mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
Are you saying that you refunded the buyer $40 and at a later time Ebay refunded them $100? Or did you mean that Ebay refunded the $60 to them at a later date?
Does the tracking show that the buyer refused or left it unclaimed? If the tracking does show that, then appeal this refund to ebay because Seller Protection should have covered you on this matter.
Deciding the outcome when the buyer doesn't receive an item
When a buyer reports that they didn't receive an item and the transaction meets our eligibility requirements, we will look for:
- Evidence of successful delivery to the address provided by the buyer at checkout, or
- Proof that the buyer collected the item
If we determine that the item was not successfully delivered or collected:
- The buyer will receive a refund for the full cost of the item and original shipping, and
- The seller may be required to reimburse eBay for the amount of the refund
Evidence of successful delivery
We require all of the following to prove a successful on-time delivery:
- Tracking number from an integrated carrier which was uploaded to eBay and shows a shipping scan before the latest estimated delivery date;
- A delivery status of "delivered" or "attempted delivery" (or equivalent in the country to which the item was delivered);
- The date of delivery or attempted delivery;
- The recipient's address, showing at least the city/county or zip code (or international equivalent) that matches the one found on the Order details page; and
- Signature confirmation, on orders with a total cost of $750 or more. Learn more about our signature confirmation requirements.
So Ebay refunded the buyer BEFORE you had the chance to just issue a $40 refund??
That is your problem, that the tracking didn't show it was unclaimed. Without this, it could be very hard to win an appeal, but certainly worth a try.
I would advise you NOT to do this online. But if you do social media, take it to the Facebook link I will give you below. Your best evidence is that picture of the package. Please come back and let us know how it goes for you. Good Luck.
Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.
https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/
If when you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant, type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851
@americana-jewels wrote:Yes, the buyer opened a case within 18 hours before I even attempted refund. I'm busy.
I think I'll call ebay and try it over the phone:
Should not the seller have some protection here? we mail it to the address specified and it's returned due to being unclaimed. let's see if ebay does the right thing here.
Thank you very much for your input.
You can't call Ebay. But you can request a call back at the third link I gave you above. You will likely go to the chat first. You will then need to type in Agent. They will then give you the option to have them call you back.
Ebay no longer has the big call center like they did before the pandemic. Lots of people now work from home which is why we can't just call into Ebay anymore.
You need to be careful in which direction you decide to file your appeal. You want to chose the way that is most likely to result in the finding that you want. I get it, we are all busy. But sometimes you have to just slow down so you can properly take care of a situation.
@americana-jewels wrote:So I sell a $40 item, buyer is in brazil. Bummer because shipping to brazil is like a 50/50 proposition. Cost $60 to ship it.
72 days later, buyer reports that he hasn't received it. Tracking shows that it landed in Brazil and tracking showed nothing further. I explained to the buyer, be patient, customs and all that.
About 10 days later, the item is delivered back to me by the post office, went 'unclaimed' in Brazil. Now at that point, I'm content with refunding the buyer the $40 purchase price because I have the item back in my possession. But the buyer immediately escalates the case and ebay refunds the guy the full $100.
I don't really care much about losing the $60, but I care about the principles that eBay is exercising here.
* I will never ship to Brazil again.
* ebay can easily institute real solutions to these common problems: They can see that I mailed it to the right address. Knowing that, they can refund only the purchase price and let the buyer eat the shipping. It's immoral for ebay to have us sellers eat the shipping in a case like this.
For the record, I had a case with a buyer in Brazil at least 20 years ago and never shipped there again.
What I don't understand is how you lost a case 72 days after the sale. What was the estimated delivery date? How long after that did the buyer open the INR claim? If it was more than 30 days from the estimated delivery date, ebay shouldn't have found against you.
Or was the INR claim a chargeback?
