Ebay wrongly refund a buyer

[dynamite_warrior]

I sold a vintage motorbike horn to a buyer in France, I am in Australia, it was sent by sea mail, Australia post stipulate it takes 12 weeks for it to post to arrive from Australia to France by sea. The buyer opened a dispute  (non received item 7 weeks after purchase,) i supplied the customs declaration number , plus a copy of postage receipt. EBay decide in favour of buyer went into my account and refunded to him cost of article, plus postage. Thanks to eBay I effectively gifted him the item, plus paid the postage to do so. I contacted eBay disputing the action, they will not answer

[extra-keen]

Dynamite, you will have to ring them and ring them and ring them until you speak to someone who not only understands you but understands the problem. Emailing ebay is just about useless at the moment - you will get a reply, but from others comments on these boards it may take up to 3 weeks.

Have you contacted the buyer yet? It is worth a courtesy message to let them know that the item is still on its way and ask them to repay once they receive it. Quote the proof of postage to the buyer. You never know, they may still pay once they have it.

Good luck!

[dynamite_warrior]

Yes I contacted the buyer, and sent him a copy of the receipt, pretty futile,

[a_beautiful_room]

Hard to know where to start here.

After being such a long time on ebay you really need to be up with the rules on how to protect yourself when selling.

Items sent by sea mail never seem to arrive within 3 months, and if the buyer has not received it within the time allowed to open a case for "item not received" (which is 6 weeks) then they have paid and have no item. Despite the fact that the item may well be in transit, they don't want to risk the item never arriving, and losing their money, so it is kind of understandable that they open a case. Maybe a rotton thing to do, particularly if you have communicated well with them, assuring them that the item will take about 3 months, emailing them the proof of postage etc. so they can feel reassured. Maybe you did this, but I'm thinking you probably didn't. Even if you did, you are taking on all the risk and assuming they are honest by posting this way.

In any event, unless you have proof of shipping (in the method required by paypal - read what they require) then you are always going to lose.  Sea mail is not covered.

Ebay are not a warm and fuzzy person that you can speak to, explain your position and rationalise with. They couldn't give two hoots that you don't know the rules and life is unfair. In fact they seem to do absolutely everything in their power to thwart sellers at every turn and refund buyers basically on request. Sad but true.  If you stick around the boards long enough you'll see plenty of aggreived sellers like yourselves suffering with internet thieves buyers.

If it were me, I would open a case with the Financial Services Ombudsman. It's pretty quick and done online, and ebay sometimes don't want to have to defend themselves so they may grant you a discretionary refund when they know someone else is going to scrutinise their shonky business practices. Just google for where to find it. Don't bother trying to reason with ebay.

And take this as a bit of a lesson, luckily the item wasn't too expensive. Read up on what you need to do to protect yourself when selling. Some people are not honest and while you don't have to be paranoid, it's worth covering yourself and then you don't have to worry 🙂

[letscleanupmycupboards]

One question? Why did you send it by sea mail?

Sea mail is very slow. I sent something by sea mail once. To Europe as well. 4 months it took to arrive. Was not an ebay item but still.

Never ever give sea mail as an option for buyers overseas.

[cq_tech]

You can lodge your Financial Ombudsmans Service complaint here... https://forms.fos.org.au/OnlineDispute

[thecatspjs]

The FOS has no jurisdiction over eBay.  eBay is not a financial services provider.

If you file a complaint OP you will need to do against Paypal.

[lane-ends]

If sometthing cannot be economically sent via airmail either don't list it as interntaional or take into account slow shipping is a high risk of yt least a dispute if not loss.

I learnt this lesson early on.

Good to at least see AP quoute 12 weeks, they used to quote about 6 weeks, but always took closer to 12.

[lyndal1838]

Why is the FOS being touted as a solution?

Sea mail is not an accepted shipping method for buyer/seller protection....never has been as long as I have been using paypal.

[negron18]

ebay need proof of merchandise being posted and delivered and with a online tracking system. I have recently had the same problem with a few customers using standard air mail and even though in Australia we only have to prove that the item was posted, as usually ebay is above the law and want proof that the item was delivered. This can only be achieved via track and pack international or if you use registered international mail which has to be signed.

it's best to cut your losses and refund customers if they do a " item not received" because you will loose the open case and much worse it will after your DSR and then lead you to restrictions like myself!