Buyer Got Refund For Lost Item

[custombits]

I sold some car parts to a buyer in Greece. The parts were large and the most economical way to send was via sea freight with Australia Post. Now, sea freight as Ebay are clearly not aware does not have or use tracking numbers. It of course also takes longer. The buyer opened a case. I have, and sent him a copy of the shipping receipt from Australia Post which clearly states the destination as Greece. So, Ebay in the infinite wisdom have refunded the buyer even though the chances are he has, or will get, the parts.

I have appealed this ridiculous decision but I doubt anything will happen. How am I responible for the package once it leaves my hands at the post office. In effect the purchaser could quite simply lie and he gets his parts and his money back.

Should I contact the Australian Compition and Consumer department. This almost borders on fraud / extortion.

[phorum_junkie*]

Sorry but the ebay policy is very clear, no proof of delivery, no seller protection. You chose to take the rsk of sending by a method that does not have a high enough proof of sending and delivery so you automatically lose. Only you can control what shipping service is used so if you offer an unsafe delivery method and the buyer chooses that because it is cheaper you leave yourself open to a dispute which you cannot win.

It s not fraud or extortion, it is ebay policy which you agreed to when you opened your account.

Nobody except the buyer wil ever know if they received the goods, I should think a fair amount of parcels go 'missing' in Greece going by the state of their finances and it is certainly not thhe buyer's fault if the goods went missig in transit.

[custombits]

Oh well. Looks like I'll be using Gumtree from now on. If Ebay try and take the money from my credit card I'll open a case with the bank as an unauthorised transaction.

[phorum_junkie*]

They will put your Paypal account into a negative balance and should you not pay that Paypal willl chase you up and will dispute any chargeback which they will win as you have authorised them to take the payment, As with ebay you agreed to that when you signed up.  If they have to they will go as far as to use debt collectors and your credit rating will be impacted.

[*tippy*toes*]

Gumtree is owned by eBay and you get far more scammers on there. It always makes me laugh when people have one bad transaction and declare they're going to Gumtree. You're certainly not going to shut eBay down by not seling here any more.

You chose to send overseas without tracking. There is nothing you can do if you send anything without tracking. Might pay to read up on the rules and regulations on postage and disputes.

[jellybirddesigns]

Other than Aus, I only ship to the UK, US and New Zealand.

Some countries are notorious for parcels going "missing".

Yes, I might be losing out on some sales, but I'm sure not missing the hassles that used to come with worldwide shipping.

[clarry100]

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@custombits wrote:

I sold some car parts to a buyer in Greece. The parts were large and the most economical way to send was via sea freight with Australia Post. Now, sea freight as Ebay are clearly not aware does not have or use tracking numbers. It of course also takes longer. The buyer opened a case. I have, and sent him a copy of the shipping receipt from Australia Post which clearly states the destination as Greece. So, Ebay in the infinite wisdom have refunded the buyer even though the chances are he has, or will get, the parts.

I have appealed this ridiculous decision but I doubt anything will happen. How am I responible for the package once it leaves my hands at the post office. In effect the purchaser could quite simply lie and he gets his parts and his money back.

Should I contact the Australian Compition and Consumer department. This almost borders on fraud / extortion.

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Without any tracking information as evidence I doubt you will get any real attention from ACCC or from The ACORN either.

And as your buyer is in another country neither of those will have any jurisdiction.

The lack of tracking is the crux here as has been pointed out above.

Even if you had tracking which showed lodgement to the buyers address, unless that tracking showed delivered then its still very likely you would lose any ebay MBG claim by a buyer. Ebay require proof of delivery. PayPal require proof of postage only. These are the rules under which we all operate when choosing to sell on ebay.

All you could possibly hope to rely on now is that your buyer is honest enough to let you know if the items ever do show up.

I think you will have trouble blocking ebay from recovery of the funds from you one way or another. If you were to successfully block them then I'm sure they would just send in the debt collectors depending on the amount involved.

Oh... and by the way, were you aware that ebay own Gumtree as well?

[enigmabear]

I'd imagine Gumtree had similar policies on the subject would'nt they?

[custombits]

At least on Gumtree you don't have to accept Paypal. Bank deposit only then goods get sent. Alternatively organise your own parcel pickup.

[custombits]

Bit hard to get it back when I've cancelled the card. The can chase me all they want. I'd look forward to it. Ebay treat their sellers like **bleep**. Used to be ok. Fees after fees after fees. I made the mistake of coming back to sell.