eBay returns issue

Flyonthewall

smp17 wrote: »

Just hear my story…

I sole a £1300 watch on eBay and purposely chose your “no return” option as my watch is of high value and I don’t want to be exposed to fraud.

No returns doesn't apply to faulty/not as described items which, although a lie, is what your buyer claimed.

After sending the watch the buyer sends a returns request. I disagree with this and after seeing a few emails to him I asked eBay to step in and solve. After a few day I was gutted to hear they had ruled in his favour. He sent the watch back and although it looked ok I had to wait until I could take it to an authorised dealer to ensure it hadn’t been swapped for a fake. To make matters worse there was nothing wrong with the watch so the buyer had lied in his refund description, making me feel I was being conned even more.

You can't disagree with that return reason. As above.

It's good that there isn't anything wrong with the watch, you can resell it.

Once I had sorted this I then repaid the buyer via the paypal claim (the eBay claim was at this point closed for some reason). Throughout this whole process I contacted you several times and at no point was I made aware that i would till have to pay my seller fees. I was continuously told that I should contact you at a future date (e.g when certain things happen).

There was no way I could have met your 8 day money back deadline? The situation was completely out of my control? A situation I didn’t wish to be in.

It wasn't completely out of your control. You could have accepted the return and not waited for ebay to rule in the buyers favour (which there was no doubt they'd do due to it being a not as described claim).

Nobody wants to be in that situation, but had you read up on selling and the terms and conditions before selling you wouldn't have been in that situation as you'd have known they could return for a full refund and to just accept the return, even if you weren't really happy about it.

So in short I have sold nothing and been thought a lengthy process, which I totally disagreed with but still followed your rules, but yet I still owe you £130?

You refused a return and forced ebay to step in, it's not really following their rules.

As an eBay member for over a century with no previous issues can I please ask you to re-consider this case and re-credit my account as this is totally unfair on me.

A century is 100 years...

It's not fair when buyers do that and it's not right you should owe them, but you did make things more difficult for yourself. You're best off phoning rather than emailing.

smp17

I had never been in this situation before so didn't know what they outcome would be but I honestly didn't believe eBay would have ruled in his favour. I had photos and videos of the watch working when I sold it, I knew he wasn't being truthful. I presented these to eBay but they said they couldn't be sure so said refund.

The buyer wouldn't reply to me so I had no option other than to escalate to eBay. In hindsight yes if I knew this beforehand I would have done things differently but I spoke to several advisors via the chat who advised me to take this route.

Unfortunately to make matters even more frustrating I'm deaf so unable to call :-(

Flyonthewall

smp17 wrote: »

I had never been in this situation before so didn't know what they outcome would be but I honestly didn't believe eBay would have ruled in his favour. I had photos and videos of the watch working when I sold it, I knew he wasn't being truthful. I presented these to eBay but they said they couldn't be sure so said refund.

Videos don't mean anything, could have been a different watch. Same with photos, especially if they weren't on the listing. Either way, it could have stopped working between you having it and the buyer getting it. Ebay are pretty strict on what they see as proof in cases.

The buyer wouldn't reply to me so I had no option other than to escalate to eBay. In hindsight yes if I knew this beforehand I would have done things differently but I spoke to several advisors via the chat who advised me to take this route.

No reason for them to reply as the law and ebay are on their side. They have a right to return for a full refund for an item they claim is faulty/not as described and I'm guessing they knew ebay would side with them so just waited.

Unfortunately to make matters even more frustrating I'm deaf so unable to call :-(

Ah. I'd say ebay should have a system but I don't know that they do. Can no one else call on your behalf? I guess all you can do is keep emailing/live chatting. I would try and keep things short and to the point though. You sold an item, it was returned for a refund, you want to be credited the fees back.

theonlywayisup

If it were me I would appeal the case. You won't get it overruled, but you may be able to throw some light on the dubious return reason. Report the buyer for misusing the returns process too.

Is there an option for you to speak with them on the phone (do they offer any service for deaf customers?), they should be able to make a discretionary refund of your fees. Pehaps social media may be an avenue you could try?

smp17

Thanks for your advice Flyonthewall, makes perfect sense now. My fault for not researching before perhaps.

Just posted on social media - worth a try.

theonlywayisup I will try those but it seems to be falling on deaf ears at the moment unfortunetly.

Does anyone have any experience of not paying these things? £130 is a lot of money to pay for absolutely nothing.

theonlywayisup

smp17 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice Flyonthewall, makes perfect sense now. My fault for not researching before perhaps.

Just posted on social media - worth a try.

theonlywayisup I will try those but it seems to be falling on deaf ears at the moment unfortunetly.

Does anyone have any experience of not paying these things? £130 is a lot of money to pay for absolutely nothing.

The technicalities of law show that you did receive the prescribed service for the fee. If you don't want to sort it out and refuse to pay, you will have to resolve yourself to never using ebay or paypal again.

Flyonthewall

Yeah. Ebay isn't as straightforward as saying no returns and listing an item. Everything is stated within terms and conditions and their help pages, but it is easy to miss things or not realise how certain things work. This board wouldn't exist otherwise. Wherever you sell it's best to fully research and make sure you understand exactly how it all works.

A quick search suggests ebay recommend using a relay service.

You can't just not pay. If you don't you'll never being able to use ebay and Paypal again and they will pass the debt on to debt collectors.