Need advice - ebay refunding money wrongly

PippyPringle

Hello,
A friend of mine suggested I should post on here for advice what to do. I regularly sell items on eBay to get a little bit of extra money.

I recently sold an item which was sent for recorded delivery with a tracking code, the tracking code has stated that the item wasn't delivered due to the buyer not being in and that it's in the local post office and to call to arrange a new delivery.

The buyer was sent this information within days of the package being sent, and instead of going to collect the item they opened a dispute. In the dispute i provided proof of postage and the tracking number, highlighting that the product was in fact sent and in their local post office waiting to be collected. Afaik, no attempt has been made to collect it.

eBay has refunded them the full amount which really isn't fair, is this their standard policy as what is the point in paying extra for tracking and recorded delivery when even if you can prove the item was sent and is in the location it should be, eBay still rule against you. This is completely the buyers fault for not going to collect the item and I'm starting to think they refused to collect it due to not wanting the item after paying for it and eBay so easily refund if the item isn't physically in their house.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jen_Jen1985

unfortunatly your tracking needs to show that the item has been delivered to the the buyers address not their delivery office.
Proof of sending the item is not good enough for an INR case.

PippyPringle

Jen_Jen1985 wrote: »

unfortunatly your tracking needs to show that the item has been delivered to the the buyers address not their delivery office.
Proof of sending the item is not good enough for an INR case.

Thanks for the reply, but the tracking says the attempt for delivery failed and that you can rearrange a delivery online or by calling the post office. The buyer is well aware of this and isn't doing it, therefore I'm starting to think the buyer is just trying to get a refund after making a mistake buy.

Is there nothing I can do ? There must be so many cases of people buying items, then getting refunds after not answering the door then popping to their post office a week later to collect the item. This seems like a completely floored system when Royal Mail are saying that the item isn't being collected and no attempt is being made to accept it !

Crowqueen

I would think that there are more people who live at a considerable distance from their PO or delivery office, and the distance they have to travel to collect it, or a lack of mobility such as a disability, makes it uneconomical for a low value item, than who do this deliberately in such a convoluted way - a dispute can take a long time to click through, from the generous timescale that eBay allow for delivery to the time needed to escalate it. It's not a very reliable way of scamming.

If you hadn't used RD, they might have their item by now and be happy about it.

soolin

In your Op you ask 'what use is recorded' , the answer is no use at all except to ensure that a lazy buyer can just not other collecting it. Take a read of the sticky postage thread it explains all the benefits of various postage methods.

techspec

Crowqueen wrote: »

I would think that there are more people who live at a considerable distance from their PO or delivery office, and the distance they have to travel to collect it, or a lack of mobility such as a disability, makes it uneconomical for a low value item, than who do this deliberately in such a convoluted way - a dispute can take a long time to click through, from the generous timescale that eBay allow for delivery to the time needed to escalate it. It's not a very reliable way of scamming.

If you hadn't used RD, they might have their item by now and be happy about it.

If they are able bodied enough to bid on ebay - they must be able bodied enough to re-arrange delivery online.

They probably just changed their mind - and didn't want the hassle of paying return postage.

macfly

Far more likely.

PippyPringle

So there is nothing at all I can do? I'm really at a loss as to why their policy is this when it states it's just down the road in their post office and it's the buyer who's refusing to rearrange delivery at another time.

The item wasn't so expensive, around £40 but with the fees and postage cost it's quite a hassle at this time of year, especially when I don't feel that this is really my fault but rather the buyer is more of a scammer who just regretted the purchase and decided to refuse delivery.

I've contacted both paypal and ebay, PayPal claim they can't reverse it as they are working with eBay and it's up to eBay what to do, while eBay are saying it's my fault the item didn't reach the buyer even with the tracking number proving it's at their post office. What's also is damn annoying is the buyer originally left negative feedback, and when I e-mailed customer service with the tracking number they swiftly removed the negative feedback saying it was posted wrongly and yet they refunded this buyer ! They can remove negative feedback but they can't refund the money back to me when they are both based on the same evidence..

techspec

Why did they say it was posted wrongly? Did you say it would be tracked in the listing? Some Ebayers get funny when you send tracked without stating it. Would explain why buyers put their foot down.

Crazy thing is - seller must prove delivery. So if the buyer refuses the parcel - the buyer wins. But if the buyer sends a parcel to a seller - its the other way round. They only have to prove attempted delivery. If seller refuses parcel - buyer wins again.

PippyPringle

I don't know, I stated in the listing that it would be sent recorded delivery. Everything was legit, item sent within 2 days, tracking number sent to the buyer within 4 days after they asked where it was. It seemed strange how quickly they were demanding to know where it was at the time and I provided the tracking number by e-mail then. Afterwards though in the dispute they claimed they had never received any contact even though I sent two consecutively with tracking details and then another one again saying it was their post office.

This of course was denied in the dispute even though I had the sent messages in my mailbox, I'm just annoyed they are allowed to get away with it! The system seems incredibly stupid if the buyer is allowed to just refuse item when sellers go to the effort of selling it, incurring posting and selling fees and then have to suck it up as a result of a dodgy buyer!

soolin

Assuming you have a return address on it then hopefully it will get back to you soon.