eBay sided with a buyer from an item that THEY broke, now I have to pay out.

[campy-sr]

I sold a item that was new, in working condition. Apparently the buyer messaged me after he received it and asked me if "he could open it up to look inside" I told him, you bought it, you own it you won't need my permission.

Then he sends me photos of the item in pieces saying it broken and filed a claim saying it was broken, which of course eBay sided with. Seriously **bleep** is that? I called up eBay and spoke to someone who "seemed" to side with me and they will see what they can do. But so far the only thing I can do at this point is refuse to delivery of the return and have it sent back to him.

[luxe_beauty_4_less]

Your best bet is to go ahead and accept the return.  Refund, THEN appeal to eBay and see if you can get the return overturned.  If you let it go back to him, most likely he will get his money back AND your item.  Broken or not, if he has his money, he shouldn't have your item. 

[inhawaii]

You can't assume the buyer is trying to scam you. You have no way to prove that. What if the item really was broken during shipping?

I would accept the return.  At least you will get your item back, broken or not.

How much was the item?  How was it sent?  If it was sent via USPS via ebay, it should be insured.

Good luck to you!

[alseyf-73]

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@campy-sr wrote:

But so far the only thing I can do at this point is refuse to delivery of the return and have it sent back to him.

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Sellers have tried not picking up the return at the post office, refusing the delivery, even physically blocking their mailbox, but eBay refunds the buyer anyway. You just wind up @campy-sr with the fees, no item, and no payment.

[wesk_36]

"Apparently the buyer messaged me after he received it and asked me if "he could open it up to look inside" "

Very odd question.

More like a dramatic prelude to a set-up.

Who asks permission to open a package that they already bought, received, and own? A child asking a parent is all I can think of?

Very bad idea to refuse the returned package.  It would serve you no good.

[mam98031]

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@luxe_beauty_4_less wrote:

Your best bet is to go ahead and accept the return.  Refund, THEN appeal to eBay and see if you can get the return overturned.  If you let it go back to him, most likely he will get his money back AND your item.  Broken or not, if he has his money, he shouldn't have your item. 

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@luxe_beauty_4_less 

This is excellent advice and pretty much what I would have said as well.

The current return system on Ebay is what I call a No Fault system.  When Ebay changed things in the return system last October, it became next to impossible for a seller to win a claim we dispute.  In the current climate, it is highly likely by trying to fight a return will only result in your getting a Defect on your selling account.

What you describe is exactly what we need to do no matter what the buyer has said or done to the product.  The AFTER you have fully processed the return to include the refund, is time for the seller to get to work.  First report the buyer for misuse / abuse of the return system.  AND file an appeal on the claim presenting your information in the hopes of getting your money refunded by Ebay.

Come October TRS will have more protections.  You will still need to follow the process above, but there are some added protections that will be helpful to many of us.  But unfortunately Ebay will only be giving the new protections to TRSs.

https://static.ebayinc.com/assets/Uploads/Documents/2019-eBay-Open-Seller-Protections.pdf?fbclid=IwA...

[1tuna]

you have some pretty nice items

lots of guy stuff........looks like you have no trouble getting money for things

its no fun when things break........or whatever happened

the "NO FAULT "system works well for me

I have had a number of people break my watches........

small stuff like crystals popping out or a loose small seconds hand coming off

many of my customers can remedy it them selves

I have lots of repeats so its easy for me to make it up on the next auction with them

there used to be a rule that you could not take apart a watch to look at it or see if it had a broken  part

I have had CSR`s tell me otheriwse...

sounds to me like he was trying to fix or adjust something maybe and it broke

that sort of makes it his fault.he could have just looked without breaking it

[luxe_beauty_4_less]

@mam98031  as usual, mam is spot on. 🙂

[mam98031]

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@luxe_beauty_4_less wrote:

@mam98031  as usual, mam is spot on. 🙂

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As were you, but thank you.

[cashvaluerecovery2011]

Im willing to bet the return you get back is the buyers broken item he is replacing or whats left of your minus the parts he needed to fix his. That question to open is the package is an obvious hint he was up to no good.

[stickboy1974]

Without knowing what the item was (perhaps I missed that fact in the above messages):

Perhaps instead of  "asked me if "he could open it up to look inside" I told him, you bought it, you own it you won't need my permission."

it might have been better to respond "asked me if "he could open it up to look inside" I told him, you bought it, you own it but I will not be able to accept it back"

Since he did ask for "permission", that phrasing might have stopped him from opening the item.

[this*old*attic]

It’s not insured if it’s mailed back.

OP should have the buyer take pics.

Question: Why would the buyer ask if he could open it? Info is missing here. Did it sound like something had broken and he wanted direction from the seller?

[this*old*attic]

A buyer who wasn’t sure what action might invalidate an insurance claim.

Sometimes we forget how little the rest of the world knows about shipping.