I purchased two items from a China seller that did not fit. eBay gave me the address to return them to China, which I sent on 31 December, 2020. The parcel arrived in China within the qualifying time period, but tracking showed problems. It was returned to me and received on 12 March, 2021 marked UNKNOWN. Why has eBay closed my dispute and appeal about this return without a full investigation??? I was told the parcel did not arrive within the specified time so no refund would be paid. What is going on with the seller??? Looks to me that they refused delivery so that they would not have to pay the refunds. This is disgusting. I am planning to report this matter to the Australian Ombudsman.
The people above have no clue how Australian company law works.
Hoping you have paid via paypal, they steps are as follows 1) Open a case in PayPal against the seller, provide all information, wait for a resolution (if in favor, then done), if declined move to step 2 2) Contact AFCA website and lodge a complaint against PayPal (not eBay). Be detailed in your complaint and include the transaction number. Include photos if possible showing the address label and any other labels that indicate to the postal service (of any nation) rejected the item. I would also show upload the case notes from eBay, particularly where the return address is displayed. This complaint will then be forward to PayPal's internal dispute team, which are likely just to refund without any more questions (as long as you have provided enough information).
I was in a similar boat recently (a month ago) a got a refund on a very expensive phone through the process above. My purchase was off Aliexpress (a Chinese company), but my payment method was PayPal, which is an Australia-registered financial provider & therefore falls under Australian Law.
Not for future buys or people reading this, the above method only works with Paypal. eBay is now March 2021 using Ayden to process payments and Ayden is yet to register with AFCA. At present items purchased via the new Ayden, system has no options as above. eBay also isn't showing buyers what method they are using (i.e. still has PayPal logo at checkout, but it not processed by Paypal). This is a future issue for buyers
@epicbuy, perhaps you could not find Adyen on the AFCA website because it is spelled "Adyen", not "Ayden". Adyen is registered as an AFCA member, and has been since 29/05/2020.
Adyen Australia Pty Ltd Member number: 76814 ACN/ABN: 55162682411
You can certainly try to open a dispute through PayPal; however, I suggest that you may want to give eBay another nudge. Contact eBay CS through the Live Chat function, and have all of the necessary information to hand, including PDFs of any documents that constitute evidence, ready to upload or to send via email if the chat CS staff member gives you an email address to which they can be sent.
Just before I say anything else... you said in your opening post that the items "did not fit". Do you mean that the items were the size that was stated, but nevertheless they didn't fit? Or do you mean that the size information in the listing was incorrect and that this is why they did not fit?
Also, does the seller have a return policy that, for instance, says the buyer has 30 days to return the item? If so, that means that even for change of mind returns, you can return the items for refund.
You should point out that the failure of the seller to accept the returned items is not a reason for your not being given a refund - if that's what happened. Are you sure that you posted the items (with tracking) within the required timeframe? Are you sure that you uploaded the tracking information into the dispute?
From eBay's Return an item for a refund page:
❝Send the item back
Once the seller has accepted your return, it's important to send the item back promptly. Check the email we sent to your Messages with the subject "Send the item back" for the date by which you should post it. If you don't post the return by the specified date, we may close the request and you won't receive a refund.
To send the item back, you can use an eBay return label, or a label from another carrier. Who covers the postage costs depends on why you're returning it. Find more information about return postage.
Make sure you add tracking details to your return to help protect against delays or issues in the refund process.
If you use an eBay returns label, tracking details are automatically uploaded.
It's important to stay polite and courteous when speaking/chatting with eBay CS. Make sure you keep it simple, straightforward, and well supported by evidence. Put the flow of the conversation into bullet form; know what you're going to say before you start the chat. Don't move on from a bullet point until the CS rep agrees with the point you are making. Then swiftly move on to the next point.
If you have no luck in getting the eBay CS rep to overturn the automatic closure of your dispute with no refund, then open a claim under PayPal Buyer Protection as mentioned.
If that doesn't result in your refund, then - as long as your purchase was funded through PayPal from your credit card (that is, the funding source was your credit card) - you can ask your card provider to perform a chargeback. Of course, you could indeed open an AFCA complaint if the payment processor (probably PayPal) doesn't refund you, but a chargeback is quicker.
I guess my question would be what a couple of others have asked you. Did the ad actually specify they would accept returns?
Just because something doesn't fit, it does not automatically entitle you to a return/refund. It depends on the terms and conditions of sale.
Buying something that isn't a perfect fit is one of the pitfalls of internet buying.
The difficulty of overseas returns is one factor that would make me wary of international purchases of clothes, shoes etc
You may get some joy out of a paypal claim but I am not sure, because you still have the items and from what i can gather, they may not actually be faulty at all.
I doubt the Australian ombudsman will be much help but it would be interesting if you could let us know how you get on.
