eBay

levsac1 · ‎04-10-2016

I sold an item to a buyer in the US and shipped to the US, 12 days after the item arrived to the US the buyer claims it arrived damaged and wants full refund, here is the fund part, he wants me to pay return shipping from Giorgia, it gets better ebay sided with the buyer and wants me to issue a full refund because it arrived "damage"

femmefan1946 · ‎04-10-2016

From your listing. All sales are final, no returns.

While eBay does not insist that sellers take returns, if you accept Paypal you make refunds.

Would a picture of the item show the claimed damage? If so, ask the buyer for a picture.

But since he wants to return it for a refund, there is a pretty good chance that it is in fact damaged, whether because of poor packaging, rough treatment in transit or because the imps that operate it dissolved.

Or you can stick with what you said, and make the refund without getting the damaged machine back.

You are allowed to demand return of the item before refunding.

It is very important at this point to cool off, because you are required to pay return shipping.

And that is impossible.

No non-US seller can supply a US resident with a usable return shipping label.

EBay does not understand this.

Heck, I'm not sure that most Americans understand that there are any other countries outside the USA and that they are not serviced by the USPS.

So you have to convince your unhappy buyer that he can return his purchase to you and that you will not only refund his original payment but also his return shipping.

If you talk to an eBay rep about this, first ask him if he knows where Canada is and who is our Prime Minister (Justin's been in the news enough that even if he only watches Fox and reads People, he should be able to identify him. ) If the rep can't ask for a supervisor until you have one that can deal with international transactions.

Keep your temper.

It would be a good idea to first visit the USPS website and decide which service is most suitable. Probably this is the First Class International Parcel, which carries up to 4 lbs and includes Confirmation of Delivery.

Then let him know how much he can expect to pay (and get back). Include the link to the webpage.

This requires calm, friendly negotiation on the part of both buyer and seller.

If you let him choose the service, he is just as likely to go for the more expensive but easier to find Priority International Parcel. You don't want to pay for that.

Both the customer and since he has opened a Dispute , eBay, need to understand that you cannot send a return shipping label, no matter how much you might want to.

FWIW- all these costs are tax deductible from any profits you are declaring on your income tax. It's a business expense.

And drop that 'no returns'. It doesn't help and it just annoys honest but unhappy customers.

Just to be clear-- your customer is in Georgia USA and not the Republic of Georgia in Asia, right?

levsac1 · ‎04-10-2016

LOL He is Giorgia, Asia how my cellphone end up there is beyond me, I've talking to ebay reps for 2 days and they say is to refund the buyer because the item arrived damaged. we talked and it sounds just like he wants to keep and get full refund. What if it is actually damaged, but it was damaged on the way to Giorgia?

recped · ‎04-11-2016

You might be able to get somewhere.....maybe.

If the phone was shipped to the USA and then forwarded to the country of Georgia you need to convince eBay that the damage occurred AFTER it arrived at the US forwarder.

Not exactly how you go about proving that but it's your only shot.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

hlmacdon · ‎04-11-2016

I've been able to have ebay/paypal cover me in cases where I can demonstrate the item was re-shipped by a third party, after it had been received at the original address. Check the US address to see if it is a forwarding company, but it sounds like you already have messages indicating the buyer had the item reshipped after it was already delivered to the original address.

hlmacdon · ‎04-11-2016

@femmefan1946 wrote:

From your listing. All sales are final, no returns.
While eBay does not insist that sellers take returns, if you accept Paypal you make refunds.

FWIW- all these costs are tax deductible from any profits you are declaring on your income tax. It's a business expense.

And drop that 'no returns'. It doesn't help and it just annoys honest but unhappy customers.

Just to be clear-- your customer is in Georgia USA and not the Republic of Georgia in Asia, right?

This. Putting in the typical angry seller non-enforceable conditions like this only makes you a target for scammers as they realize it is quite easy to get sellers of this nature to send confrontational messages which ensure they lose cases. It can be trying to deal with situations involving a scammer or potential scammer, but as soon as whoever is reviewing a case looks at a listing like this you are already on 2 strikes for attempting to contravene policy.

levsac1 · ‎04-11-2016

I really feel this is a lost battle, I've tried to explain adn show ebay's rep how this is not right to no avail, ebay wants me to send money to the buyer to ship the phone but i'm sure I would be wasting that money too just to make lost greater. I feel let down, no help all I hear is to refund the buyer he is right you are wrong little ebay seller 🙂

levsac1 · ‎04-11-2016

You may be right, but I did that to avoid potential scammers another reason I only ship to US and Canada. I don't believed and confrontations, I've very polite with ebay's reps and even with the buyer, but like everybody else it hurts to be done like this. But as a seller I don't feel protected at all. 🙂

femmefan1946 · ‎04-11-2016

It doesn't avoid scammers, they know that the policy is unenforceable.

It just means that honest buyers feel intimidated and move on, increasing your chances of getting a seller.

So your buyer gave an address in the USA, but is now in Asia?

Where did you ship?

This may be an out.

If you shipped to a US address, show the eBay rep the proof of delivery there. Tell the rep that you will pay return shipping from the USA.

Yes, it's a ploy. Tell the eBay rep exactly how much it will cost for the buyer to ship from the US zipcode to your postal code by USPS First Class International Parcel and tell him you will pay that much for the return and no more.

I did think of a way to do this by the way. It is not difficult to obtain US stamps at a discount on eBay. You can send those to the US address.

Or remember that the minimum wage in Ontario is 18 cents a minute.

How many minutes have you spent stewing over this? And remember it is a business expense and tax deductible.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-11-2016

Did you originally send the phone to an address in the U.S. or Canada and it is now in Georgia?

If yes, then you need to phone ebay and tell them that the buyer if not covered by the money back guarantee because the item was reshipped to another location after it was received to the place that you sent it too. Make sure that you can show them where it does say that it in the MBG. If the first rep doesn't help you, phone back later and talk to someone else. If the phone was reshipped, the buyer should not be covered.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html

Not covered

Items shipped to another address after original delivery.

levsac1 · ‎04-11-2016

I've explained that to the ebay rep to no avail, their mind set is to refund the buyer and close the case. I'm sure that if I send this buyer money to return the item I would lose that money too. I would take the "No Returns" from my listings, that's not helping me.

Money is not the issue here it is the unfairness that bothers me.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-11-2016

Did you point out the exact policy to the customer service rep? They are not always familiar with all of the policies although they should be.

As long as the item was sent to the U.S. and the customer has said that they want to return it from Georgia in the case or ebay messages, it should be fairly cut and dry that the buyer is not covered by the MBG. Even if there was not delivery confirmation to the U.S. address, the rep can still see that the payment address was in the U.S. so there absolutely no way that you would be paying for a return from another country.

If the buyer loses the cases, they can still file a paypal case. If they do that, paypal doesn't protect the seller in not as described cases and I don't think that they have a rule about reshipped items (I'm not positive about that) but paypal does require the buyer to ship the item back at their expense.

levsac1 · ‎04-12-2016

Yes I did, I even copy the link and still the same thing. I have the tracking number that shows its original destination was Denver, USA, but their line doesn't change, pay return shipping from the the US and refund the buyer. I'm certain that I would never get this item back no matter what I do this buyer is going to get away with it.

ypdc_dennis · ‎04-12-2016

@levsac1 wrote:
Yes I did, I even copy the link and still the same thing. I have the tracking number that shows its original destination was Denver, USA, but their line doesn't change, pay return shipping from the the US and refund the buyer. I'm certain that I would never get this item back no matter what I do this buyer is going to get away with it.

And did you also point out to the support people that the buyer is in Georgia the country and not Georgia the state?

levsac1 · ‎04-12-2016

It worked! Thanks to you guys that pointed me in the right direction about items not cover under the MBG policy. Thank you, I really appreciate your help.