eBay

pinetreecottage · ‎02-14-2015

A buyer contacted ebay for a request for a refund, before letting me know there was a problem. That transaction is now frozen in my Paypal acct. I tried contacting buyer through the new refund system. There are several choices for a seller to respond, however none of them work. I then went to the sold listing and contacted buyer from there. She says she returned the item on Tuesday, the day after she received it, claiming it was very damaged. For the record, that is absolutely not true. On Friday (yesterday) she initialized her request. I have repeatedly requested a tracking # from her, but so far, silence. At what point will those funds be released, so that I can do a refund? The refund site is mildly threatening, that my seller status is at risk, if I don't comply. This item was sold with free shipping ($35.00). I would have refunded her and she could have kept the item, had I known she was unhappy with her purchase. I now will also have to pay for the return. It's fine to offer buyers protection, what protection do I, the seller, have. Thanks for any input.

bestchoicebrand · ‎02-14-2015

You have to respond to the open case.

Resolution center - View return details - Send a message (last option) - push button SEND REPLY (only after that you will able to) - Add a message to your buyer and officially agree to accept return. Buyer will be obligated provide shipping details for return.

pinetreecottage · ‎02-14-2015

That's just it. There is no case open, so I can't respond to the buyers request. The return site says, if I don't comply, a case WILL be opened. As there is no place for me to respond, since none of the option buttons work, I'm not sure what to do. It also says I have til Feb. 18 to respond, but where, that's the question. At this point, I'm going to wait and see. I'm sure Paypal will give her a refund regardless, I'll just have to suck up the fallout from this.

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-14-2015

Well...a request is the same thing as case when the buyers requests a return because an item is not described. I'm not sure what you mean when you say none of the options work? Were you able to click on return for refund within the request?

The new system is confusing as none of us have had to use it often or at all yet but you shouldn't have to refund until you get the item back.

If things don't seem right with the request system, you might want to contact ebay because if you don't respond correctly, they could consider that an unresolved case and you don't want that to happen.

pinetreecottage · ‎02-14-2015

Yes, I tried all the buttons, none worked. Now at the bottom of my page, I have an "Open return" on the side of that, is a drop down menu with 3 options. Issue refund - Contact buyer - Report this buyer. As the funds are frozen I can't issue refund, the others do not apply, as I have already contacted buyer. Besides, shouldn't she have provided a track. # somewhere. There is a "return ID # " that's all. When a case is opened, and I agree to refund, will she then have to provide a track.#? I have been happy selling on ebay for 12 years, this is the first time I'm stumped.

Anonymous · ‎02-14-2015

What is fantastic about this new system is that the sellers don't have to refund the shipping cost.

So when the buyer opened this claim, it shows very clearly that the sellers can refund the sold price not shipping costs and the buyers can see that and accept it. It happened to me once a few weeks ago and I didn't include the refund for shipping cost plus the return shipping cost and the buyer accepted it. It may be a positive thing for the sellers and I don't even get a defect for it too.

momcqueen · ‎02-14-2015

I think you might be stuck calling Customer Service on this one. Too often the instructions and drop-down menu options don't actually coincide with directions a seller is supposed to follow. Make them do a walk-through with you so that they can see it doesn't work. But do it before the deadline so you don't end up with any black stains on your account. Good luck.