eBay

mrsprdave · ‎10-01-2022

I don't consistently sell on Ebay, but occasionally sell some extra stuff. This is the first time I've experienced this so help navigating what I should do would be appreciated!

I sold a new breaker and the buyer has sent a return request:

"Doesn't match description or photos"

"This breaker arrived dirty and chipped and definitely not in NEW condition! I would like a refund please and thank you."

There are no photos or any other information. No feedback has been exchanged. No offer about shipping it back but could be implied I guess.

I'm fairly certain the buyer is scamming in some way. I carefully spent several minutes looking over every mm of the breaker before I sent it and also picked the best looking one out of the box (even though they are all new, but some have a bit of scuffing on the label from the store like normal). The top of my listing says that the new breakers don't come in packaging, because they don't have individual packaging. Literally as if you picked it off the shelf at Home Depot. I packaged it in about 3 layers/box, about 3 times the packaging of breakers I've received myself.

The buyer picked it up from the post office 18 days ago, after being left a notice to pick it up. So I know it wasn't just sitting in their mailbox or something. It's about 4 days from the 30 day timeframe.

All that to say that I know what I sent, and I'm fairly sure the breaker wouldn't have been damaged in transit. But if it was, it would have been obvious on the packaging, but they didn't say anything for nearly 3 weeks?

So how to navigate... my first thought was to ask for photos showing this 'damaged' breaker/packaging. But is that the best, or would that trigger them to do something more nefarious (purposefully damage?).

I realize I probably don't have much choice but to accept refunding... but if there is anything I should be thinking of, that maybe they would back down and/or obtain some evidence of the scamming?

interesting side experience... I sold someone else a breaker before that, and a week later they bought another and messaged me to check how quickly it ship - since they dropped and broke the first one! He was obviously annoyed with himself but thankful I could ship quick saying his loss was my gain lol.

teenytrinkets · ‎10-21-2022

The bad luck usually comes in waves! Just gotta roll with it and remember the good months...lol...

I always call the bluff of buyers on return requests (unless it's the cheapies I send via lettermail) - even if i lose money. Purely out of principle! I've had a couple US buyers not send back their item because I foiled their scam with a label. To quote Femmefan "Mwah hah hah hah haaah"!

The waiting game sux, but hopefully your buyer doesn't ship back. Good luck!

mrsprdave · ‎10-21-2022

I also got an email from Ebay on the original case (NAD/return), saying buyer indicated that they posted the return and should now be delivered and please issue a refund by Oct 24... except the tracking has not indicated it being sent so don't know why Ebay would be doing this... so I guess I'll have to contact them again unlike what the last agent told me

pjcdn2005 · ‎10-21-2022

@mrsprdave wrote:
I also got an email from Ebay on the original case (NAD/return), saying buyer indicated that they posted the return and should now be delivered and please issue a refund by Oct 24... except the tracking has not indicated it being sent so don't know why Ebay would be doing this... so I guess I'll have to contact them again unlike what the last agent told me

They always send out that message even when the item hasn't been mailed back. I've always ignored the message as eBay won't refund unless there is tracking showing the return has been delivered.

mrsprdave · ‎10-21-2022

@pjcdn2005I hope you're right lol. I just makes me wary since the system seems to just think the buyer shipped it, there's no options otherwise. Even after telling the agent the buyer didn't ship it, they're asking if I've contacted the carrier...

I contacted Ebay and at first they were going to put a 10 day hold on the case to prevent them from automatically getting a refund without shipping. Then after they talked to their support, said to wait out the time to refund. And the seller protection would kick in and contact them on the 25th

mrsprdave · ‎10-23-2022

Well not sure what to think of this... after a couple messages with the buyer on the item not received case, I got a message that they found it in their mailbox! lol

He had already said he looked around and asked his neighbours... his message isn't clear, but I had opened an investigation with Canada Post on Friday so maybe it was put in his mailbox in the meantime. I guess I should contact Ebay to make sure the case gets closed.

I think I'm going to select the "do not safe drop" on most packages now, as I'm leary of having packages stolen when I don't know the destination.

byto253 · ‎10-24-2022

I just went through that recently with a return that was marked as shipped but had no tracking. I posted on this board for feedback since the options from ebay seemed to want to push me to refund and there was no option to indicate that item had not been received back. I took the advice that pjcdn2005 gave and ignored that since it was not back yet, and folks here also said that it can take 30 days for the ebay system to close the case and issue the refund.

That advice was bang on, the case was closed looong after the return deadline had come and gone and I was finally refunded. So if there is not tracking, just hang in there and wait it out.

IMHO the scam in your case is the buyer making up a story so that it was your fault and they can have return shipping paid for. It seems clear they bought the wrong item or had buyers remorse.

Thankfully the norm for me is more in line with the buyer that broke it and re-ordered a replacment.

mrsprdave · ‎10-24-2022

@byto253Thank you for the confirmation. I guess it's just wait and continue on.

The scam here seems to be (time will tell) that the buyer was trying to force a refund while keeping the item. If it was just to force a return at my expense, I'd thought he would have sent it long ago... But seems more like he was trying to make it difficult hoping I would offer a (partial) refund or something. The only other thought is he needed it temporarily and is waiting until the last minute to send back..... I'm calling his bluff but has taken a lot of my time, to sort out the first time anyway - now that I'm set up and familiar it would be much quicker to do another.

pjcdn2005 · ‎10-24-2022

The buyer had filed an not as described return request? I don't remember reading if you sent the buyer a return label it not. If you didn't, they may still be able to contact eBay and say they didn't return it because you didn't send a label. I'm not sure how long they have to do that though. You mentioned the 25th, so perhaps that is the deadline.
Is this an international sale?

mrsprdave · ‎10-24-2022

@pjcdn2005Yes he opened a NAD return request case, with the message requesting a refund. It was within Canada, to another province.

I was able to set up with Canada Post for return labels (ones that don't expire and are charged when shipped, with "return" on the label), the only way to play safe from expired label, wrong size, etc. I uploaded an official return label to the case in the evening of Oct. 3rd. During that same night, the buyer marked the case as shipped. The tracking still says item has not been received.

Ebay told me to wait until the 25th then contact them, so I will be doing just that first thing tomorrow.

mrsprdave · ‎10-31-2022

So as a followup conclusion,

1. The original case of Item Not As Described: I provided a shipping label, the buyer marked as shipped, but did not ship it per the tracking. Was able to eventually request Ebay close the case.

2. The other Item Not Received case: Tracking showed delivered, and after some messages and me opening a case with Canada Post, the buyer found the item... After a few days I was able to get Ebay to step in and close the case.

3. The other concern with a Canada Post processing error that still does not show delivered on tracking - no case was opened, but I eventually messaged the buyer to make sure they got it, and fortunately they agreed that they received it. So I at least have that on record.

Thanks everyone for their assistance!