ebay taking my money

LaoTz_in_shorts

I’m having hell with ebay deciding to take my money and pay out the buyer due to the item being stolen. So....

I sold an item (worth £600) and had it delivered through ebays Simple Delivery.

The buyer opened a case and reported it wasn’t delivered and that it had been left outside by royal Mail where it was the then stolen.

While ebay had been looking into the case my account was permanently suspended, for no reason. I phoned and instantly had it reactivated as the ebay call centre couldn’t see any reason why it had been suspended.

The day after I has a message from ebay saying it had made a final decision in the case and they paid out the buyer and the money was deducted from my account. No reason or why I may have been in the wrong.

I’ve since had multiple calls with ebay in their appeal process (x4 different people) and they all admit it’s really odd and makes no sense why it has happened. It pretty much sounds like a sytem glitch and they don’t want to fix it. The last email I’ve had from then was that the back office have comeback with a denial and there would be no additional appeal available and to maybe talk to Citizen's advice.

Since I have called again for the 5th time, and apparently as I hadn’t clicked on the signature confirmation I’m not covered as part of the Simple Delivery. I swear I didn’t see any Royal Mail signature confirmation as I was looking for more reassurance as I didn’t really want to post it. But then it’s my word against ebay. They have told me to talk to royal mail but as part of Simple Delivery it’s all done by ebay.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do?

Any help would be appreciated

ladruid

eBay delivery Terms and Conditions 

12. Liability for Loss or Damage.

You remain responsible for any loss or damage to your item until it has been scanned into the carrier’s network. Once your item has been scanned into the carrier’s network and providing you used the Simple Delivery label and are compliant with these Terms and eBay’s Policies, as well as the relevant Carrier Terms, your item will be covered for loss or damage during transit up to the sold item value on the eBay.co.uk site. This means you will retain your sales proceeds in relation to the item sent using the Simple Delivery label. The item will be in transit from the point it has been scanned into the carrier’s network until it has been marked as delivered by the carrier. For the avoidance of doubt, your item will not be covered for loss or damage during transit if you have acted fraudulently.

There is no mention in the T&C's about requiring a Royal Mail signature to qualify for Simple delivery. The above except is the only part I could see about loss and damage. We break this down into a few questions:-

Did the carrier scan your item into their network? if so you should be covered by eBay's T&C's.
Did the carrier mark the item as delivered? if so eBay's T&C's should cover you.
The only reasons I can see for not being covered is if you acted fraudulently or refunded the buyer yourself outside of an item not received case.

I would put in a formal complaint regarding payments or services, fully explain the situation with evidence, send registered to eBay Commerce UK Ltd, 1 More London Place, London, SE1 2AF. Formal complaints usually receive a response within 15 business days to 8 weeks.

If you get no joy from that, then after that you can then contact the UK Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Here is a link to the help information:-
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/payment-policies/file-complaint-ebay-commerce-uk-limited-payments-credit-broking-services?id=5313

I feel for you. Personally, I stopped using eBay a few years ago as I noticed the amount of fraudsters was amounting to 30% of my sales. And with eBay always siding with the buyer, it was just not worth the hassle any more.

savergrant

Did you choose to print the label or use the QR code? Was there any other information on your packaging? Frankly given the value I would expect ebay to have selected a signed for service.

What does the item tracking show on ebay?

LaoTz_in_shorts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81931129#Comment_81931129

It was all done through Simple Delivery, so QR shown at the post office and they printed the label. If they have the rule of anything above a certain amount needs a signature, yes it should be mandatory not hidden away as an option.

LaoTz_in_shorts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81930997#Comment_81930997

Thanks for the response, to be honest I was weary of posting the item and Simple Delivery (sounded to good to be true), so for once I did look at the t&c and nothing was obvious. Though the Simple Delivery signature confirmation policy is hidden on their site, (I cant post links).

I'll send them a that letter but I don't hold much hope and I'm mentally drained with it all to be honest.

In regards to the FOS I've heard different things that they don't actually cover that side of the ebay business, only the financial as the business is split.

Thanks

soolin

i see no reason that eBay wouldn’t pay this out, was it definitely showing as accepted at the drop off point?

savergrant

On ebay.co.uk but referring to items over $750! Presumably needs to be setup in the listing (I would guess there is an option once you enter the selling price)

"Summary

Generated with eBay.ai

Signature confirmation is not required for simple delivery unless the order total is $750 or more. In that case, signature confirmation is required for sellers to be protected if a buyer reports an item not received or opens a payment dispute.

If you are shipping internationally, signature confirmation may also be required depending on the site and order value.

For orders below $750, signature confirmation is optional and not required for simple delivery."

tetrarch

I had an item stolen en route whilst in the "care" of the courier under eBay simple delivery

The buyer was incredibly thorough with pictures of the unwrapping showing where the item had been removed from the packaging and then the package left and photographed in such a way as to mask the damage

I did have a bit of to and fro with eBay CS but eventually my acount stayed credited and the buyer refunded

Be persistent - the simple delivery promises are quite comprehensive

Regards

Tet