Return instructions are incorrect!

[all1by]

The return instructions are as follows: 

"Send the item back

Be sure to send it back by Month Date. If you don't, we might close your return and there's a chance you won't get a refund. The seller's responsible for return shipping charges, so you can ask for a return shipping label. If you have to purchase one, we'll ask the seller to reimburse you."

I just called eBay return support about this twice. The last sentence is wrong and needs to be removed.  If the item was defective, the seller MUST provide a return label. The buyer must NOT ship it back themselves. I had to run back to the post office and get my return package back due to this misleading quote. What a pain.

eBay: Please change the instructions ASAP.

[missjen831]

The last sentence is correct. The seller is NOT required to provide a labe. They are required to PAY for return shipping--whether it be by issuing a label or sending the funds for a label through paypal. On an international purchase, the seller cannot issue a label and neither can ebay. If the seller does not issue a label or send the buyer funds, then the buyer can get ebay involved by asking them to step in. The buyer also has the choice of paying for return shipping & being reimbursed by the seller. If the seller instructs the buyer to pay & promises to reimburse them, the buyer can get a courtesy refund from ebay if the seller doesn't follow through.

[pburn]

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@missjen831 wrote:

The last sentence is correct. The seller is NOT required to provide a labe. They are required to PAY for return shipping--whether it be by issuing a label or sending the funds for a label through paypal. On an international purchase, the seller cannot issue a label and neither can ebay. If the seller does not issue a label or send the buyer funds, then the buyer can get ebay involved by asking them to step in. The buyer also has the choice of paying for return shipping & being reimbursed by the seller. If the seller instructs the buyer to pay & promises to reimburse them, the buyer can get a courtesy refund from ebay if the seller doesn't follow through.

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To which @all1by replies, in the words of the immortal Emily Litella, "Never mind."

[all1by]

I spoke to 3 different eBay representatives, and they all said the same thing: the seller must provide the return label with a tracking number.

@jen_proudleowife: Thank you for looking up the exact policy. It seems that all of the representatives are wrong.  I think the text on the return details page needs to be changed to something almost exactly like your quote. The current text is vague, and simply incorrect for international sellers.

[missjen831 · Accepted solution]

@all1byYou are absolutely right. And I can tell you that this is a common complaint and the vague wording has caused a lot of buyers to return items at their expense when the seller could not provide a label and they were left high and dry when the seller refused to reimburse them. Even worse, some followed the sellers directions and shipped using the cheapest method and they didn't get a refund of the item price either because there was no tracking to prove the seller got the item back. Ebay will sometimes issue a courtesy refund if the seller promised to reimburse the shipping cost & then failed to do so. I believe if the buyer has messages from the seller telling them to ship using the cheapest method, that ebay will consider it an "untracked label" and force the seller to refund the buyer but none of this written anywhere for the buyer. Please voice your complaint at the weekly chat with ebay staff today at 1pm PST here https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Community-Chat-April-18th-from-1pm-Pacific... They will unlock the thread at 1pm and we can post questions & complaints.

[all1by]

I posted on the chat. Thanks for the heads up about that!