ebay enables criminal behavior by buyers

[sfriedenthal]

My 16yo son made the mistake of believing that he could sell his bike on ebay.  He included photos and an accurate descriptoion and, naively, thought that selecting "no returns" meant something.

He shipped a highly modified and high performance mountain bike for $600.  After carefully wrappping it in buggle wrap and sending it Fedex (all fees not reimbursed by ebay) the buyer proclaimed that the bike was "defective" because it looked used.  It was advertised as a well maintained 9 year old bike.  The buyer demanded several hundred dollars to be "paid" to him or he would return the bike.

ebay took ZERO interest in investigating, closed the case and returned the full purchase price to the buyer with NO requirement from the buyer to even return the bike.

I called customer service and they were no help.  Basically, they will "as a favor" send an email and "suggest" to the buyer that he return the bike, but they admitted that the buyer is under NO obligation to do so.  They get to keep a bike in excellent conditon and a full refund of their money and shipping costs.

What kind of company operates this way???!  This is criminal.  

It is obvious that the ebay business model is designed to attract dishonest buyers as the expense of sellers.

[missjen831]

This is exactly why 16 year olds have no business selling on eBay.

there was nothing for eBay to investigate. Your son should have accepted the return, issued a return label and waited for the buyer to return the bike.

[mayal19]

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@missjen831 wrote:

This is exactly why 16 year olds have no business selling on eBay.

there was nothing for eBay to investigate. Your son should have accepted the return, issued a return label and waited for the buyer to return the bike.

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Exactly.

Or have strong parental supervision who understands the MBG.

[ed8108]

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@sfriedenthal wrote:

He shipped a highly modified and high performance mountain bike for $600. They get to keep a bike in excellent conditon and a full refund of their money and shipping costs.

   A very depressing outcome !

[mam98031]

@Anonymous

Can one of the CSRs offer any help to this OP.

While I agree with others that the young man should not have sold anything on Ebay, clearly something is wrong here.  Why would Ebay allow the buyer keep the bike and force a full refund?

[lex-talon]

Letting your 16yr old son sell his bike on your account was a big mistake. Did you respond to the case? Need to give more details.

[itz_stacey]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@Anonymous

Can one of the CSRs offer any help to this OP.

While I agree with others that the young man should not have sold anything on Ebay, clearly something is wrong here.  Why would Ebay allow the buyer keep the bike and force a full refund?

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My guess is that they failed to respond to the SNAD case and issue a return label. No return label, no return. 

[missjen831]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@Anonymous

Can one of the CSRs offer any help to this OP.

While I agree with others that the young man should not have sold anything on Ebay, clearly something is wrong here.  Why would Ebay allow the buyer keep the bike and force a full refund?

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It’s because he refused to accept the return & pay for return shipping. Not a surprising outcome.

but considering the seller is 16....if he registered his account as a 16 year old then eBay has some explaining to do. A 16 year old cannot legally enter into a contract so......I bet eBay refunds him 😉

[chrysylys]

Hopefully we're done blaming the victim now and can move on to suggestions for recovery.  What have you been able to do besides call people not interested in helping?  Have you contacted police in the buyer's area?  They'll no doubt tell you it's a civil matter, but they may have suggestions to help.  How far away from you is the buyer?  Is it worth a road trip?  Maybe not to their house, but maybe to the court to file a small claims complaint.

Have you at least tried to call the buyer?

[vintagecraze50]

I am truly sorry for you and your son. Did you and your son understand how to proceed when a buyer makes a return request? The proper way to do this here is to respond to the return request immediately and to issue a return label. It is a proceedure that if not done properly will give Ebay the authority to close the case in the buyers favor if you fight the return.  In most cases, if a buyer wishes to retun something they can do that even when you have a no return policy on your listing. Ebay has a money back quarentee that over rides anything on your listing if the buyer does not want the item, and especially if they claim there is something wrong with it.  The problems always happen when you fight a return. There are certain circumstances where you may need to ask Ebay to step in and help with a return issue, but in general, you must respond to these return requests with the option of returning, if you do not, the buyer will use the MBG Ebay provides.

[vintagecraze50]

"the buyer Demanded several hundred dollars or he would return the bike". That says, that the return was refused perhaps. 

[mam98031]

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@itz_stacey wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

@Anonymous

Can one of the CSRs offer any help to this OP.

While I agree with others that the young man should not have sold anything on Ebay, clearly something is wrong here.  Why would Ebay allow the buyer keep the bike and force a full refund?

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My guess is that they failed to respond to the SNAD case and issue a return label. No return label, no return. 

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OK, lets say that is true.  I don't know that, but lets say it is true.

What policy would this fall under?  

What policy states that if you do not respond to a SNAD that it gets escalated to Ebay and Ebay will allow the buyer to keep the product and get a full refund from the seller?

Please provide a link so that I may read it and stay better informed.

[mam98031]

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@missjen831 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

@Anonymous

Can one of the CSRs offer any help to this OP.

While I agree with others that the young man should not have sold anything on Ebay, clearly something is wrong here.  Why would Ebay allow the buyer keep the bike and force a full refund?

---

It’s because he refused to accept the return & pay for return shipping. Not a surprising outcome.

but considering the seller is 16....if he registered his account as a 16 year old then eBay has some explaining to do. A 16 year old cannot legally enter into a contract so......I bet eBay refunds him 😉

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What policy states this?

[mam98031]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

"the buyer Demanded several hundred dollars or he would return the bike". That says, that the return was refused perhaps. 

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Which could be attempted extortion, but hopefully one of the CSRs will drop in tomorrow to enlighten us as to what may have happened here and how it might get fixed.

[hafoster]

Um, seriously?

In some instances, we may not require that an item be returned to the seller. In these situations, we refund the buyer and may seek reimbursement from the seller, for example if:
- The seller chooses not to accept a return request or provide a return shipping label