eBay International Shipping is bonkers | Buying

captainjfrosty · 2023-06-02T16:06:19.790000Z

I have learned today that eBay International Shipping, in some occurrences, can be Kafkaesque.Here's the deal: A seller sent me unopened packs of football cards in an open box . I received opened packs of football cards in an open box. We figured something must have happened at either the eBay International shipping hub/facility, or at customs. Through contacting customer service (the agent was very nice and helpful, by the way), I learned that with eBay International Shipping, it appears that once it gets through their shipping facility, the buyer is done with the transaction. They cannot issue partial or full refunds anymore, nor can they ever get (in this case) the cards back if we were to come to an agreement. Instead, the only possible option offered to me as a buyer was to send all of the cards back to eBay (through DHL of all things) to get a full refund. Then, they can do whatever they want with the cards. They can keep them, sell them, whatever.It feels totally crazy to me that a middle man who was most likely the full or partial cause of me getting already opened packs of cards is asking me to send them back the cards. If a seller directly sent me opened packs that were supposed to be unopened, we could easily come to an agreement for a partial refund or something, but with eBay, nothing besides returning them is possible. So basically, because eBay or customs messed up during the shipment, the only possible outcome besides me just dealing with it and keeping the cards, is to send eBay the cards, in which case neither the seller or the buyer end up with the item, and eBay can do whatever they want with it. I'm not crazy to think this is borderline unethical, right? I can understand them not wanting people to game the system by just scamming eBay or something, but the current way of working does feel like eBay is gaming the buyer into giving up on the item they ordered if they want a refund, even if eBay themselves likely were the source of the problem. If it's so easy for people on any side to feel gamed when aproblem arises, maybe the whole system isn't working in the first place, no?

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eBay International Shipping is bonkers | Buying | eBay Canada EN