@green-night wrote:
This is like hiring a Plumber to install a new electric hot water tank. The installation requires new electric lines, so the Plumber hires a licensed electrician to run the lines. You the homeowner have no hand in selecting the electrician. So the electrician is the Plumber's "agent" or subcontractor. But unfortunately the electrician mess up the installation and the water tank doesn't work. Who are you going to go after? Or are you going to take the loss because it wasn't the Plumber's fault? After all the plumber ran the water lines correctly and installed the correct hot water tank, just the electrical lines were messed up, by the service the plumber hired. I guess from reading here, most people think that THEY should contact the electrician! WRONG! Your contract is with the Plumber and getting in the middle of his way of operating might deprive him of seeking remedies and thus make you liable for extra costs. The point is that who YOU HIRE IS RESPONSIBLE to get the job done, all parts. But then again, because it wasn't the Plumber's direct "fault" under the logic here, you should just eat the loss! Amazing!
Unfortunately the correct answer is what happened! The seller had to issue a full refund, per an ebay case! eBay should not be responsible for the mis-actions of the seller's agent!
There are a couple of problems with your analogy.
#1 - IF the way it worked here in a case like yours was that the seller issues you a refund and then gets reimbursed by eBay then that would be perfectly fine with me. It DOESN'T work that way, however, and that is by eBay's design. If you have a problem with the process you have to go through to ultimately receive a refund in the situation then your beef is again with eBay and NOT your seller.
#2 - Whether or not YOU think eBay should or shouldn't be responsible for the sellers agent is completely irrelevant. eBay seller protection is something eBay offers its seller so who are you to say they shouldn't enjoy or take advantage of that very protection? Perhaps one day you will find yourself in the very same predicament and when it's your money on the line that eBay is willing to protect, then lets see how quick you are to forfeit it.
I don't see how my analogy is invalidated by your points? I think the analogy holds. The seller is still responsible for the actions of the subcontractor the seller hires!
#1 My beef is with a seller who does not respond to two polite emails about misdelivery. THEN only responded to the third because an eBay case was opened by eBay. And yes, as stated just recently, a misdelivered INR case should not be an iterative process. One should be able to file an INR with GPS data directly.
#2 I read the seller protection and the eBay wording could use some help. Me thinks what the seller protection is for is from those trying to scam and say an item wasn't delivered when it was. As I stated in a recent post, there is a difference between a "delivered" stamp and the USPS's GPS data showing the delivery was to the right address. Ebay will protect you and me from scammers, it apparently will not protect us from the variances of the shippers.
Perhaps one day I will find myself in the same predicament, when MY money is on the line? Look, I have been in many situations with MY MONEY on the line, even big money! In fact, I started selling naively and then started reading these boards. I was so scared with all of the SNAD claims etc that I almost stopped selling. But then I learned how to make a few changes. What I did was create a "cookie jar fund" to self insure the business against losses. The main focus of that was to have a reserve or contingency of funds set aside that I could use to provide refunds when "stuff happens!" Adding that to the business plan, taking a "tax" on each sale to help fund the reserve, sure made it easier to swallow losses when they occurred. It also help me to sleep at night!
So the way I view it is that a misdelivered item, by my agent, the shipper, is just like a false SNAD I have to eat. All part of the cost of selling retail!
I don't know about others, but I take customer service seriously! Once had a package headed up the East Coast that took a detour to Seattle! I guess WA is the new MA? Anyway, it took an extra week for the package to get delivered. I was in the PO checking on the progress, keeping the buyer informed and when all was said and done I issued a partial refund to the buyer for the shipping because he paid me for a service that neither one of us wanted or appreciated!
I had a situation where the buyer returned something on his own volition, without using the eBay process. Because I provide good customer service, I provided a full refund AND refunded the buyer's cost to ship the item back to me! Just a few examples of what I think eBay expects as creating a good buying experience!
All of these costs are just the cost of doing business! er, at least as I see it!
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