ebay rip me off by refunding a buyer for an item that was delayed in post and finally delivered

[thanospl]

ebay rip me off by refunding a buyer for an item that was delayed in post and finally delivered to buyer.

When i contact support to resolve the issue and get the money from the buyer they said that their decision is final and i have to contact buyer and get my money!!!. I have proof of delivery and ebay does nothing to notify buyer that has to pay for the item. He got the item for free!!! We talking about a €2700 rip off.

Tom

[714ricki]

Since you have proof of delivery after the initial item not received decision in favor of the buyer, you should be able to appeal the decision. There is a link within the seller portal. You will have to provide proof by uploading the proof of delivery. Please keep in mind that they only allow one upload for the appeal. Therefore, the proof of delivery needs to be very clear & have all the pertinent information to convince ebay to reverse the decision & refund you out of their pocket.  Good luck!

[stackers_xag]

"then why we are members of  ebay  and for what reason it's there?"

There is no reason, which is why if you look at my account you will no longer see any listings. I also closed my other account.

I keep this one open for buying purposes only, but I always compare prices on the big river site before buying here.

[downunder-61]

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jasmen@ebay wrote:

Sorry to hear this happened, in cases like this it's best to work with the shipper, you can request if the package is found to route it back to you instead of the buyer. I would advise reaching out to the buyer to set up a return. 

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Just so you are aware in future, but if seller voluntarily refunds the buyer within 3 days of the case being opened, they are eligible for reimbursement from eBay on appeal if the item is delivered to the customer within 30 days of the case being closed  and they can not get the buyer to repay. 

Telling a seller to work it out with a buyer is not the advice I would expect to see given from an eBay rep.

[dbfolks166mt]

     There are some details missing in your OP but 3 months is an excessive timeline for any delivery even with the worldwide logistical problems. I am not sure what you shipped, where you shipped it to, when the buyer opened the INR in relation to what the projected delivery date was. I am assuming you shipped the item out of Greece to some foreign country which introduces a lot of issues in an of itself. 

     I tend to monitor all my shipments and take pro-active measures when I see items are delayed or lost. This involves contacting the buyer as well as the delivery service. Did the buyer by chance fail to pay the customs fees for an extended period of time? How long after the projected delivery date did the buyer wait to open the INR? Did you initially respond to the INR case and if so what was your response? EBay used to allow some leeway if you responded to the INR with the tracking information showing the item was in transit. 

     I am by no means defending what eBay did and you are not the first seller to have this issue and will probably not be the last given current worldwide shipping delays. EBay has always been heavily tilted towards the buyers and will probably continue to be. As a seller I fully realize that most of the seller protection is left to me to handle and I always go by the #1 rule as a seller and that is to never list anything you cannot afford to take the financial loss on. I have a value threshold of around $100 for anything I post on eBay and avoid scammers high target items like electronics, graphic cards seem to be the most recent target. There are simply too many other options for selling high value, high demand items that offer a lot less risk. 

[thanospl]

Hello

You think i didn't provide all evidences  i had to ebay? I did. they don't accept my appeal.  They just said that their decision is final and told me to ask buyer to pay me directly. I kept all messages from ebay that say that. I can post or send to anyone likes to see them.

[thanospl]

Item was held to customs for almost two months. Buyer was notified by Vietnam Post (unfortunately one of the worst maybe) but this was not clearly shown on tracking info.  I was told  buyer that item is at customs, more likely he didn't want to pay the fees.  Finally after negotiation  item was released from customs but eBay was already refund buyer after he opens a claim sometime in between. Ebay said that tracking info was not satisfactory and that was partially true, since it didn't show exactly where the item was. At the end i believed that eBay will  appeal the case when the delivery was made but No, never happened, it just said that case is closed and their decision is final. Cut your throat

[dbfolks166mt]

     You are not the first poster to have this situation occur and it is on occasion one of the scamming techniques used by foreign buyers. The buyer simply lets the item languish in customs until the eBay delivery date has passed then files a INR case. Once the buyer has been refunded they pay the custom fees and obtain the item. EBay needs to do something about this but the seller is their last consideration. At some point that is going to come back to haunt them. 

     If you are going to sell internationally you may want to consider using the eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP).  When the item sells the GSP will send the invoice and complete the customs paperwork and collect the fees along with both the international and domestic shipping You simply send the item to the GSC in Kentucky and they take care of the international shipping leg and update the tracking information in the order. Use of the GSC does slow the delivery a bit but I have found most buyers are not concerned about a couple of extra days in the shipping timeline. I find it to be a risk reducer for international sales. 

[dhbookds]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     You are not the first poster to have this situation occur and it is on occasion one of the scamming techniques used by foreign buyers. The buyer simply lets the item languish in customs until the eBay delivery date has passed then files a INR case. Once the buyer has been refunded they pay the custom fees and obtain the item. EBay needs to do something about this but the seller is their last consideration. At some point that is going to come back to haunt them. 

     If you are going to sell internationally you may want to consider using the eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP).  When the item sells the GSP will send the invoice and complete the customs paperwork and collect the fees along with both the international and domestic shipping You simply send the item to the GSC in Kentucky and they take care of the international shipping leg and update the tracking information in the order. Use of the GSC does slow the delivery a bit but I have found most buyers are not concerned about a couple of extra days in the shipping timeline. I find it to be a risk reducer for international sales. 

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@dbfolks166mt    Poster is in Greece

[firesteel_surplus]

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@stackers_xag wrote:

"then why we are members of  ebay  and for what reason it's there?"

There is no reason, which is why if you look at my account you will no longer see any listings. I also closed my other account.

I keep this one open for buying purposes only, but I always compare prices on the big river site before buying here.

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@thanospl 

I know this does not help you in the least but this is a prime example why I know longer ship outside the US border and I don't sell anything more expensive than I'm willing to lose.

Now some sellers would disagree with me on the first point (and have) but most would totally agree with me on the second.

That business model seems to work pretty well for me.

And I agree that what ebay is doing to you is wrong. But how that amp (or whatever it was) took...what...3 months...to get delivered? WOW???

Good luck. I feel for you.

Mike

Firesteel Surplus

[flyingmvp]

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@dhbookds wrote:

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They can't force the buyer to give the money back.........

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They (Ebay)  can give the money back to the seller, making it right for the seller would be part of "cost of doing business" for Ebay.

[glasser]

@dhbookds They can't force but they can ask.

An official sounding email from eBay such as:

Earlier eBay paid a claim to you for an item not received. We now understand the item was delivered to tou on X date.

The seller had refunded your money because of the assumed package being lost in transit. Now that that item has arrived you can refund the seller here (provide link to a payment option) or, even though it is beyond the normal return window if you wish to return the item you can do so by shipping ( and provide a label if possible.

I also thing some people think eBay has actually returned them the money not the seller after all its eBay's MBG not an individual seller. Some people might be who cares if eBay loses a few bucks.

Would a scammer respond to this no. Might some people yes.

Related. Right now  customs clearance in the EU has been running about 30 days for me. I email my EU customers on shipping to be aware of that, I tell them I will keep an eye out and provide any upates. This has worked well. In one case, there was attempted delivery, and no one was home. I notified the buyer. The buyer let me know they would be there the next day to receive it.

Communications is a very important aspect of customer service

[dhbookds]

Earlier eBay paid a claim to you for an item not received. We now understand the item was delivered to tou on X date.

Sure they could say that.......but I'm sure they are weighing the aggravation the buyer has experienced in waiting for the item and buyer retention is the main driver.......  I also imagine they guess the recovery would be very small/might possibly result in many returns...... which would then be subject to the same problems in re delivery to the seller.  A buyer who won't respond to a request from the seller, probably isn't going to respond to a mild request from Ebay.

They could also "threaten"........."we will have to terminate your Ebay account, unless you repay the seller".   Somehow, I would guess a buyer who was repaid $2700 for something they already possess, would probably choose to lose the account and then figure out a way to reregister under some other name/address. 

Ebay would certainly approve of the way you handle these kinds of problems........but the plain fact is ........they can't get the money back if you experience the same thing....  I'm sure you take that into consideration when listing....as every seller should. 

[thanospl]

Unfortunately ebay did nothing, and does nothing. Buyer is still an ebay member and may another seller get scammed.

[dbfolks166mt]

@dbfolks166mt    Poster is in Greece

Darn it knew that. 😐

[tools*]

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@thanospl wrote:

Item was held to customs for almost two months. Buyer was notified by Vietnam Post (unfortunately one of the worst maybe) but this was not clearly shown on tracking info.  I was told  buyer that item is at customs, more likely he didn't want to pay the fees.  Finally after negotiation  item was released from customs but eBay was already refund buyer after he opens a claim sometime in between. Ebay said that tracking info was not satisfactory and that was partially true, since it didn't show exactly where the item was. At the end i believed that eBay will  appeal the case when the delivery was made but No, never happened, it just said that case is closed and their decision is final. Cut your throat

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Since eBay's attempt to steal the money from you was unsuccessful -- you said that you blocked their attempt to debit your bank account -- perhaps it's time to walk away from eBay, to quit while you're whole. EU laws will protect you.