I`d like to thank everyone for their thoughts.
I have called Ebay on this matter - I want to tell you how many times, but it is so many I can`t tell with any reliability. I phoned 3 times on the first day and got three different Ebay representatives.
I`ve called multiiple times over the subsequent days.
In each case I called for guidance as to how I should proceed after each new piece of this story became known to me.
In each case I got the US call center (No uninformed Asian CSR`s in this case)
The first advise was to contact the buyer and see what I could give him to address his concerns about where I bought the items. In that case it has the inventory sticker of a well known dealer (name not included here in case it causes ebay to pull this post). There were a number of items in the estate auction from this dealer, and I contacted the dealer personally to confirm the authenticity of his inventory labels before I bought them at the estate auction (this dealer also uses ebay, and has been a member for 16 years and 6 months - my communication with him was via the ebay message system). The buyer claimed there was no evidence in the listing to confirm the authenticity of the dealer`s inventory sticker or where I bought the items. So I contacted the buyer and asked him what he would like to address his concerns. He said he diidn`t want anything, other than to return the items.
I then called ebay again for guidance.
This time I was advised not to escalate it - I`ve made that mistake previously, and know their reaction is most likely to be automatic (probably made in Asia) return, rather than reasoned.
I was also told that how I handled this complaint, would determine if the defects could be removed, and I was told if I kindly accepted the items back for a full refund I would be more likely to get the defects removed later. I followed that advice.
I told the buyer he could return the items (I note it was well after the 7 day no questions asked return period required by ebay).
He then told me he had mailed the items back. Then he also demanded the return mail cost. I felt that was going too far, so I said if I had done anything wrong, i would pay the return cost, but in this case, there was no error. He refused that argument. I then gave him the contact information for the dealer who`se inventory sticker is on the base of this item so he could confirm the authenticiy of the inventory sticker (remember there is no dispute about the authenticity or condition of the item itself), I also gave him a copy of my auction purchase receipt (which also confirms the provenance of the dealer just mentioned).
He then stated that if I did not pay his return mail cost he would give me negative feedback. This has not happened yet, as the item is still in the return mail phase. I again phoned ebay for advise, and was told that such negative feedback would be removed if given (time will tell on that one).
After wondering why the buyer wouldn`t accept the proof I`d provided, I decided to look into his prior activity on ebay, and found that following his purchase from me, he`d had these items listed on his own ebay site for sale at much higher prices.
At that time it all made sense, the buyer filed a fraudulent item not as described complaint to enable him to return items he had been unable to resell at a profit.
I then phoned ebay again to see what my options were. At that time I felt I had a strong case for defect removal (at the very least). The CSR was in the US (is not an Asian Call Center). He heard everything I said, and told me the defects would not be removed. He said it doesn`t matter what evidence I produce to prove statements about where I bought the item or who owned it before me. He told me the buyer does not need to provided any proof to support their allegation. The buyer can make any unsupported allegation he or she chooses, and you will get a defect that can not be removed! The only allegation the buyer can make that will be unsuccessful is if he claims the same thing you said. For example is you said the item is used, and the buyers complains it is used, then that defect can be removed. However if you say the item is new (and it is new), but the buyer says is it used. The buyer will win, without evidence, and despite any evidence you may have to prove it is new, and the defect will stand.
The defect issue is the main problem for me as I am top rated and the 20% discount is important to me, as my ebay costs are usually about $2000 per month. Thats $4000 per year in saving, so I will sometimes accept items back when there is no reason, just to protect that $4000 annual figure.
When you add in the return selling fees part, this defect policy becomes something really bad for sellers.
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