Buyer Violates eBay Policy, eBay sides with Buyer

[scyc.1]

Hello everyone,

I am new to eBay as a seller but am an established eCommerce seller on other platforms.

I wanted to ask if situations such as the one I described is a norm as a seller on eBay? As this is not normal on the other platforms that I also sell on.

The buyer requested a refund for a product that is labeled as No Returns.

Reason they used was "Does not seem authentic".

In the message conversation they wanted to return the item as the shipping would not arrive by a certain date and they already bought the same product off Amazon. The expected arrival date is a week before the date they wanted.

The buyer mentions several times to refund the product and they would give a positive feedback for it.

Nowhere in the conversation is it mentioned or questioned about the genuine status or authenticity of the product.

We offer the buyer a full refund as an exception if the product does not arrive in time. The product arrives as per the expected arrival date.

The buyer opens a case with eBay. eBay rules in their favor. Contacted eBay, they declined the appeal and maintains their judgement. So unfortunately we are now essentially writing off both the shipping expenses and potentially the product itself.

It's a bit disheartening for this to happen on our first transaction on eBay and to see that eBay would rule in the buyer's favor even though they clearly violated policies and abused the system.  So wanted to ask you, is this a fairly common occurrence in your professional experience and what are your mitigation strategies on eBay for this?

Thank you.

[rosscd57]

There are a couple of things you need to know.

- No Returns does not mean No Refunds. If it is a Not as Described then it's gonna be refunded one way or the other. Make sure you are in control - not the buyer or eBay.

- Always make sure that the buyer returns the item - BEFORE you refund the money and never give eBay the option of making that decision for you - cause they will if you drag your feet on a case and it will not be in your favour. Keep within timelines.

The best thing to do if a buyer want a refund, is to just respond like so. "Not a problem just return it and I will give you a full refund." There is no need to correspond with the buyer. Half of what they tell you is BS anyway,

About half the request I get are buyers looking for a partial refund and the you will not hear back from the majority of them if you tell them to send it back. Never give anyone a partial refund. Others just don't want the hassle of a refund once they learn what will be required of them.

Bye the way the buyers did not violate eBay policy. The fact that: "full refund as an exception if the product does not arrive in time" is your policy - not eBay's  and is of course worthless.

Good luck and keep yr stick on the ice.

[femmefan1946]

Again, I will emphasize  that No Returns does not mean No Refunds. The seller is however allowed to demand the confirmed (tracked) return of the item before refunding.

But there will be a refund.

You may have some appeals here:

In the message conversation they wanted to return the item as the shipping would not arrive by a certain date and they already bought the same product off Amazon. The expected arrival date is a week before the date they wanted.

This is Buyer Remorse, a customer service clerk may read this and agree that the buyer should pay for the return.

• Normally in a Not As Described dispute, the seller pays for tracked returns.

The buyer mentions several times to refund the product and they would give a positive feedback for it.

This might possibly be accepted as "feedback extortion" and could end the Dispute, or lead to the removal of any negative feedback.

• Feedback is not used by eBay to assess seller accounts. However, a small percentage of buyers does.

So unfortunately we are now essentially writing off both the shipping expenses and potentially the product itself.

Who refunded and why was there a refund made before the item was proven to be returned?

If the item has not been returned, although you demanded its return, there should  have been no refund.