Ebay continuing to abuse the sellers. Forced to give refund after receiving positive feedbak

[sfcompguy]

I offer ebay help you sell service at my computer shop. My policy has always been that the owner of the item will not be paid for the sale of the item until positive feedback.

A client had a nearly brand new barely used Canon Pixma printer they wanted me to sell. 

I tested the printer 2 times before listing the printer and made sure everything was working prior to listing and shipping. 

The buyer received the printer and left positive A++++ feedback and also told me in a PM that she had the printer working fine.

Based on this I issued the money for the sale to the owner.

But a week ago I got a message from the buyer Saying that the print heads were not working And asked me for a refund . I told them that I could not because we do not accept refunds after receiving positive feedback and that the funds had already been given to the original owner . 

The buyer then continued to open a claim against me and 7 minutes after opening the claim ebay Decided to give judgment to the buyer . There is no way that anybody from their company could have had time to review all of our messages and details of the sale to come to that conclusion. 

So now I am expected to give a full refund and pay for the return shipping on a sale that was given positive feedback and the funds from the sale giving to a client that I am no longer in contact with 

Can they really just do that? 

I am not a loss for words and have lost all respect for this website. I'm going to end up losing $150 of my own money after spending time corresponding with the owner of the item taking pictures getting it ready to ship on time 

So now I have to lose $150 of my own money when allí they made was $10.00 for all the work I did. If this is how Ebay is going to be where I'm not going to using their services anymore. 

Has anyone else heard of a buyer being able to get a refund on an advertisement that says no refunds accepted and had already given positive feedback. This is ridiculous to me.

Does anybody have any suggestions or advice. I would really appreciate it.

thank you 

[sfcompguy]

Well I've been doing it a lot longer than that. I managed my father's eBay page as well before he passed away. Look up TomBell007. Over 2,000 transactions with I believe a 98 even 99% positive feedback since 1999. Before making this post when I went to this section it seemed as though the majority of the posts were people in my situation and they talked about how eBay has slowly been changing its policies to be harder and harder on sellers

[gone_4_good]

try appealling the case

she stated that it worked so they will proably refund you as well. The 30 day policy is not a warranty

[uncle.steven]

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@sfcompguy wrote:
Okay so I'll say it again the buyer had no issue with item being as described. She sent me a personal message saying how great the printer was and love the quality of the Printsn she was getting. It was until a week later when she tried to install her own faulty ink cartridges that caused a printhead to clogged that she decided to blame me for that and ask for money back. I tested the printer twice before sending it out and it was working perfectly and had not even gone through 100 sheets of paper in its lifetime

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Maybe you should have read my whole post so I'll stay it again:

Unfortunately, an item that is not as described or "DOES NOT WORK" can be returned through PayPal up to six months from the sale date.

Does not work - there is no way you can prove the buyer used the wrong ink. 

As far as the pictures and not as described that other posters are mentioning. They are EDUCATING you that even if the printer DID work fine, the buyer could easily find another reason for return as NOT AS DESCRIBED. They are telling you this to avoid future issues. They are speaking from experience, because they have gone through this themselves. BUYERS DON'T ALWAYS READ DESCRIPTIONS. 

[airplane1903stac]

Yes, I agree, I am selling on Ebay with a no return policy, after item was received and buyer decided they didn't want the item any longer, I am now forced by ebay to take item back and return the money.  Does anyone know how Amazon works and have you had any experience with them.  I am not going to continue selling on ebay, because they don't have your back but they only get your hands on your money.  Very disgused with them and the buyers who know this and take advantage of any situation they can.  Really disgused, I think there should be protection for the sellers.

[automotivepartsrecyclrs]

If your selling consignment items you have to remember:

Paypal returns are 180 days from purchase

Ebay returns are 30 days

If a buyer don't get a return under ebay then they will go to paypal.

Even if you list it as a consignment item paypal returns will get you in the end.

[jason_incognito]

On this point, Amazon would be even more likely to force you to take the return.

There is a huge difference between return and refund.

Everyone here is allowed whatever return policy they want. eBay will at their discrection decide your refund policy.

[vintagecraze50]

You can never count on a sale being successful here with the money intact for up to 180 days with Pay Pals wonderful return policy. You have to always figure a ghost figure of what you actually have and will actually keep as far as your sales revenue. Always thrills and chills and money possibly disapearings no matter what you do here.

[vintagecraze50]

Yes, that is correct. You place the refund/return issues entirely in the hands of Ebay and Pay Pal the second you list an item and sell it. That's it in a nutshell. The No returns/ no refunds policy is a figment of everybodies imagination.

[lightlily_arts]

I would not give up so easily.  You need to call eBay and get a CS on the phone who will actually read the messages and understands that the printhead failure was caused by the buyer when they installed the faulty cartridges.  They damaged the printer and should be made responsible for it.

[vintagecraze50]

If you have it in the Ebay message system that the buyer admitted to installing the wrong componant into the printer and it failed because of that you may win a case. You would win on the Ebay RULE that says the buyer ALTERED THE ITEM. Make sure you use this verbiage in your discussions with the CS representative. Good Luck. If you win here--they could still go to PP and do a chargeback--there you will have difficulty with any claim.

[sfcompguy]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I honestly did not expect so many people to respond to my post.

I apologize if I came off as offensive to anyone replying. I understand that you all were merely trying to give me as much information as possible and knowledge is power.

I will be sure to get a CS rep on the phone and have them read our messages as they were all sent through the eBay messaging system. It clearly shows that the buy stated the printer was working great until the buyer ALTERED THE ITEM.

I will also be changing policies in regards to selling items on consignment. When a buyer does not leave feedback I merely send them a PM and ask them if their purchase was as described and they are happy with it before paying the original owner.

I had most of my experience on eBay back in 2001 to 2003 and obviously, a lot has changed since then.

PS. does anyone know if there is a way the I could gain the rights to my deceased fathers eBay account? I worked on eBay using his account selling item for him and myself. I am his sole beneficiary and would really like to regain the ability to use it. Since it shows member since June 1999 with more than 2500 transactions and a 99% or higher feedback rating.

Thanks,
Josh

[penguins_dont_fly]

When I sell on consignment (not very often anymore), the client payments are made on a 30+ day cycle. My payouts are done the first week of the month, for the period prior, no exceptions.

For example ... An item sold in November (any date) will be paid out the first week of January.

This assures that the MBG period, at least, is done.

If there is a PayPal dispute or CC Chargeback after that period, the item becomes mine to deal with.

I would not be messaging to ask the buyer if an item was as Described or not .... that's really just asking for trouble, IMO.

As for the account transfer ... this is what eBay says ... I would call them to find out if you are eligible (probably not, though).  And if the account has been dormant, you would probably be starting out as "New" to eBay anyway ... They reset account limits and such after a certain period.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

Under the heading "Using eBay"

(You may not) 

• transfer your eBay account (including Feedback) and user ID to another party without our consent;

[zigzag55]

Welcome to Ebay! They have done that to me a few times. Last month an item returned not as sold and missing an expensive manual for the item. Ebay doesnt care, you are at the mercy of the buyer being honest, dont expect anything from Ebay other than then taking your money