Case closed against me within one minute

googler

Sold item one week, buyer contacts me one week later with a "Where's my item" response. I say I have receipt for posting, but no tracking no. as tracked postage wasn't offered in the auction or asked for. After a couple more messages, buyer says "give it to Saturday (yesterday) and go from there"

I logged in on Saturday to find that the buyer had escalated the case to Cust Support at 08.25am, and that a refund had been processed at 08.26am, with no apparent attempt to contact me or involve me further.

I was all set to offer a refund if the item hadn't arrived on Saturday, but the opportunity to do this vanished when he escalated it.

eBay help suggests I find the case, and press the Appeal button, but looking at the case in Resolution Centre, I have no Appeal button showing.

Suggestions?

techspec

Ebay gave you a chance to provide tracking.

As you didn't - as soon as escalated - it will have found in the buyers favour.

You cannot appeal - as you have no tracking.

You will now have a black mark for not dealing with it yourself.

Buyer should have got back to you saturday - but they can be a bit thick. I asked one to give till saturday - only to wake up to a negative saying "still not arrived". Not exactly what i meant.

You havent said how many days since it was paid for - and what the ETA was (see view order details in my ebay).

shaun_from_Africa

Without proof of delivery, there will be no point in attempting to appeal the decision as there is no way that you would ever win that appeal.

Ebay probably looked at the message where you stated that you only had proof of posting and not proof of delivery and decided that there was no point in allowing the dispute to stay open.
There is no reason why any buyer will ask for or pay extra for signed for delivery as an option as this only helps sellers in the event of a claim for non delivery.

You should still be able to claim for the loss from Royal Mail using your POP. (Up to £20).

soolin

We always warn sellers to watch time frames- I believe it is 10 days from opening to the point at which it can be escalated. (it might be 7 and I'm sure someone will correct me).

However that time frame is stated, and a seller should never allow the case to be escalated as it counts against them, and you lose your FVFs.

Escalation is the point at which ebay decide one way or the other, it is past the time for negotiation and without tracking you could not win and it will close in a matter of seconds against the seller.

hollydays

googler wrote: »

Sold item one week, buyer contacts me one week later with a "Where's my item" response. I say I have receipt for posting, but no tracking no. as tracked postage wasn't offered in the auction or asked for. After a couple more messages, buyer says "give it to Saturday (yesterday) and go from there"

I logged in on Saturday to find that the buyer had escalated the case to Cust Support at 08.25am, and that a refund had been processed at 08.26am, with no apparent attempt to contact me or involve me further.

I was all set to offer a refund if the item hadn't arrived on Saturday, but the opportunity to do this vanished when he escalated it.

eBay help suggests I find the case, and press the Appeal button, but looking at the case in Resolution Centre, I have no Appeal button showing.

Suggestions?

Where you say you responded with " tracked postage a wasn't offered or asked for" , with such a rude( and incorrect ) take on the rules) it's no wonder the buyer didn't hang around. That would have annoyed me too.

googler

hollydays wrote: »

Where you say you responded with " tracked postage a wasn't offered or asked for" , with such a rude ( and incorrect ) take on the rules) it's no wonder the buyer didn't hang around. That would have annoyed me too.

Why do find this 'rude'?

The auction states that standard postage will be used, i.e. tracked postage wasn't specifically offered in the auction. They buyer didn't request an upgrade of the postage service to be used. I'm pointing this out to the buyer, after they asked;

"payed on the ** still not come ..tracking no ...please"

When I've bought, I've always accepted that the postage used will be that specified in the auction, and if I want tracking, I ask for it to be included and pay extra. Is this against the rules?

hollydays

No but if the item gets lost-you can't try to blame the buyer for not paying extra for tracked post , by eBay rules you will end up having to refund them.
I've seen others makes references to replies where people have been told, if you'd not been such a cheapskate and have paid the extra for tracking there wouldn't be this problem, not the way to phrase it, sellers we take a risk sending it untracked, as I often do .
It has to be phrased very carefully to avoid sounding offhand.

googler

techspec wrote: »

You will now have a black mark for not dealing with it yourself.

How do I see if I have? I looked all around My Account, but couldn't find anything to suggest this....

Buyer should have got back to you saturday - but they can be a bit thick. I asked one to give till saturday - only to wake up to a negative saying "still not arrived". Not exactly what i meant.

You havent said how many days since it was paid for - and what the ETA was (see view order details in my ebay).

Auction closed 15/1 evening, I stated dispatch time in the auction as posting in 3 working days, and posted 17/1 at 2pm.

First contact from buyer 24/1, and after messages, he stated 25/1 he would give it to Saturday (1st). As said above, I logged in on Sat PM, to find that escalation and refund had happened within 1 minute of each other.

googler

hollydays wrote: »

No but if the item gets lost-you can't try to blame the buyer for not paying extra for tracked post , by eBay rules you will end up having to refund them.

I've seen others makes references to replies where people have been told, if you'd have paid the extra for tracking there wouldn't be this problem, not. The way to phrase it.

I'm not blaming him for this. I was pointing out that a tracking no wasn't available because it wasn't offered in the auction, and wasn't requested.

As I said above, I would have been perfectly happy to pay him a refund, on the day we agreed to 'take it from there' (Sat), IF he'd actually got in touch with me on the day we agreed, but from my point of view, he's gone behind my back, and hasn't involved me at the point where he said he would.

What's the "way to phrase it", in your view?

hollydays

I'm not the eBay expert, just pointing out my take on it. Also I guess it could be said it was you that should have contacted them, but at 8.30am you weren't given a chance.
Even if it wasn't requested, if you as seller don't pay for it and the item is lost , you are liable so it's something I would avoid saying. ( you didn't request it)

soolin

googler wrote: »

I'm not blaming him for this. I was pointing out that a tracking no wasn't available because it wasn't offered in the auction, and wasn't requested.

As I said above, I would have been perfectly happy to pay him a refund, on the day we agreed to 'take it from there' (Sat), IF he'd actually got in touch with me on the day we agreed, but from my point of view, he's gone behind my back, and hasn't involved me at the point where he said he would.

What's the "way to phrase it", in your view?

I understand your frustration but the fact remains that a case should never be allowed to time out. At least you know for the future.