eBay

bigcat-john · ‎10-04-2019

Buyer paid for item on Thurs Sept 26th and opened a case on Mon Sept 30th

because he hadnt received the item! Item was shipping within the 3 days handling time on Monday the 30th tracking number was provided. He received item on Wed October 2nd and contacted customer service and said item was damaged. He sent me several rude messages name calling, etc. Ebay is telling me I need to refund his

money , if the ring is destroyed he did it. Why would I take pics list a ring then break it and send it. What can I do to help customer service see that, and side with me?? I do not want to issue a refund its a matter of principal now, plus I will be

getting my item back destroyed.

Thanks for any help

Bev

no_zero369 · ‎10-04-2019

@bigcat-john

Well let me pull up a chair here and give you some advice. Not sure this is what you want to hear, but just trying to help out. Don't shoot the messenger?

It is your prerogative or right to refuse to give the buyer a refund, just as it is your right to shoot your self in the foot. But doing that is going to get you run over by eBay and the Money Back Guarantee (MBG). You refuse the refund, dig in your heels and stand on principle, miss the deadline to act and the buyer asks eBay to step in and eBay issues a FULL REFUND FROM YOUR FUNDS! Buyer gets the funds and is NOT required to return the item because you refused the return. This is Maximum loss for you!

When a return happens the seller is going to lose money - how much money you lose depends on what actions your take or don't take. So "stand on principle" if you wish.... I prefer to make a "Business decision", one that minimizes my loss.

Do not speculate on what a buyer "might" do. Work on facts. There are things one can do if something bad happens with a return, so we can deal with those IF they happen.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Just hope you can understand how things work and make the best decisions.

bigcat-john · ‎10-07-2019

What you are saying makes sense, dont cut off your nose to spite your face,

I get that.

I dont understand why he was allowed to open a case to begin with, he didnt

contact me first. He paid on the 26th of Sept and opened a case 4 days later

wanting a refund because he hadnt received the item yet. I shipped before

the 3 business days thats in my listing and he received it on the 3rd way before the estimated date that ebay gives. He was allowed to leave me negative

feedback and the case is on hold until the 14th. So I guess the customer is always right and ebay

obviously is gonna side with the customer so they will keep buying and the seller

has to eat the loss and ebay knows that they will continue to sell.

Thank you for your time,

Bev

lamber9347 · ‎10-07-2019

@bigcat-john wrote:
What you are saying makes sense, dont cut off your nose to spite your face,
I get that.
I dont understand why he was allowed to open a case to begin with, he didnt
contact me first. He paid on the 26th of Sept and opened a case 4 days later
wanting a refund because he hadnt received the item yet. I shipped before
the 3 business days thats in my listing and he received it on the 3rd way before the estimated date that ebay gives. He was allowed to leave me negative
feedback and the case is on hold until the 14th. So I guess the customer is always right and ebay
obviously is gonna side with the customer so they will keep buying and the seller
has to eat the loss and ebay knows that they will continue to sell.

Thank you for your time,
Bev

Hello- I understand it's hard sometimes to receive a neg but you really shouldn't allow that to get to you. Most buyers no longer look at FB like they used to, it's changed now. However the way you reply to your negs can actually do more harm to you in the end. The comment that this buyer left for you was rude so anyone who reads that comment will only look negatively on the buyer.

The buyer is never required to notify the seller first before leaving a comment or opening a case. Yes it would be great if they did contact the seller first, but not a requirement.

This buyer sounds very impatient and probably was looking for any excuse to get your ring for free. It's very unfortunate that this happened to you but your best bet is to follow the procedures with the case and hope you get your ring returned. Try to think positively that you get that ring back so you can sell it again. Send the return label to your buyer and don't get into any back and forth with him. Best not to answer anything he writes you and remember that eBay can read all those messages. If the buyer breaks any rules in his messages then you have the right to report him to eBay and maybe even get that neg removed. However you have to make sure that you don't also say anything back to him. Let him hang himself with his words.

I'm sorry this happened and hopefully you won't have to go through this again. Best of luck to you....

no_zero369 · ‎10-07-2019

@bigcat-john

Hey I hear/see the frustration in this reply and I am sorry that you are upset. Hey we see posters here that have been selling for 20-years that show up when they get their first one of these. I think a lot of it is 'shock' and a bit of not being aware of the process or rules. So if you'll permit, hopefully some of that awareness can be obtained.

@bigcat-john wrote:
What you are saying makes sense, dont cut off your nose to spite your face,
I get that.
Great! Some of those 20-yr vets rant & rave, fight things and then threaten to take their ball and go home. They don't get it, so the fact that you do bodes well for you!
I dont understand why he was allowed to open a case to begin with,
OK this one is going to take a bit of explaining. Look, when a return situation happens it basically comes down to a "he said, she said" situation. eBay provides a place where buyers & sellers meet, as such they could decide to be an arbitrator on each "he said, she said" case, but they have decided not to. I get it, as they have no way of proving the veracity of what either party claims, so their policy (that pesky fine print we all agree to) is that a buyer is allowed to open a case when they think things aren't right. As a buyer you are entitled to the same protections. Without some assurances, no one would come here to buy. While you are a conscientious seller, unfortunately there are many that are not and the MBG makes sure that buyers will keep coming back,
he didnt
contact me first.
Yeah, OK, I get that. But many sellers take a return request as a personal affront, like getting a big fat "F" grade on their sale. So many sellers will argue and get down right nasty in defending their position, honor, reputation or just plain "standing on principle." So buyers, while they MAY contact a seller first, per the fine print of eBay policies, are not required to do so.
He paid on the 26th of Sept and opened a case 4 days later
wanting a refund because he hadnt received the item yet.
Oh I hear you on this! Seems like there are many buyers who do not read or have low reading comprehension skills. So they don't read the estimated delivery dates (EDD) in a post. Many have an expectation of "I want it NOW!!" and are not clued into the realities of the time it takes for packages to move from Pt A to Pt B. Many are nervous about buying on line and afraid of getting "scammed". Hey the internet is a great tool, but also without critical thinking skills, it is a trap. Too much bad, unverified information out there, that is anecdotal and often with key facts left out. So someone has a bad experience, possibly as a fault of their own, but they plaster it all over social media and the perception gets magnified and many others fall prey to the misinformation. Plus on top of that when you plaster every bit of your life on the 'net you allow others to hold you up for ridicule. So getting "scammed" is a huge irrational fear for many. So many buyers act off of ignorance of shipping times driven by the fear of "getting scammed" and being ridiculed. Oh and then there is the 'ask a friend' concept, when things appear to be going wrong, which often is the blind leading the blind.
I shipped before
the 3 business days thats in my listing and he received it on the 3rd way before the estimated date that ebay gives.
Again, with the "I want it now" crowd and those that do not read the EDD there is an inherent, baked in problem. While you may choose to have a 3-day handling time, that could be part of the issue with this crowd? Part of the explanation or the non-aware is that something will get shipped the next day or so. So if there is a longer handling time, the buyer might not be aware and thus get nervous with predictable results.
He was allowed to leave me negative feedback
Yep, frustrating! But again part of the "fine print" of selling here. Not sure if it was mentioned above, but you have the right to respond to feedback. But a caution - how you do that can hurt you! Point is that if a buyer is totally whack and the feedback reflects that, why respond when the buy took the rope they had and hanged them self? Jump in with an emotional reply and "defend your honor" type of reply an you will take the left over rope and hang your self too! So feedback can be responded to, BUT it needs to be 'just the facts' and professional in style/nature.
and the case is on hold until the 14th.
Sigh, again - more "fine print." Look when a case is opened, eBay allows time for the buyer & seller to "work things out". That is why the case is on hold. But IF a seller fails to resolve the issue then eBay reserves the right to be the judge & jury and 'step in' and resolve the case.
So I guess the customer is always right and ebay
obviously is gonna side with the customer so they will keep buying
OK, I get this frustration. But think of it from the side of a buyer. How would you want the system to work if you were on the other side of this transaction? Surely you would want to be able to get your money back? But there is a saying in retail selling, supported by an old tale about Nordstrom, a clothing store, accepting a return of snow tires, the prior tenant sold to the customer - The Customer is Always Right! As a buyer I am sure you appreciate what this affords you. Plus if you wander into a brick & mortar store and they sc*w you over, what do you do? Pledge to never shop there again. A B&M store might survive that if their product is in high demand, price is right or location stellar but an online site can not get a reputation for sticking it to buyers if it wants to survive.
and the seller
has to eat the loss and ebay knows that they will continue to sell.
Yes. One of the hardest things for me to "swallow" when I first started selling was that returns are just one of the aspects of retail selling. If you poll sellers on these threads one will find that over all, return rates are VERY low, usually 1-2%. er, depending on the category. Clothing has many people who 'try it on' and then return it fueled by BIG retailers who encourage this. But those big retailers are not charities so they have factored the cost of returns into the cost of doing business and thus the price they charge. The fun thing is that there is nothing stopping any eBay seller from doing the same. er, save ignorance of 'how to' do it! So me? I "tax" each sale by 5% and set aside that money as Cookie Jar Insurance Fund. That way, when I get a return request, I have monies set aside to pay for the return shipping and that takes away a lot of the stress of a "loss" incurred. I also make sure I include that "tax" figure in my calculations when I estimate how much profit any sale will bring me. Finally i don't count my chickens before they have hatched either - so the money I get from a sale is not considered "mine" until that 30-day clock of the MBG has expired.

So there are things one can do as a seller to anticipate and plan for returns when they happen. Many people will see kids selling lemonade as a great way for them to learn about business, but not make the connection with selling on eBay as being 'in business."

So devote some time each week to learning about the eBay selling business! I pounded the table on these message boards for a while and got great advice and learned a lot! (THANK YOU POSTERS!) Shoot, I even ask questions from time to time too! A great place to start learning is the "fine print" of the eBay Money Back Guarantee.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

Look for the responsibilities the seller has. Note the time frames that are built in.

Oh and come back and ask questions if reading that (it can be quite opaque at times) makes your head hurt! I'll say this, you found these threads and place where help is available - That puts you head & shoulders above many, MANY others!

Thank you for your time,
Bev

You are welcome Bev! Hope you have much success!

head-853 · ‎10-07-2019

@bigcat-john wrote:
What you are saying makes sense, dont cut off your nose to spite your face,
I get that.
I dont understand why he was allowed to open a case to begin with, he didnt
contact me first. He paid on the 26th of Sept and opened a case 4 days later
wanting a refund because he hadnt received the item yet. I shipped before
the 3 business days thats in my listing and he received it on the 3rd way before the estimated date that ebay gives. He was allowed to leave me negative
feedback and the case is on hold until the 14th. So I guess the customer is always right and ebay
obviously is gonna side with the customer so they will keep buying and the seller
has to eat the loss and ebay knows that they will continue to sell.

Thank you for your time,
Bev

The negative isn't the issue, it's the rude, immature way you reply to negative feedback that will keep buyers away.