Return “item not as described”

[jmo1234567]

I sold 5 bottles of toothpaste priority and posted a lot of pictures and everything. I paid for priority shipping for the lot. The buyer received it yesterday and 5 min after it was delivered he opened an “item not as pictured/described”. In the comments all he wrote was item not as described. I sent him a message and he didn’t respond. I’ve already lost 8$ to priority shipping and he paid me 18$ for the lot. I’d be losing so much money if I have to pay for the return shipping and refund him. He has 0% as his rating as I just figured he was new to eBay. I’ve never done a refund before. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to abuse the system. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks. 

[pjcdn2005]

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@jmo1234567 wrote:

I transferred my funds from PayPal already into my bank account and just checked and PayPal now has that transaction as pending and subtracted the amount from money that I had sitting in PayPal. 

if I were to just refund the buyer from the return request page will it have done so from my PayPal? It seems like PayPal already took the money from me anyway. And if I refund him will the return request close on its own or does he have to close it manually? I have no contact with him since he won’t respond to my initial message 

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PayPal hasnt taken the money out but they do have it on hold.  If you refund from the return request the money will come from the money held and the case will automatically close.

[jmo1234567]

Thanks so much for your help. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to be essentially losing out twice from PayPal and that it would close once I fully refunded. 

[madech2]

If the seller is trying to work with the buyer, but there's no response to work out a compromise, then Ebay may side with the seller.   There's a reason there's a waiting period instead of immediate decision to just refund the buyer and have them keep the product. I just won a 2nd not as described case. Matched everything you listed. I refused to offer a refund because the buyer was abusing the system. I asked ebay to step in and said I would only give the refund if the buyer paid shipping. They requested the buyer return the item (without me providing label). Buyer never shipped out because it was a bad claim and it would have been cost prohibitive to send back. 

[madech2]

If it's clear the buyer falsely opened a case and they're not willing to work with you,  why would you pay? The reason scammers are winning is because no one is fighting. Everyone is worried about their ratings. 

[madech2]

I get my information from my won cases. Sometimes if you get an actual human to look into your case, they may side with you. Sellers are afraid of their ratings and sometimes it's just easier to just refund.  More sellers should try. 

[madech2]

Not true. 

[soh.maryl]

Perhaps you're unaware of eBay's Money Back Guarantee for buyers.

If the buyer opens an item not as described case, eBay will require the seller to send that buyer a return label and to refund once the returned item is received.

It doesn't matter one iota if the "buyer falsely opened a case" or "they're not willing to work with you".

You will have no option except as above.  If you refuse to refund, it's fairly certain that eBay will refund the buyer without requiring that the item be returned.

[t8rchip]

well...it worked for me when I called and spoke to someone so....it isn't that incorrect I guess...

[bargainnation]

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@bkb1942 wrote:

eBay will make you refund. If you don’t want to lose even more, you can refund and not send label for them to ship back. Put them on blocked bidders list. Scam buyer

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Exactly the outcome that buyer is counting on to get "free" merchandise that they didn't have to pay one cent for.

If the seller has to pay shipping twice because the buyer falsely claims INAD then those buyers are counting on the fact that in order not to lose even more money they'll just let the buyer have the item in addition to refunding the buyer in full plus shipping cost.

How exactly can a tube of toothpaste be not as described? I'm just rambling but it makes me mad to see people or companies taking advantage of people because they know they can get away with it.

[flownzone]

Buyer always wins, there's no beating it. I've never done this, but maybe you can screw with them and issue your own label that doesn't cover the full cost of shipping. Then when they go to mail it, they'll tell them the label doesn't cover the cost to ship the item; embarrassing. They'll either pay it for you, or have made a trip to the post office for nothing. Just kidding of course; I have no idea if this would even work.

[flownzone]

Real solutions would be to issue a label for a less expensive shipping method. Also, it may be worthwhile to ask buyers to return the item to you via the return chat. Many will return the item to you at their own expense. Of course if there was a truly a problem with the merchandise you sent out, you should refund them the total and the cost of return shipping.

[angelgirl327]

It may be too late for this advice but you can use it for future problems.    You show good, clear pictures of the product on your listing - shows the condition of the boxes, what the item is and you were smart to show the ends with the expiration date.  You also state what the item is and the expiration date in the listing.   Thusly, I can hardly see how it could not be as described - unless it was damaged in shipping.   You could send this info to ebay thru the case and then escalate to get ebay to review your side.   If is possible to win SNAD cases.  

[ptsafari]

You can file a report against the buyer for abusing the item not as described policy which Ebay will just sit on. You can try and get the buyer to pay for the return shipping but they don't have to since its an "item not as described" return. If you don't do anything ebay will find in the buyers favor and refund the full purchase price and the buyer can keep the item. Ebay will tell you to "

ask" the buyer to return the item. Ebay doesn't care about being fair. Ebay will side with the buyer in spite of right or wrong, just to keep buyers happy. Your out money anyway you go. You can file an appeal but you won't win