eBay

wuros · ‎01-13-2020

Scenario:

I am from Europe / EU and I am a BUYER. Seller from overseas (for example China or US) sent me an item which is broken/defect.

Let us ignore the fact that most sellers would likely just refund me in full for a cheap item and let me keep it. Let's say that I go the "official" route and open a request to return the item for being defect. Now let's say that the seller can't provide me with the return shipping label (which is often the case if the seller is located overseas). How does it work from here ?

From many posts here, I learned that eBay Help pages often contain dubious / confusing information on this topic. Most buyers end up sending their items back and paying for the expensive overseas postage from their own pockets in advance, expecting the sellers to refund them for the postage after they get the item back. This is what many sellers promise to do, but often don't do it because there is nothing in the eBay rules that would force them to honor that promise. So buyers just get the refund for the item which is guaranteed by eBay and its buyer protection. Case gets closed and that's it. So the general consensus seems to be: get the money for return shipping from the seller IN ADVANCE !

So, what happens if the seller can't provide a return shipping label for me and I refuse to pay for the postage from my own pocket and want the money in advance? eBay Help pages recommend I come to an alternative agreement with the seller regarding return postage, but ultimately, according to experienced people here, the seller will have to send me the money in advance for the postage. Right?

Now, how does that work? I tell the seller how much it would cost to ship from my country (show him the price list/website if needed) and then he transfers that ammount to me via PayPal ? How can he prove that he sent me that money? What if I say I never got it? That payment from the seller would be a totally separate stand-alone transaction in PayPal, wouldn't it. There would be no way for eBay to see if I really got it.

This is one area of eBay that is kinda "gray" to me. I am under the impression that if the seller can't provide a return shipping label, he's essentially screwed because he must somehow pay the buyer for the return shipping but he has no guarantee that the buyer will admit to receiving it. This may not be a problem with cheap items but what if it is a high-ticket item? The buyer could be playing stupid, trying to say the seller can't or won't provide him with a return shipping label or return shipping money and as a result eBay would close the case if the buyer's favor, letting him keep the expensive item.

Has something like this been discussed before. How are such cases resolved ?

bonjourami · ‎01-13-2020

Its kind of gray to a lot of people, if he doesnt PP you the return shipping money, ask Ebay to step in to the case, if you cant do that, call them, you can Google the number.Or you can contact them on Twitter, or Facebook.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams

orangehound · ‎01-13-2020

@wuros wrote:

Now, how does that work? I tell the seller how much it would cost to ship from my country (show him the price list/website if needed) and then he transfers that ammount to me via PayPal ?

Yes that is how it works when the seller does not have the ability to purchase shipping from your country.

You file a Money Back Guarantee claim, describing the item as broken/defective.
You tell the seller that it costs XYZ to ship the item back with tracking, and that they need to send that money to your Pay Pal account if they want the item returned.
For cheap items, they won't send you this money ...
If they don't refund you within a few days, then you escalate the case to eBay with the explanation that the seller will not accommodate the return shipping.

How can he prove that he sent me that money? What if I say I never got it? That payment from the seller would be a totally separate stand-alone transaction in PayPal, wouldn't it. There would be no way for eBay to see if I really got it.

eBay seems to have access to this information on PayPal, or they have a trusted relationship whereby they can ask PayPal for information.

gwgw-73 · ‎01-13-2020

@wuros wrote:

the seller will have to send me the money in advance for the postage. Right?

he transfers that ammount to me via PayPal ? How can he prove that he sent me that money? What if I say I never got it?

There would be no way for eBay to see if I really got it.
This is one area of eBay that is kinda "gray" to me.

he must somehow pay the buyer for the return shipping but he has no guarantee that the buyer will admit to receiving it.

Has something like this been discussed before.

Happy @wuros to have confirmed that Trinitron at eBay confirms that eBay can confirm a PayPal payment was sent, no problem.

trinton@ebay wrote:

If you cannot provide a label you simply need to send money to your buyer via PayPal and provide the transaction ID in the messages to your buyer so we can see this has been done. It is not required that a seller provide a label specifically, only that they compensate the buyer for return shipping. Since we can confirm a PayPal payment was sent, this is an option you have available when you cannot provide a label. I am sorry

wuros · ‎01-13-2020

Thanks gwgw-73 for the hint. I have found the other post containing that quote from "trinton":

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Shipping-Returns/buyer-wont-respond-to-return-the-phone/td-p/2...

There is another interesting "sub-plot" mentioned there: What if the buyer opens a "return item" request but never responds again and does not tell the seller how much money he has to PayPal over to him for the return shipping costs?

I guess this can end in two ways:

1. The return request expires and the case is closed. Seller keeps the money and buyer keeps the item. Nothing is returned.

2. Buyer escalates the case to eBay before expiration. In that case I guess eBay would see that the buyer never provided the ammount to the seller so seller could not PayPal it over. This is the buyer's fault and the case is closed again, with the same result as in the option 1. above.

I'm not sure what the return request looks like so I'm not sure what options exist there, or if there are any other possible outcomes. I'm trying to see if there's a way that the seller can get scammed by a buyer not responding.

sprinkles91 · ‎01-13-2020

you wait it out. i had an issue like this recently where the seller wouldnt give me my rightful label bc they where overseas. you wait 1 week and the case auto closes from there. you will have to ask ebay to step in and help the day they tell you. to be safe, call ebay and ask what happens if the seller doesnt provide a label, it will be the same answer though.

gwgw-73 · ‎01-13-2020

@wuros wrote:
What if the buyer opens a "return item" request but never responds again and does not tell the seller how much money he has to PayPal over to him for the return shipping costs?

I'm trying to see if there's a way that the seller can get scammed by a buyer not responding.

An abandoned return request automatically closes after 21 business days. Or, if the request was exasperated to a case, eBay holds it open for 5 more days:

Find out the return shipping amount by using shipping calculators from the buyer's local carrier website (e.g. USPS for US), then issue the buyer with a payment through the “send money” option in PayPal.