Buyer accepted delivery and got ebay to provide a refund

[godz609]

Hi all

Help! I am looking for some advice as a private seller, below is a time of events...

Late March 2020 - I sold an item to uk buyer and economy air was chosen.
1 April- item shipped and was informed by auspost of delays, I passed that message on.
3 April - auspost announced int. economy air delayed/de-prioritised until further noticed
Early May - uk buyer complains that the tracking status has not been updated for month and said he doesn’t want to wait, ask ebay to step in for a refund. I tried to explain to them the impact of COVID-19 and the delays but assured him I had sent it with the correct details but ignored and ebay ruled in the buyers favour
9 May - item delivered per tracking
12 May - I ask ebay to reverse the refund that was taken from me. Ebay informed me that the buyer said the item was not received even though per auspost/uk Royal Mail the item been delivered.

The buyer now won’t return my messages and I am out of pocket my item, shipping and fees totalling $400AUD

Ebay asked me to provide them with proof of postage which I did, receipt and custom form but was told it was not acceptable given the custom form was handwritten? Ebay have now stepped back.

I am just really disappointed in the outcome and wondering if anyone have any good advice I can resolve this?

Thanks in advance.

[tazzieterror]

You have to keep chipping away at eBay - escalate, point out you've complied with their policies (quote the appropriate policies to them etc), point out that the handwritten nature of the customs form has no bearing on its legitimacy...and so on.

There are some useless CS agents at eBay, and some good ones - you gotta keep trying until you find a good one.

Also point out eBay's only policy that they're making extra allowances for international deliveries due to COVID delays, and ask why that wasn't taken into consideration in your instance.

It's a PITA, but you've just gotta slog through it.

Lodge a delivery dispute through Royal Mail, if you can - probably helpful to have some correspondence from them directly to you confirming it was delivered as addressed. Then you can show that to eBay and have them review their decision not to refund you.

Post back here with how you go.

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

Is PayPal seller protection any help?

[godz609]

I haven’t tried, is it too late?

[danieh_6]

Did you use paypal? Take PayPal to the ombudsman.

[consigners-closet]

I'm in a similar situation. I posted something to Spain mid-March and buyer opened an item not received case. Because the tracking didn't say delivered, they immediately won the case. Now forward to this week, the item was delivered May 13th. I've messaged the buyer to confirm it's delivery however i'm not getting any response.

It's been such a headache going back and forth with eBay trying to get my money reversed back to me. Apparently someone was going to get in touch with me within 24 hours however that was 2 days ago. I can only recommend to keep messaging eBay and be direct. If you can prove it's been delivered then there's no reason why they shouldn't give you your money back. 

[godz609]

I have since read so many cases where it’s in the buyer favour, I am contemplating whether it is worth my time and effort to find a solution... how do you guys accept this and continue to sell?

[davewil1964]

Paypal seller protection doesn't work if the buyer opens a case through eBay. Where you need to prove delivery.

[djavusydney]

Selling international is a risk, more riskier when Could issue is a factor. There is a dateline in responding to dispute, on day before it's due check delivery tracking again and if still nothing contact buyer that you're refunding them and ask them to contact you back in case they receive it one day and close it with full refund. At least this way you do not get seller defect.

[godz609]

Hi all,

Great news. out of the blue eBay UK refunded me the full amount. After i saw everyone's repies (thankyou) i did the following, i do not know which one spurred the refund but possibly a combination of them did the job

• continued to reply to UK customer service, in total i probably emailed 10-12 explaining and re-explaining my situation;
• I logged a case with the Australia customer service askign for support;
• I repeated tried to contact the buyer to resolve the matter;
• I posted on this community and also on a Facebook eBay seller community group.

I hope this helps you, there is also a eBayer youtuber that offered insight to their experience and ways of dealing with it, since i posted my experience i have heard worst cases so this seem to be a systemic eBay issue and hopefully eBay looks at these issues seriously and re-consider their compliaint processes more appropriately.

If you do want to chat about your experience then feel free to contact me.

Thanks all

Kevin