Bit of a quandry

[tbt47]

I need some help.

I purcased an item from a US Seller and needed to return it citing that it was Not as Described - it was in fact broken and not through any fault of the PO.

I sent an email to the Seller who did not respond and consequently I raised a dispute. 

After this was done, the Seller replied via an email - not through the eBay messaging system. He agreed to pay US$20 for the return. 

Rather foolishly after receiving a message from eBay telling me to return the item I did so - with tracking - but without any money being depositied in my PayPal account by the Seller. The postage came to a little over US$18. 

I sent a message to the Seller when the item arrived, telling him that I had just received confirmation of this and requested reimbursement of the original cost of the item, my shipping to Australia AND the cost of the return postage.

The cost of the item and the postage costs to Australia have now been refunded.

Since this time, has sent several messages stating that he does not believe that he should be required to pay for the cost of the return shipping (all done in the space of 10 minutes).

I rang eBay after the third one of these and CS stated that they would be sending a message to the Seller indicating that I should not be out of pocket for the return shipping. 

Today I received another message from the Seller stating that he will not be refunding the shipping. I have sent a message to him together with links to the eBay pages that state that he is responsible for the return postage and have included his original email stating he would pay for the return as an attachment.

I have then contacted eBay who have replied that I should contact the Seller to work it out.....

I seem to be going around in circles.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

[*tippy*toes*]

Yes, and most of them don't deserve it. The ones that do deserve it get off Scott free!

Spoiler

Who the heck is Scott?

[davewil1964]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Yes, and most of them don't deserve it. The ones that do deserve it get off Scott free!

Spoiler

Who the heck is Scott?

---

Scot = tax/levy. Or cost these days.

[tbt47]

Hi Tippy

I think you need to cross things a little harder!

After talking with a CS Rep - as mentioned - they stated they would send a Message to the Seller and to give him 24-48 hours to respond. 96 hours later - no reply. Tried ringing CS again - they are closed for the night. Have sent an Message in it's place:

I opened a dispute about this item. I claimed that it was Not as Described - in fact it was broken as the lighter failed to hold any butane gas. I provided photos of this in the dispute. The Seller - who is based in the USA and is unable to to send a Postage label to Australia - accepted the return of this item on 15th April based on the fact it was Not as Described. He also sent me an email outside eBay agreeing to pay US$20 for the return. eBay sent me a message asking me to return the item. I did so, based on the Seller agreeing to pay for the return postage and eBay sending me a message on 16th April stating that: 'we will not let buyers be the one to shoulder for the return postage cost'. The item was returned with tracking and I received notification of this on 28th April. Since this time, the Seller has refused to reimburse me for the cost of return postage - see his last message and my reply on 3rd May. In this message I have included his original email to me that was outside the eBay Message system as an attachment. I do not know how he obtained my email address. I have been told by an eBay CS Rep that you are unable to read this email attachment. I do not know why this is the case as you are able to read the rest of the Message. I would be more than happy to to send this to you as an attachment. I have contacted the Seller several times - he still refuses a refund. I have contacted eBay numerous times about this - the latest being on 4th May when I spoke with CS rep, [Edited to protect the innocent] who stated that he would contact the Seller and ask for a refund. He stated to wait for 24-48 hours. I have now waited for 96 hours. No payment has been made for the return of this item - which goes against eBay Policy (Refund the buyer: If a buyer wants a refund for an item that didn't match the listing description:
We ask the buyer to send the item back to you – with tracking information – within five business days.
Your refund to the buyer is the total purchase price plus all postage costs paid by the buyer.
You can't charge a restocking fee.
Refund the buyer within six business days of receiving a returned item. If the buyer didn't pay with PayPal, refund the buyer using the same payment method used to buy the item. Refunding the buyer using the original payment method prevents a buyer from being able to get two refunds – for example, one from you and one from their credit card company.) . As I have stated numerous times in both Messages and phone calls to eBay I would like payment for US$18 for the return of this item. My Return Request has been closed by eBay - not by myself. Regards [Me]

Don't know what else to do apart from emailing Consumer Affairs and continually haranguing eBay.

Cheers

[*tippy*toes*]

I'm not really sure Consumer Affairs can do anything because the seller isn't in Australia. You could try calling PayPal. Not sure you'd get anywhere with them, but they've got around 8 more braincells than the monkeys on the phone at eBay. Explain the full story, how you paid with PayPal, your item wasn't as described, you were told to return for a full refund including postage, you've got the refund minus postage. Ask if there is anything they can do to get it from the seller because eBay has wiped their hands of you. It's a long shot, but you're running out of options.

Use the call back option to contact eBay again and ask to speak to a supervisor. Speak to them in your best phone voice (even though you want to jump through the phone and rip their head off). Remain calm and plead your case (again..........). Hopefully you'll eventually get someone that's sympathetic. I'd be inclined to call in the morning rather than the afternoon, before they've had too many abusive phone calls from other disgruntled members.

Hopefully one of the more experienced members will stick their head into this post. There are a few that know more about this process than me.

[tbt47]

Yes, that's possible I suppose but as I understand it, PayPal will not refund the return postage, but as you point out, my options are drying up.

I was actually talking about Consumer Affairs in relation to eBay for two reasons:

1. they have made a written statement in reply to one of my messages that they are not honouring, and

2. they are not honouring their own Policy

The bottom line is that the return of the money will not break me, it is the principle of the thing. eBay have Policies that they are simply not policing/enforcing, so the question is: 'Why have them in the first place?'

Cheers 

[tbt47]

Actually I'll amend the above - I have requested a refund for the return shipping through PayPal.

I guess we shall see.

Cheers

[tbt47]

Just an update: PayPal rejected the Refund request as it was more than 14 days after the return.

Guess it's back to ringing eBay.

Cheers