refund requested, item not shipped, case closed in seller's favor - then buyer refunded.

[seuadr]

Hi,

I had a buyer request a refund for not as described. after not responding to my requests for more information to help understand what the problem was, i decided to just go ahead and approve the refund and sent the shipping label. the case was closed in my favor because he didn't ship the item within the expected time frame.

nearly 3 weeks later, I get a notification from ebay that the buyer appealed and that a refund was forced because i "failed to issue the refund"  The buyer is claiming that i would not pay.

the case was closed. I didn't have the package. I didn't know the package was being returned. I had no communication from ebay, nor the buyer, about the package being returned before the refund was processed.

AFTER the refund was processed, i received the item.  I had no opportunity to see if the item was functional, or even that it was the same item.

I also had withdrawn the funds from my paypal account because the case had been decided in my favor.

Now, the refund was processed, and i am getting slammed with fees for insufficient funds. If i had been notified of the escalation, or that the package was being shipped back i would have transferred funds to cover the return - afterall - the item was returned, and in the same condition as when i sent it - the buyer should get his money back.

Because of how this was handled, I am financially damaged. I have fees that total more than the item's value because i was given no opportunity to process the refund. 

This is unacceptable, and was totally avoidable with a simple email or ebay message.

Do i have any recourse to recoup damages because of how this was handled?

[disneyshopper]

If you are not getting messages from ebay, I suggest you check your Communication Preferences to make sure you have specified Real-time for receiving those messages.

Go to My ebay > Summary > Account > Site Preferences > Communication preferences.

[furreherai0]

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@seuadr wrote:

Hi,

Do i have any recourse to recoup damages because of how this was handled?

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I'm going to say probably not, there will likely be a number of suggestions coming that may sound feasible... Some may even come from posters claiming adamantly that you should do this and you will win, however only you can put in the time and effort it takes to implement each method, and in my experience I have found few of them will yield any success.

So I will conclude by saying that sometimes there have been instances where a seller has gotten lucky through some method or another, but that there exists a method that works every time for every seller, that's another story.

Good luck.

[donsdetour]

Regrettably the answer to your question is NO.

[mudshark61369]

@seuadr,

Did you look in the Resolution Center to see if the appeal was filed there?  Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with a refund request in several years, and because of that I do not know if a seller is notified if an appeal has been filed.   They should be since money is involved.

My best suggestion would be to use the Help and Contact button at the bottom of any ebay page, and request a call back so you can speak to an ebay Rep. They might get some of the fees removed, since it appears the buyer did not use your return shipping label or upload a tracking number so you and ebay would know the item had been returned.

 "I also had withdrawn the funds from my paypal account because the case had been decided in my favor... Now, the refund was processed, and i am getting slammed with fees for insufficient funds".

You should always keep a rolling balance in your PayPal account, if only to cover your eBay fees. Is it PayPal who is sending you insufficient funds notices, or did they take the money from your back up funding source, causing you the problem? 

[seuadr]

Disneyshopper, thanks for the response. I do in fact get them in real time. There were no messages about an appeal so i had no way to try and rectify the situation prior to the judgement in the buyers favor. 

understand, i'm not upset about the refund - i got the item, the buyer should get his money!

I feel that it was inappropriate for the escalation for ebay to step in and force the refund before i even had the package in hand after the case had been closed in my favor weeks ago. a simple message could have saved me hundreds of dollars in fees. 

[seuadr]

thanks for the response, FurreheraiO, and for the well wishes.

I am not particularly optimistic but if there is something i can try, i'm happy to try it.

[seuadr]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

You should always keep a rolling balance in your PayPal account, if only to cover your eBay fees. Is it PayPal who is sending you insufficient funds notices, or did they take the money from your back up funding source, causing you the problem? 

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Mudshark61369,

thanks for the response. I keep enough to cover my ebay fees and invoices in there ,but that was insufficient to cover this transaction. the funding source is a checking account, and the fees are from the checking account for NSF transactions on the checking account. paypal didn't use my backup funding source as the bank didn't decline the transaction.

i'm talking to paypal and my bank to see if there is anything that can be done there.

as far as the resolution center goes, the case was closed earlier this month. it says:

the last activity is from when they initially closed the case. no activity beyond them notifying me they closed the case in my favor. it doesn't even show the refund activity in the resolution center except where above.

[mudshark61369]

@seuadr,

Was there a date on that message?  It doesn't seem right to me that they say the buyer didn't return the item, then they say "The refund of $140 will be recovered from you by ebay" , when there is no proof the buyer sent the item back and 3 weeks after the dispute was initially closed by ebay in your favor. 

[seuadr]

there is no date for the refund message (but it was yesterday) the case was finally closed out on october 19th.

here: