conflicting dates in the emails referenced above.The emails that are sent are automated by the system so it seems we may need to update something to prevent any confusion in the future but I'll be happy to review this case to see what happened exactly.

@micahtuyls - I'm not able to share account specific here so I'll be reaching out to the email address you have on file with your account as soon as I have more information.

[micahtuyls]

I spoke with Loraine at Ebay and she looked at the emails and was a little confused herself. She admited that Ebay put in the wrong date of 8/28 (should have been 8/27).  She also admitted that it looked like the emails were sent to me out of order due to the confusion of "nothing is required of you at this time".  She is currently putting in for a "mannual appeal". I'll let everyone know what happens.

This should have been caught in the original  appeals process. It makes me think that Ebay really does not look into cases. They just side with the buyer and uphold all decisions. I offered no additional information to Ebay and it just took one person to look at the emails to see there was an issue.

The 5-day rule is still a little confusing. Is it 5 full 24hr days? Is it 5 calendar days?  When they use terms such as "respond by 8/27; does it mean means before 8/27? (that would be 8/22 to 8/26 only 4 days)? Many of you brought up time zone differences, I wonder if that is a factor? Do Ebay and Paypal have different time zones?

How can something so simple become so complicated. When Ebay contacted me and said the "case" was on hold and to do nothing, I was hoping they were investigating the buyer for fraud (trying to get a little discount from each of his purchases). Little did I know it would end up taking hours of my time to do the right thing.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

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@micahtuyls wrote:

I spoke with Loraine at Ebay and she looked at the emails and was a little confused herself. She admited that Ebay put in the wrong date of 8/28 (should have been 8/27).  She also admitted that it looked like the emails were sent to me out of order due to the confusion of "nothing is required of you at this time".  She is currently putting in for a "mannual appeal". I'll let everyone know what happens.

This should have been caught in the original  appeals process. It makes me think that Ebay really does not look into cases. They just side with the buyer and uphold all decisions. I offered no additional information to Ebay and it just took one person to look at the emails to see there was an issue.

The 5-day rule is still a little confusing. Is it 5 full 24hr days? Is it 5 calendar days?  When they use terms such as "respond by 8/27; does it mean means before 8/27? (that would be 8/22 to 8/26 only 4 days)? Many of you brought up time zone differences, I wonder if that is a factor? Do Ebay and Paypal have different time zones?

How can something so simple become so complicated. When Ebay contacted me and said the "case" was on hold and to do nothing, I was hoping they were investigating the buyer for fraud (trying to get a little discount from each of his purchases). Little did I know it would end up taking hours of my time to do the right thing.

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Thanks for following up with me, @micahtuyls. It does sound like the emails were sent out of order and the wording in them added to the confusion. I'll check you call history and partner with Loraine to make improvements. We absolutely do look at these cases but it seems like the culprit is the automated emails in this situation. 

I've replied to your email so please review that and let me know if you have any additional questions. Thanks for posting about this and apologies again for any frustration.

[tarpedge]

The 5-day and 10-day holds end at the same time they were started.

In contrast, refund and return requests end at midnight.

All times are Pacific time; no time zones are involved.