Seller declined a return that was “not as described”. How?

[tristartreasures]

Hello all,

Im a longtime seller & buyer & have a medium

to large sized business operation on here. At the end of September I bought a ceiling light from a seller & when I received it it was not the same item as pictured in the listing. I told them as much & left neutral feedback (not negative) because they used only stock images showing a different model (the model I actually needed) & couldn’t get me the exact same item. They have a large business account.

I was determined to make it work if possible instead of costing the seller return money & dealing with the back and forth, so here we are late November & I finally go to install it & it just isn’t going to work, not only is it the wrong model but it’s entirely too big for the connection box it is running from, if it had been the correct size as shown it would have fit so I requested a return under not as described & gave the full rundown & explanation of  the item that is brand new still but can’t be made to work for my needs due to it being the wrong size as previously reported to the seller almost two months ago when the sale occurred.

The seller is going to exchange it for me for the correct size & different color, not ideal but sufficient, & they will get the other item back in new condition but i am having to pay return shipping because they closed the return . My question is how they have somehow manually declined the actual return request. I’ve never seen that as an option for “doesn’t match description” reasoning & I can’t find how they did it & given the reasons I could call eBay & prob get return shipping paid (not sure I will bother.)

I am going off their agreement in messages to fix the issue but it bothered me that the case was declined somehow by the seller as I’ve never been able to see that as an option regardless of the stated return policy in a listing 

[spark-chaser1]

It sounds like the span of time between the receipt of the item and then the request to return it is way too long. That will limit you from doing anything other than what the seller agrees to, unfortunately.

[sapphire_studio]

You're outside of the return window and eBay's money back guarantee.

[spark-chaser1]

I'm an electrician... What sort of light was it and in what way did it not fit?

[tristartreasures]

The ceiling Mount box is only a 4” & theirs fixture being larger than the one that I was supposed to get has about a bigger base at the top so the screw holes are much wide than the crossbar in the ceiling Mount box can accommodate. The hole would have to be widened and a larger crossbar bracket  used to mount it. It’s not impossible but more work than I’d like to do considering that the single bulb version I was supposed to get is small enough to work with the existing box. 

Thanks!

[tristartreasures]

It did not occur to me that’s what it was lol I swear I’ve had return requests as old or older than that where i couldn’t decline them, but maybe I’m mis remembering.

[spark-chaser1]

A standard 4 inch octagon steel or plastic 4 inch round plastic box should accomodate any fixture. There should have been a  mounting strap with the fixture that screws to the box and has the wider screw pattern that the light fixture base ( canopy ) then attaches to. If your fixture is used or vintage, that strap may be missing and that's a problem.  Box stores or a local electrical supply house sell adapters you can use to make that light fit.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@tristartreasures wrote:

It did not occur to me that’s what it was lol I swear I’ve had return requests as old or older than that where i couldn’t decline them, but maybe I’m mis remembering.

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Although the MBG period is 30 days, Ebay allows buyers to still request returns since some sellers will accept. But after 30 days, the seller has the option to decline.

[tristartreasures]

Thanks for the info. The fixture was brand new & not vintage & it didn’t have the strap mentioned or even it’s own crossbar which most come with so it may have not even been complete now that I think about it as the smaller one I already had from the same company came with the crossbar Mount 

[spark-chaser1]

Yes. It sounds like the fixture is missing the " hickey" . (don't blame me, I didn't name it, 😉)

That strap will usually have two notches that align with your 4 inch box and then either have two reversed threaded studs pointing downward that slide thru the canopy and attach using " acorn" nuts, or two threaded holes that align with the canopy and get screwed upwards.

Electrical supply stores or lighting centers usually have variations of hickeys in stock. Until you have the correct one that light can't be safely installed.

Many times I go to install a customer- provided fixture only to find missing mounting hardware. I try to stock different types in my van in case.

Hope you can get what you need and shed some light in your life! 👍