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eBay Returns Fiasco

Lazarus Long

Lazarus Long

Super Member
I’m posting this experience in order to help others with eBay returns abusers.

I sold an item in early June. It was delivered on June 9. The next day, the buyer opened a return stating it was damaged. Ok. Return accepted.

The buyer had until June 24 to ship the item. He never shipped the item. Instead he opened another return case on the 24th. This time he says it’s not as described.

now, I only find out about this new case because I click through the original case, which is marked CLOSED, on seller hub. No other open cases are showing!

I call ebay to ask why they are allowing another return case, and why this new case isn’t showing up as an open return.. They have no answer as to why it doesn’t show up as an open return. They do state that the buyer can open two cases on a single item. They also mention something about the buyer having a problem with the label. I get the representative to escalate this as an appeal..

A couple days later I get another email talking about refunding me for a shipping label. This wasn’t at all what I was talking about to the rep. So I call again. This time it sounds like the rep gets it and sends off another appeal.

I haven’t checked my email for a few days, I check today.. On July 2nd, I recvd an email from eBay. It states that the buyer is having problems with the eBay provided label(tough **** right?) and that I need to either, send the buyer a PayPal payment for the amount of the label, or send the buyer a pre paid label. If this isn’t done in 4 days, apparently not business days, because sellers aren’t allowed that luxury, then the case would be closed in the buyers favor on July 6.

I called eBay again and explained how asinine this is. For one thing, I don’t have the buyers PayPal information(managed payments) Also, I have already provided the label through eBay, twice! If the buyer can’t use that label, that’s too bad! The rep agreed and was somehow able to close the case in my favor. Or at least she claimed to have done so! I did get her name and iD number so we shall see!

This buyer was certainly attempting to exploit the returns system.

1: Make initial return claim.
2: Open secondary return claim on the day the initial claim expires.
3: Escalate the return through eBay claiming you can’t use the label.
4: Hope that the seller isn’t paying attention. If they aren’t, you get the item and the money. Case closed.

Moral of the story, you have to pay attention to these return claims or, even if you think you have done what you needed to do, it can still come back to bite you.
 
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Snow said:
Hopefully Ebay loses enough sellers that they decide to change their horrible policys I for one would love to see them go bankrupt and start over again, every policy change they have made in the last few years has absolutely sucked for the seller. There was a thread about stupid people started in back alley pub the policy makers art Ebay rank amongst the most stupid people on earth IMHO.
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I had to spend a couple hours fighting this second return case. As soon as the guy opened that second case I knew he was trying to abuse the system. All eBay would need to do to stop this is to disallow the opening of a second case. Also, If you can’t print the label provided by eBay to return the item, and eBay still wants to refund the buyer, that should come out of ebays pocket. Don’t try to make sellers jump through these hoops. It’s ridiculous.
 
damacman said:
eBay is simply a product of our times ... honesty, ethics, and trustworthiness has been displaced by dishonesty, unethical, and untrustworthy. eBay is simply catering to this societal change best they can ...
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I don’t think there are more dishonest people out there today then in the past. It’s just that you can encounter more of them then ever before because of the internet. When eBay sets up a system in which buyers can fleece sellers simply by initiating claims and escalating through the system eBay set up, that’s an eBay problem. Not a problem of the times.
 
ic-racer said:
Loopholes, deceit and scams are the basics of white collar crime, and have been around for a long time. The internet, and e-bay in particular, allow the average joe to become a white collar criminal.
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That’s a good point. I wonder if the relative ease of committing such acts is creating more dishonesty… I may have to amend my previous post.
 
ic-racer said:
Loopholes, deceit and scams are the basics of white collar crime, and have been around for a long time. The internet, and e-bay in particular, allow the average joe to become a white collar criminal.
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Agreed. Below is just a fun example and ya, we could lighten the mood a little here.
 
Lazarus Long said:
The buyer had until June 24 to ship the item. He never shipped the item. Instead he opened another return case on the 24th. This time he says it’s not as described.

They also mention something about the buyer having a problem with the label. I get the representative to escalate this as an appeal..

On July 2nd, I recvd an email from eBay. It states that the buyer is having problems with the eBay provided label(tough **** right?) and that I need to either, send the buyer a PayPal payment for the amount of the label, or send the buyer a pre paid label. If this isn’t done in 4 days, apparently not business days, because sellers aren’t allowed that luxury, then the case would be closed in the buyers favor on July 6.
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The buyer sounds like he/she is clueless which in itself sucks to have to deal with, I mean seriously how hard is it to print a label? if not download the file to thumb drive and have it printed at your local office supply chain/store for less then a quarter
 
Dswankey said:
The buyer sounds like he/she is clueless which in itself sucks to have to deal with, I mean seriously how hard is it to print a label? if not download the file to thumb drive and have it printed at your local office supply chain/store for less then a quarter
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That’s the thing. I’m sure the buyer isn’t clueless. He just knows how to finesse the system into giving him a chance to get the item for free. What are the chances he stumbled onto this sequence of claims and escalations that would have ended with him getting the item and the money, simply because he couldn’t work his printer? It’s possible, but I highly doubt it.
 
^ I didn't think of it that way but now that you mention it it makes sense. Sorry you have to go through this you would think by now they would have a fool proof method.
 
Dswankey said:
^ I didn't think of it that way but now that you mention it it makes sense. Sorry you have to go through this you would think by now they would have a fool proof method.
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I know. You would think that eBay could have it figured out by now! I’m fine with accepting a return.. BUT, There are multiple things wrong with this particular situation. Starting with the initial return being closed and the second return not showing up as an open return case. That alone is setting up a lot of sellers to lose the item and the money.
 
Hahaha!! I just got an email that eBay has decided to revoke their decision and they yanked the money back from me. I just called again. They insist that the buyer has had two labels provided to them.. so, I just appealed the appeal to the appeal. I’m not sure if this will ever end.
 
It’s absolutely crazy. How can they have the returns process so messed up? If the buyer can’t figure out how to print a label, tough ****. They shouldn’t be buying on eBay. If eBay wants to make them happy and screw over a long time seller that pays thousands in fees every year, then I think they have their priorities screwed up.
 
I wasn't defending eBay above ...

This is why I do VERY little business through eBay anymore ... their policies reward the qualities I listed. And yes there are more of those types than ever before. Assuming the percentage hasn't changed, the population certainly has.
 
I just messaged the buyer. He claims he doesn’t have access to a label. I think he’s telling the truth! Or he’s really good at this.. How this is possible? I don’t know. I suppose that once the original return ended, and he opened the second return(which never gave me an option to provide him a second label), that there simply wasn’t an eBay generated label any longer? Ok, but why is eBay telling me that the buyer has access to the label? I bet it’s a bunch of poorly trained reps simply getting it wrong. Then the team in appeals maybe sees that the buyer doesn’t have access to a label, and then reversed it. Well, if thats the case then that was an opportunity for them to simply provide the damn label that was originally provided with the first return.
 
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I’ll email him a label that I purchase through USPS directly. He will mail the item back. Then eBay will reverse the decision back to my favor and I’ll have pulled off the double reverse switcheroo returnaloo. Then I’ll send him his money back through PayPal, he will triple appeal the eBay decision, win that, and now he’s just taken me for $150!
 
My head is spinning after reading this, but keep us posted. When eBay started charging commission fees on shipping charges, I completely lost faith in the company.
 
I stopped selling anything on ebay around 2008 because i dont care to sell anything on a trail basis.I remember once i sold a Gold Omega Seamaster to someone in the Netherrlands once that insisted i added insurance. Well i did but then customs hit him for amount valued he was'nt happy about that and gave grief. I get anxious everytime i even think about selling there anymore.
 
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