Ebay reversed a decision error and refunded me. Will they recover funds from the buyer?

[byto253]

I had a return, which I agreed to accept but I was not able to get a USPS label from Canada, so offered to pay for the shipping up front as per the online eBay options.   The buyer refused saying they would return when they get a label, so I said I would check with eBay.  I called eBay and they indicated that for international a label is not available and I had proceeded correctly. 

I messaged the buyer again, explained that and offered to pay up front + $5 for the inconvenice - No response.  Instead I get an eBay message that the return has closed and case opened for "item not as described" and a final decision would be made in a few days.  Called eBay again and the rep read the messages and said I was ok and they had to return the item to get refunded.   Deadline day came and I am informed of a ruling in the buyers favour and a refund was issued from my Paypal account.  Ugh.  

Another call to eBay and Kudos to them.  The rep looked at the case and took care of it immediately.  The decision was reversed and eBay returned the funds to my Paypal account the same day.

So finally to my question.  Will eBay recover their funds from the buyer or is this just written off as a cost of business when the automated system screws up?   I am happy that this concluded correctly but just curious.

Full credit to the eBay phone representatives as they were professional and excellent.  The return call system worked great and I never waited more than a few minutes until called back.  I did request a reference number after each call and they provided that, no problem.   I also made detailed notes, though that was not required in the end. 

p.s. The value was worth offering the $5 bonus for the return 🙂  

[marnotom! · Accepted solution]

eBay has no mechanism for obtaining funds from buyers in circumstances such as yours, so, as you’ve already guessed, it will suck this one up.

[reallynicestamps]

Side note.

I have been able to make a USPS shipping label by using Shippo. This was in spite of the original shipping being done using postage stamps.
I hope neither of us ever has to use this knowledge again.

[byto253]

That is a good tip about Shippo.  Funny thing is that I was wondering about this one as he contacted me ahead of time and the questions made me wonder if he knew what he was doing and his expectations were out of line with the real world.  I think he got the item expecting the clouds to part and angels to descend, and when that did not happen he regretted the money he spent.   The return request was not a big shock. 

[teenytrinkets]

Buyers remorse is likely the majority of the reason buyers open a SNAD these days. I get them sometimes from buyers that aren't happy with a scent, or if something doesn't fit right. They'll just say it's "defective" just to get their money back. I'd be curious to know what the SNAD claim rate was several years back, when buyers were responsible for return shipping, vs. what it is now.

I no longer sell items over $50 to the US because it's too much of a PITA for a SNAD, and anything less is just a write-off because it's not worth it to pay for the return.