Ebay buyer wants to return an item which they received OVER 28 days ago... HELP?

GeorgeKnows

Hi all, just an update. Sadly I feel I've been treated very poorly by ebay and their customer service team. 

To make a very long story short, ebay has refunded the buyer fully (and have taken the money out of my account) and the buyer has KEPT the rug. Despite having the case extended by an additional 5 days so that I could arrange a collection from the buyer (which I paid upfront for with 3x failed collections from Parcelforce as the buyer "didn't have a parcel to be collected" - the buyer didn't reply to any of my messages and even blocked me on WhatsApp when I tried to contact them on there to ensure the collection details were correct and that the collection days were convenient) I am now around £450.00 out of pocket and haven't done anything wrong. I feel like this is extremely unfair and that my only next route is to somehow take ebay to the small claims court.

If anybody can advise of another remedy or way around this, I'd really appreciate it. This has come at a terrible time financially and I'm heartbroken that I've been kind, honest and proactive throughout to only be defeated by a deceitful and fraudulent buyer.

GeorgeKnows

soolin said:

Do not allow the case to close, the offer of a part refund does not stop the clock. If eBay close the case then your buyer gets all their money back and you lose your FVFS, and may struggle to get the rug returned. 

Log into the case, allow eBay to send a pre paid label and wait for the item, if buyer doesn’t return then the label will be cancelled and the case closed without any impact on you. If rug is returned then you need to refund the buyer and then appeal the case if possible.

DO NOT allow case to be closed without issuing a return label. 

Hi Soolin, sadly I read the first reply in this thread and never saw yours. If I had seen it, it would've saved me a lot of aggravation. 

As you may have seen from my post above, the return DID close and time out. Because of the size of the rug, ebay were unable to provide a returns label. The case closed, but was extended by a further 5 days for me to organise a return. Which I did, but the buyer never replied to me. 

I really am lost with what to do now. I feel like the outcome of this case isn't fair and my honesty, kindness and integrity has been taken for weakness by both ebay and the buyer here

soolin

All you can do is phone eBay first and ask them how they are going to help you resolve this since buyer refused to return the item. Ideally this should have been done before the case timed out as eBay may well have found in your favour at that point as a seller can win where a buyer is being obstructive about return. If that fails write to buyer via eBay and also by snail mail stating that you expect the buyer to assist in your retrieving your rug as you want it back and expect the buyer to retain it in good order meanwhile and word something clever (not my first) about if they cannot assist in return and wish to keep it then you expect to be repaid for the rug in full.   Depending on how that goes you may need to then do a LBA for the money they ‘owe’ you by keeping the rug and not repaying.

you need to do all this very urgently though as eBay will have told them to keep or destroy the rug and they could use that to defend your claim. 

GeorgeKnows

soolin said:

All you can do is phone eBay first and ask them how they are going to help you resolve this since buyer refused to return the item. Ideally this should have been done before the case timed out as eBay may well have found in your favour at that point as a seller can win where a buyer is being obstructive about return. If that fails write to buyer via eBay and also by snail mail stating that you expect the buyer to assist in your retrieving your rug as you want it back and expect the buyer to retain it in good order meanwhile and word something clever (not my first) about if they cannot assist in return and wish to keep it then you expect to be repaid for the rug in full.   Depending on how that goes you may need to then do a LBA for the money they ‘owe’ you by keeping the rug and not repaying.

you need to do all this very urgently though as eBay will have told them to keep or destroy the rug and they could use that to defend your claim. 

Thanks for all your help so far Soolin. 

I had a conversation with ebay earlier today and they've said that all they can do is send an email to their "back office" and ask to refund me. But this has to go through an approval process and is not guaranteed and takes 5-10 working days until I get an email informing me of the outcome. 

I did inform ebay that the buyer hadn't responded before the case timed out - but they told me to wait until the case closed. Their customer service team out in the Philippines are very unhelpful and it sounds like they've given me a lot of misinformation. 

Sorry to sound silly, but what is 'Snail Mail' and what is an LBA?

soolin

Snail mail = a normal letter by post. LBA = letter before action (a google search should help you with one of those) 

[Deleted User]

It’s quite disgusting really but it does happen. I’ve heard many stories of buyers purchasing expensive items, getting full refunds and not having even returned the items. Buyer wins and seller loses. This is why I refuse to sell high end stuff on eBay no more. I’d rather do through another site and arrange a collection only and take cash as payment. 

GeorgeKnows

MarkN88 said:

It’s quite disgusting really but it does happen. I’ve heard many stories of buyers purchasing expensive items, getting full refunds and not having even returned the items. Buyer wins and seller loses. This is why I refuse to sell high end stuff on eBay no more. I’d rather do through another site and arrange a collection only and take cash as payment. 

It's true. I can't believe it's happened to me. I'm now around £450.00 out of pocket when I factor in the return which ebay told me to coordinate as well as the ebay fees which they deducted from me. 

Worse still, I looked at the buyers page just now and he's received a STRING of negative feedback since he purchased the rug from me (any logical person reviewing the case at ebay would notice that the buyer is clearly fraudulent), and has only been an ebayer since Jan 2020. Whereas I've been an ebayer for almost 10 years with 100% positive feedback and have never had an issue as a buyer or a seller. 

It has absolutely put me off of ever using ebay again as a seller. I guess I'll return as a buyer if I ever want to STEAL something though *sigh*

soolin

GeorgeKnows said:

MarkN88 said:

It’s quite disgusting really but it does happen. I’ve heard many stories of buyers purchasing expensive items, getting full refunds and not having even returned the items. Buyer wins and seller loses. This is why I refuse to sell high end stuff on eBay no more. I’d rather do through another site and arrange a collection only and take cash as payment. 

It's true. I can't believe it's happened to me. I'm now around £450.00 out of pocket when I factor in the return which ebay told me to coordinate as well as the ebay fees which they deducted from me. 

Worse still, I looked at the buyers page just now and he's received a STRING of negative feedback since he purchased the rug from me (any logical person reviewing the case at ebay would notice that the buyer is clearly fraudulent), and has only been an ebayer since Jan 2020. Whereas I've been an ebayer for almost 10 years with 100% positive feedback and have never had an issue as a buyer or a seller. 

It has absolutely put me off of ever using ebay again as a seller. I guess I'll return as a buyer if I ever want to STEAL something though *sigh*

This was easily avoided though, at the point ebay said that a label could not be issued you needed to be pro active- especially once buyer started to block your attempts to have it collected. It was very possible at that point if you had politely pointed out the buyers feedback that ebay would have considered a no fault refund. Even now all is not lost if you act as suggested previously.

As for feedback, it is impossible for your buyer to have negative feedback for buying only if he is also a seller .

GeorgeKnows

soolin said:

GeorgeKnows said:

MarkN88 said:

It’s quite disgusting really but it does happen. I’ve heard many stories of buyers purchasing expensive items, getting full refunds and not having even returned the items. Buyer wins and seller loses. This is why I refuse to sell high end stuff on eBay no more. I’d rather do through another site and arrange a collection only and take cash as payment. 

It's true. I can't believe it's happened to me. I'm now around £450.00 out of pocket when I factor in the return which ebay told me to coordinate as well as the ebay fees which they deducted from me. 

Worse still, I looked at the buyers page just now and he's received a STRING of negative feedback since he purchased the rug from me (any logical person reviewing the case at ebay would notice that the buyer is clearly fraudulent), and has only been an ebayer since Jan 2020. Whereas I've been an ebayer for almost 10 years with 100% positive feedback and have never had an issue as a buyer or a seller. 

It has absolutely put me off of ever using ebay again as a seller. I guess I'll return as a buyer if I ever want to STEAL something though *sigh*

This was easily avoided though, at the point ebay said that a label could not be issued you needed to be pro active- especially once buyer started to block your attempts to have it collected. It was very possible at that point if you had politely pointed out the buyers feedback that ebay would have considered a no fault refund. Even now all is not lost if you act as suggested previously.

As for feedback, it is impossible for your buyer to have negative feedback for buying only if he is also a seller .

I see what you're saying - but I was proactive, I did provide everything which I needed to provide and spoke with ebay on a regular basis to update them on my activity! I also pointed out their feedback more than once. 

Whilst I've written a snail mail letter, I'm unsure how this will will assist me in getting the piece back? The issue and decision is with ebay and (whilst I'm furious at the seller) the seller has followed ebay's instructions?