Hi, I have a problem with eBay policy

[allan552013]

Hi, I have a problem with ebay and there policy. My son sold his phone through ebay, we paid for postage and insurance, a few days later she emailed my son and said it was faulty it had no sound, she told my son (who should I say is only 18 years old and a little green with people like her) to press return button, not knowing that he had to pay for return postage, we contacted ebay who said that my son has to pay for the return as the phone was faulty and it was our responsibility as my son pressed the return button, (this is something the buyer told my son to do). We have never sold items before and ebay was hopeless in helping us even though it was there policy. We went to the post office paid again for postage and enclosed envelope with signature return. 

1 week later we got the phone back, there was nothing wrong with the phone, we contacted ebay, they said we will fix this as we are requesting for postage to be reimbursed from the buyer as there was nothing wrong with the phone it was working perfectly, I think that is buyer does this alot and decided she did not want it. So she told my son to press the return button knowing that once you have pressed this you have to pay for return. Ebay has been absolutely hopeless in fixing this problem. And one thing I have to say is that I will not buy or sell with ebay again, and yes I do buy alot, but the thing with ebay is that they hold your funds until 21 days or until the buyer says ok. So you sell an item that you pay for postage upfront and if the buyer is a con merchant which this one is you pay again and again and never see a cent. Ebay you should be ashamed on how you are treating your sellers, and check for con merchants like this buyer. I am not happy, and very disappointed in your policy, there is other sites that now I will buy from and ebay has now lost a good customer.  And now ebay has contacted my son regards to refund this con merchant, so my answer to you is that you do not listen to the seller and you treat them very bad. SHAME SHAME SHAME ON EBAY. 

[davewil1964]

Did you read eBay's Terms and Conditions? The ones your son agreed to (and said he had read) when he opened his account?

Phones are the last thing I'd sell online.

Unfortunately your son got burnt, but it is hardly eBay's fault.

[lyndal1838]

I am sorry you got a less than honest buyer but you can hardly blame ebay for you/your son not knowing how to handle the situation.

If a buyer opens a dispute in ebay for an item being Not As Described the the seller is responsible for the return postage.....that is ebay policy, and not just the buyer's whim.

Your buyer obviously knows the system and in this case used it correctly.....even if the buyer had not told your son to hit the return accepted button it would still have been forced by ebay.

In fact, if ebay is involved the buyer would probably received the refund AND kept the item.....you would have been out of pocket for the item and postage and had nothing to resell.

As it is now, you still have your phone and it has only cost you the return postage.

[davidc4430]

be very thankful you got the phone back. usually crooked buyers end up with the phone and your money.

selling phones on ebay is very difficult. so many scam buyers.

i really dont know what to do with old phones, maybe there are places where you can sell or trade them, i mean real bricks and motar stores.

luckily i'm not into the latest phones, still using one i bought 9 years ago but it does make phone calls lol

[bakeandfry]

I notice in you wrote that ebay holding funds for 21 days, i do sympathize with you on this matter, and there are ways to get your money released early.

If your son should deside to sell again and run into a stumbling block, please come to the boards and the very experienced members here can try to help guide through.

[davewil1964]

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@bakeandfry wrote:
I notice in you wrote that ebay holding funds for 21 days, i do sympathize with you on this matter, and there are ways to get your money released early.

If your son should deside to sell again and run into a stumbling block, please come to the boards and the very experienced members here can try to help guide through.

---

It's Paypal, actually. On eBay instructions, admittedly.

[bakeandfry]

Yer, sorry about that i wrote my reply on mobile site with links and all, i edited bits and pieces and got a little carryed away before posting

[springyzone]

Yes, the bottom line is there are a few different ways sellers can get caught out if a buyer is a bit dishonest.

In this case, you are out of pocket to the tune of 2 lots of postage.

It must be difficult for ebay in a case like this, they have a buyer saying an item was faulty with no sound, a seller saying it was fine & worked perfectly. The reps themselves have never seen the phone, they wouldn't know, but from what I can gather, they are trying to make ebay a place where people can buy with more confidence, and sometimes this can be to the detriment of the seller.

I would suggest be very careful what you list on ebay and if you run into trouble, don't immediately jump & do what any buyer says, go and -re read the terms etc and see what the actual options are, then you can make an informed decision.

I also have one other suggestion. You have the phone back and presumably will re-try to sell it, although not on ebay.

You may get someone who wants to come have a look at it before buying.

Don't hand it over to anyone on the front porch, or if you do, have a few other family members casually around, maybe behind the person.

A friend of mine's son was selling a phone, only to have the 'buyer' do a runner to a car where a mate was in the driver's seat for a quick get away.

Police said it is happening a lot.

PS if you do come back, this is a message board with just ordinary ebay sellers & buyers on it, like yourself. If you want to complain to ebay directly, you'll need to use a different link.

[davidc4430]

do a google search 'selling used phones'

i just did seems to be several aussie firms offering a service of some sort. i'm sure finding out if they are ok would be simple with facebook.