I am at my wit's end ---and advice or similar experiences? | Selling

dhslk · 2026-02-19T20:32:00.873000Z

I sold an item to an overseas buyer. They contacted me saying that the colour was wrong and that the box looked like it was opened. Through the subsequent conversation and images that they sent, they 'proved' that their existing sofa was a completely different fabric and that they had bought the wrong item, and that Israeli Customs had opened the box. I stated that I would accept a return, but that postage would be their responsibility, as my item was as described and that they had unfortunately chosen the wrong cover to match their existing cover. The buyer subsequently opened an 'item not as described' return. There is no mechanism to create a label for an international return, even if I had wanted to, so I contacted ebay customer support for guidance in how to deal with this. I was told that I would have to prove that I had provided the customer with money for a label, but that I would be covered by seller protection, based on the supporting evidence provided by the buyer already, and my postage would be reimbursed. I contacted the buyer via ebay, asking for them to provided me with a quote for the return so that I could forward the money. I didn't hear back, so contacted ebay again . I pled my case again, they spent quite a bit of time looking at the buyer's photos, and told me that they were closing the case in my favour, that I didn't need to do anything else, and that I would receive an email to that effect in about an hour. The email never arrived, so I contacted ebay again the next day (I had reference numbers for all of these calls.). They stated that it was an ebay International France agent that I had dealt with than that they were emailing them to get them to respond to me, and that it would take 24-48 hours for a response.The next day, the customer messaged me with a quote of $150 and the return request turned into a case a few minutes later (presumably, the buyer escalated it, even though I had already been told 2 days earlier that the case would be closed immediately in my favour). I immediately contacted ebay about this, as I really didn't know what to do, based on the conflicting information that I had received from these agents. Even if I were to pay the $150 somehow, could I trust the first agent any more than the 2nd? The last agent stated that I should wait for the ebay France team to respond (they forwarded the request again, with a synopsis of the past calls).Then, to add insult to injury, I went in to the case again a few minutes later, only to find that it had been 'frozen'. When I had looked at it as soon as it was opened, it looked like I would be able to at least download a pdf to prove that I had sent the buyer money, and that I had 3(4?) days to do so. Now, I had NO mechanism for responding at all.I made one more call, asked to speak to a supervisor, and was disconnected (read ' hung up on' either deliberately or by accident).I am at my wit's end here. I have tried any prompt that I can think of to somehow reach a 'higher up' level of customer support.

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I am at my wit's end ---and advice or similar experiences? | Selling | eBay Canada EN