how to seller's get away with no postage refund when the item isn't as described?

[sl357875]

I have recieved two purchases this past week where the items weren't described with accuracte measurements and I end up losing most of my money on postage- how is that fair? Even with an open case= in the end I am stuck wait for a refund  and I end up short and stil have nothing to show for it I dont see that as custemoer friendly and I have be eBaying for 6 years. I am so frustrated.

[audistarelectronics]

Don't know what your items were worth, but we have just won a dispute where the item has to be returned to China, even though it was listed as being in Australia. It cost $145 to buy, and it is almost $80 to post it so we can be refunded. Needless to say, we told both parties to shove it where it fits and won't be buying anything that can't be proven to be local. Ebay needs to clean out these fraudulent sellers, but as they generate huge commissions for Ebay and Paypal, we will be left in the cold. If a bricks and mortar store lied like this,  Fair Trading would have them closed down just like they closed down a seller who was selling dangerous chainsaws that were sold with faulty drive components and no safety manual. But offshore, is off limits to us unless it is an item that is so cheap is won't matter what happens.

[kopenhagen5]

ebay and PayPal deem it fair if each party loses one postage cost in a dispute.

Good sellers will refund all costs if it's their fault, but there are some inexperienced sellers on ebay.

Having said that, sellers also need to navigate through a minefield of lies they often get from buyers trying one on.

Overall, transactions being over the net, will always pose these types of issues and I think the ebay system is well thought out within their limitations. It is of course also a "work in progress".

[audistarelectronics]

It sure stinks though when you buy an item and it's free postage, then when it proves a lemon, the seller wants to still try and profit by making the buyer pay for the original and the return postage. Fraud, fraud and more fraud.

[digital*ghost]

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@audistarelectronics wrote:

It sure stinks though when you buy an item and it's free postage, then when it proves a lemon, the seller wants to still try and profit by making the buyer pay for the original and the return postage. Fraud, fraud and more fraud.

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A seller doesn't generally profit from postage costs, all that money (theroetically) goes to Australia Post, or whatever carrier is used. Minimising or eliminating direct loss isn't quite the same as profiting.

With that said, I fully agree that a good seller will assume responsibility for original and return postage costs when an item is faulty or not as described. Personally, I even provide the option quite often to send the buyer a pre-paid envelope or satchel so that they have no direct out of pocket expenses at all.

One thing you have to remember, despite the fact that I 100% understand the frustration and unfairness of the situation, is that it's the nature of online shopping - the product and postage service are technically two different things, each with individual costs (another reason why I will never use the "free postage" model, muddies the waters too much for my liking), and even if the product is faulty, it can not be said that the postage service was if the buyer received the item through said carrier etc, so you also have to consider there may actually be legal reasons why PayPal cover the full original payment, but not return postage (aside from the fact that they can't refund more than they received), i.e. it might be a trade-off to get around some other legal issues (this is a personal theory, no evidence to back it up, despite trying to find out on several occasions, but the issue in my eyes is can you really, legally, demand a refund for a service that - despite the product's failings - was 100% supplied as promised?)

I do still think that if an item location is misrepresented, there should be greater protection for buyers because they were not able to make an informed purchase decision.