eBay

thegm963 · ‎07-08-2019

Hey guys so here's the deal.

I bought an item with a total cost of 3 bucks from an asian massive volume seller, I received something entirely different. I don't suspect foul play of course, just a mistake from his part. The money is also very little but what the hell, it doesn't grow on trees !

If I start a snad case, I ll have to ship the item back to him. The thing is, shipping alone would cost over 7-8 bucks, so it's not worth it either for me or him. Our communication has comically failed pretty much, mostly due to language barrier and a lot of automated replies from his part.

Is there any other route to follow other than forgetting it and moving on?

edwedw8383 · ‎07-09-2019

For a SNAD @thegm963 your seller, not you, is responsible for return shipping. Click More actions > Return this item > Wrong item sent:

Click Ask eBay to stand in it after 3 business days, then wait through the 5-day hold. Your seller won't provide a prepaid return label, nor send you money for a return label, so eBay will force a refund, no return required.

thegm963 · ‎07-09-2019

I know shipping is on him, the thing is, right now I m in some backwater balkan country with only a national local post available. The only way for him to cover my shipping, would be to just send me an arbitrary amount of cash beforehand so I can ship him the item then refund me the price of the item on top of that.

It sounds like I m trying to pull off a scam, but the best way would be him to just refund me the original cash I paid and be done with it and avoid a snad case on his profile while at it, however I failed to make him understand that.

lightlily_arts · ‎07-09-2019

the Chinese have their shipping to the USA subsidized, but not the return shipping back to them. It's supposed to be a trackable method but that's actually registered mail for small items. They are required to provide you with a shipping label but they can't and won't. They will also never follow through reimbursing you for paying the shipping either. What you have to do is escalate the case with eBay when they don't send the shipping label and again when they won't refund you. I know how it works because I buy small items all the time. Occasionally I do have issues when they either don't arrive, are broken, or they send the wrong item. The Chinese won't make it easy for you by simply refunding. They always seem to give me the run around. So instead you have to follow through on these cases and force them to refund because the return shipping always exceeds the value of the item. It may seem like small change but when you buy these items all the time it can add up. I always have to call eBay on these cases.

lightlily_arts · ‎07-09-2019

I forgot to mention that I have never had to ship an item back.

orangehound · ‎07-09-2019

@thegm963 wrote:
I know shipping is on him, the thing is, right now I m in some backwater balkan country with only a national local post available. The only way for him to cover my shipping, would be to just send me an arbitrary amount of cash beforehand so I can ship him the item then refund me the price of the item on top of that.

Believe it or not, but that's how it works.

You open a return case with a SNAD reason such as "Doesn't match description or photos" or "Wrong item sent".
You go on line or to your local shipper and determine how much a TRACKED package to China costs ... not every shipment method is tracked.
You send a message to the Chinese seller (via eBay messaging or a note as part of the return case) telling the seller that it will cost $D.CC to send the package back to them, and to send this amount to your PayPal account so that you can purchase postage and send the item back.
The Chinese seller will typically ignore you ... sometimes, they will just refund without requiring a return and you'll be done.
About 2-3 days after sending the message in #3, you escalate the claim to eBay with a note that the seller is not accommodating a return shipping label for a "Not as Described" return.
eBay forces a refund of your money.

thegm963 · ‎07-09-2019

Thanks for your replies people.

I know the procedure roughly, I just wanted to settle the issue peacefully both for me and the seller without having ebay to intervene, but it seems it's unavoidable...

ed8108 · ‎07-09-2019

@thegm963 wrote:
Thanks for your replies people.

I know the procedure roughly, I just wanted to settle the issue peacefully both for me and the seller without having ebay to intervene, but it seems it's unavoidable...

Your seller knows the cost of doing business on ebay.