Why do sellers have so long to refund?

[sawil4629]

I purchased an expensive (for me) item, $600 which was faulty. I returned the item which the seller received on Monday (10/2). I have asked Ebay a couple of times now when I can get the refund. They have told me the seller has until 17/02 to refund. I don't understand why they have a whole week. This is a long time for me to be without this money.

[sandypebbles]

Did you actually open and follow through with an item not as described dispute?

Or did you just do your own thing by going along with what the seller 'says'

No point asking eBay after the fact *if* you did not follow the correct process

Who told you? human staff or the AI bot?

[sawil4629]

I did a return through Ebay and returned the item as per their process. Ebay can see from the tracking that the seller has received the item back. I spoke to them on their Help chat.

[sandypebbles]

Did you upload the tracking to the return?

What was the item number 

I know you spoke to them on the Help chat, but was it the AI bot, or did you type/ask to speak to a human agent? (it is bot automated unless you request an agent)

[sawil4629]

Of course I uploaded the tracking number. As I've said, Ebay have acknowledeged the seller has received the item. Both time I've chatted to them it's been an actual person, not a chat bot.

[lezned-toycollector]

The seller is given 7 days to allow them time to inspect the item and further negotiate a refund amount with the buyer should the need arise - i.e. if the item condition has altered from when it was originally dispatched.

If a satisfactory resolution is not achieved after this period, then the buyer can ask eBay to step in.

[springyzone]

A lot of stuff on ebay can be a bit on the slow side.

The refund process can take a few days, as you've discovered, and on the other hand,  sellers sometimes complain that they are held up a few days before they can open a non payment dispute.

You only have 3 more days to wait though and hopefully you'll have the money then. My only advice really would be to hesitate before you spend $600 on ebay. Consider if an in shop purchase might be better.

In your case you have been lucky in that it seems your item was faulty from the start, but had it broken down a month from now, there would likely be no real warranty unless you'd bought from an authorised seller.

A lot of warranties on ebay are worthless.

[sawil4629]

So now Ebay are refusing to refund me. When I tried to print the label they sent I kept getting the error 'cannot print document'. So I made a label myself and went to the post office and paid for the postage myself. Now they are saying I need to provide an invoice showing the address and tracking etc. The invoice I received at the post office shows the tracking number and the cost. I have explained this to ebay over and over today however they refuse to accept it. So now I am basically out of pocket $600. This is devastating to us as we are already struggling. There must be some way to get our money back.

[springyzone]

You probably need to upload the tracking number to the dispute, immediately. It will need to show that the item was delivered back to the seller.

[sawil4629]

I have uploaded the tracking. Ebay are insisting that the receipt shows the address. The receipt I received only show the tracking number and the amount paid. This is so devastating for us. We have now lost $600. I will never use Ebay again.