eBay refunded buyer £700, told them to keep the item, told me to ask nicely to return it....

v0re

I am writing here as I am out of options, I’m now talking to a brick wall and having live chats ended on me, I can’t even call at the moment. I have spoken to eBay countless times and believe what they’re doing to me is morally and legally wrong, I am currently furloughed from work and decided to sell a few household items as I’m planning on moving out next year so I still need to keep my savings and survive in the current circumstances we unfortunately find ourselves in. I’m also an apprentice, so it’s not like money is disposable to me, and this is a huge loss.

 

So, I decided to make an eBay account with my brother to sell household items, I bought an iPad Pro in January with the intention of using it for work and never got round to using it as work issued me with one. However, I decided to list it on eBay, and found my eBay account to be suspended. I contacted eBay who unsuspended it after verifying my items and the whereabouts of them. I was a bit weary but continued to sell items and ship them with tracking and got no negative feedback, it was mainly smaller items other than this iPad Pro. After this, the iPad Pro sold for £690 and my account was again suspended indefinitely due to a high risk of me selling with them (according to Google, this is because you have to ease your way into selling or they find it suspicious). But I contacted eBay and asked if it was fine to still send the item and was told it’s completely fine as the item and myself are covered, as is the buyer. Once the item arrived, the buyer decided he would try and open a return case on grounds I didn’t tell him the iPad was bought from Amazon Germany not Amazon UK. eBay offered me the chance to reject the claim, to which I did stating Apple’s warranty is covered worldwide and all settings are decided on setup so it’s not like he’s getting an iPad in another language or carrier locks as it was a wifi only model. He stated the iPad was still sealed and he wouldn’t use it as he wanted a refund.

 

He then emailed me stating he wanted a £70 refund, to which I rejected as the iPad would sell for £690 still so said I’d happily accept a refund if it was still sealed, to which he stated he had now opened it. My response was if there was an issue as big as he was making out, why did he continue to unseal and use the iPad? He opened a new case and immediately asked eBay to get involved to issue a partial refund. I then reached out to eBay on live chat stating the reasons I rejected the initial refund and why I don’t think it’s fair to accept a return, especially seeing as how the item is now opened after stating it wasn’t, despite having an issue with the iPad. The person on live chat simply stated my account is suspended and closed the chat on me.

 

I thought my point has been made at least and left it at that, a few hours later it was decided he would get a refund and was told to keep the item. Immediately I reached out to eBay who told me as I’m suspended they cannot assist me in any way whatsoever, and if I had a problem with the outcome I need to ask nicely for the buyer to send the item back. I thought and explained it’ll never work, he’s been told to keep the item and got a refund, why would he willingly return it?

 

Long story short, eBay told me to ask PayPal to return the money if I had a problem. PayPal stated that they cannot assist me as it was an eBay dispute and they have no say over the matter. eBay have stated they cannot assist me, despite them telling me to send the item despite being suspended.

 

I have reached out to Apple who stated that the iPad is wifi only so cannot even be blacklisted or marked as stolen, making this an impossible case without the help of yourselves. I can’t even explain how stressed this has made me, I know it sounds a sob story but I genuinely only sold the iPad to pay for my dogs operation, now I’m back to square one, if not back two steps. I am now in debt to my bank as eBay have debited me the funds of £690 and told me there’s zero they can do to assist me as the eBay account is now suspended indefinitely. And also alongside this, they have still charged me money to sell the item despite refunding the buyer, so in fact I’ve paid eBay £70 to give away my item for free.

 

Thankfully, eBay are not the law and what they say does not go. I have raised a county court claim against the buyer to return the item or pay for it. I have seen people on Amazon have success with this and will not just let it go because eBay told me it’s their decision. It’s a big loss, it’s not just £20 that I can write off. I have emailed the Telegraph and The Observer, and will contact Citizens Advice tomorrow.

Is there any info anyone can pass along that may help, or emails I can try to reach out to for advice/help?

Supersonos

This is a very long, rambling post (which ironically contains the phrase "Long story short").  Briefly, why did eBay give the buyer a refund and let them keep the item?  

JReacher1

You probably should have said on the listing it was bought from Germany. It would have saved a lot of this hassle. 

Supersonos

JReacher1 said:

You probably should have said on the listing it was bought from Germany. It would have saved a lot of this hassle. 

What fantastic advice.

Why not take it further and tell the OP they shouldn't have bought the iPad because their work was going to give them one anyway.  Would have saved even more hassle.

hollydays

Why not edit all the emotion out of this post to make it easier to read. any people will not wade through this. So have much money have you lost?

theonlywayisup

Supersonos said:

This is a very long, rambling post (which ironically contains the phrase "Long story short").  Briefly, why did eBay give the buyer a refund and let them keep the item?  

When a SNAD case is opened, eBay favour the buyer.  There are 8 days given for seller and buyer to reach a resolution and if none is made either can ask eBay to step in and adjudicate.  During the 8 days a seller should accept the return and provide a prepaid returns label.  If they don't and eBay step in, there are three options that eBay have.  They can provide a label and charge the seller, they can close the case giving blame to neither party - they refund the monies out of their own pocket or they tell the buyer to dispose of the item and refund using the sellers frozen funds. 
The last option is becoming more the norm and certainly in cases where sellers are completely unwilling to help.  

hollydays

In cases where sellers dig their heels in, EBAY has a difficult job working out who's the guilty party . Your refusal to negociate with the buyer would tend to put you in that role.You should have gracefully accepted it back and taken the hit . That was just greed.

LadyDee

There is an acknowledged eBay/paypal expert on the Ebay board called Soolin, if only you had posted there first you might well have avoided the mess you are now in, as they could have given you much-needed advice.  
It might still not be too late - maybe a mod could move your thread to that Board?

nyermen

While it seems OP could have handled it better (unless i'm missing something around the suspended account, could they still access options etc), I wonder if there's a conflict between rights and ebay's T&C that they can make a final decision (ebay - is it a business contract?).
Not quite the same, but OP may want to read this thread (regarding a broken item): 
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Archive-Buyer-Central/Seller-requested-return-after-eBay-says-to-keep-the-items/td-p/5826703
In that case, the "refund and keep" option was chosen by the buyer, so a contract change was formed.  Still, the situation is still discussed, and the view seemed to be until then, that whatever ebay said, the buyer cant just keep it.  BUT - seller is liable for postage.

[Deleted User]

When this buyer paid through PayPal, whilst you might be suspended so cannot log in on eBay surely the customers email should be in your PayPal payment. Have you tried contacting them directly and explained that you are going through the process of a court claim. I can't see this being easy as they are in another country but maybe they could be quite understanding of you put a story together and just get them to either return the money minus the original partial refund they wanted or request that they return the actual Ipad. The customer might well not respond but that looks like your only hope at the moment.

Have you ever got in contact with the ebay team in Ireland as I've always found them far more understanding with issues. I know it's not possible to select whom you choose to speak to but quite often I've ended up talking to someone in a Ireland when contacting customer support and when it is regarding an account and restrictions they seem to be far more understanding and helpful.