Legal eagles a question

[diddy-the-cat]

Helllo all

 Here it is

I sold an item

Customer requested a return according to the case I lost

I never got a request to return in my email and checked trash to be sure I dont remember it and forgot

First I know of an issue a claim is opened in Pay Pal

I was live on ebay and saw an email in my email a few minutes after the case was opened ,and logged into ebay USA, because it was a US buyer and you need to log in to USA

Within a few minutes the case closed against me

I contacted ebay to complain I never recieved a request for return email. The first I know of the problem is an open claim and a few minutes later its closed against me  They say we cant prove you did or did not get the email so regardless your guilty and loose No appeal etc

 Is this legal and I am sure not moraly right

Ebay cant tell if they ever sent me a return request . If true no need to worry about the goverment spying on emails because if ebay cant prove you got an email neither can the government

So my question ,is this leagal and can I go to small claims to fight it

[lyndal1838]

How are you going to fight a small claims case in Australia against a buyer in America?   And they claimed against you, so what are you going to claim for?

That aside, you say you were on line when the case was opened and then saw it closed almost immediately.   There must be a time stamp on both the opened claim and the close notice.  Fight the closure of claim on the grounds that you were not given time to answer it, using the time stamps on the 2 emails you did receive.

[diddy-the-cat]

I am claiming against ebay or Pay Pal Australia not the buyer

Time stamps are there for opened and closed case but also a request for return about 2 weeks earlier and this is the email I did not get and lost the case ,because I did not respond. This is the email ebay say they cant prove they sent or I saw it so I am guilty and loose for failure to respond to a retrun request

[diddy-the-cat]

I just realised this may be impossible to fight because as I said it sold to a USA buyer and you have to log into the US site to repond to claims Ebay Australia say these cases are a US sale on ebay USA despite it being listed in Australia so it will be like trying to claim against the buyer if they were crooks . Impossible to fight as I am here and ebay USA and Pay Pal  is over an ocean so ebay wins a (possible ) legaly wrong issue.  I think small claims will say file in the USA

[diddy-the-cat]

 I think this may be a case of make a suggestion to Slater & Gorden for a class action  Ebay must be upto no good legally and know you cant fight it.  A company like Slaters might not know of this opportunity for millions in fees and use there smart lawyers to make a killing

I say eBay must be upto something illegal as all Multi Nationals are and loose cases all the time, so guilty by association

The end result is send a suggestion to Slater & Gordon and hope for the best and forget it two minute later so I dont dwell on it and send myself nuts

[diddy-the-cat]

Well called Slaters and they dont handle international cases; Looks like even if they did there would not be the money in it because there is not one overriding claim like say they shoot 1000s of people in the face .More like maybe a lot of small individual issues that cant be bundled together and thus dont make a lot of money. But I can sue in my own right just handover the deed to the house as security on payment of the case ,win or loose. Ye right 10 years in court and loose on appeal on a technicality no thanks and the hous e is theres over a $120 problem

This is a case of wait for a Government Department to get involved if ever

[pennyforum14]

If the buyer went straight to Paypal and lodged a claim, there won't be a return request on eBay.  I am pretty sure they can't do both at the same time.  Was it a not received, or not as described?  With not received they will often just find in the buyers favour with international purchases if no tracking has been uploaded.  If you have tracking, contact Paypal and provide it and ask for the case to be reviewed.  With not as described, they will also often just refund as it is often more economical for the seller than having to pay for the goods to be returned.

[digital*ghost]

---

@diddy-the-cat wrote:

Time stamps are there for opened and closed case but also a request for return about 2 weeks earlier and this is the email I did not get and lost the case ,because I did not respond. This is the email ebay say they cant prove they sent or I saw it so I am guilty and loose for failure to respond to a retrun request

---

My first comment isn't actually going to be useful, so I apologise in advance, but seriously - what a load of BS that is from eBay.

They don't keep records of sent mail? I understand not keeping them for maybe the generic and promos ones, but when it comes to cases, where they have legal responsibilities?  It's also possible to implement a system that shows you if / when the recipient read an email, too. 

Not to mention, by eBay's own logic :  if you can't prove you sent something, it means you didn't. Ergo eBay did not send an email. 

You could try making a complaint to the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service), if I can find it, I'll link to an old post that mentions making a complaint about PayPal reversing payments after an eBay decision like this, without your knowledge or authorisation.

[lyndal1838]

Digi, as you know I am not a seller so have no idea what happens when a buyer opens a dispute or return request, but surely the whole proceedure does not hinge on one email from ebay?

Isn't there some sort of notification of the dispute in something like the Resolution Centre.   I have a record of all the cases I have opened in my entire ebay career....surely sellers are afforded similar records?

[digital*ghost]

---

@lyndal1838 wrote:

Digi, as you know I am not a seller so have no idea what happens when a buyer opens a dispute or return request, but surely the whole proceedure does not hinge on one email from ebay?

Isn't there some sort of notification of the dispute in something like the Resolution Centre.   I have a record of all the cases I have opened in my entire ebay career....surely sellers are afforded similar records?

---

Yes, and no... It really depends on a variety of factors, some of which are unknown to me because I don't sell internationally on eBay, so I don't know what kind of notifications pop up on an Aussie sellers eBay page for OS resolution centres. It may generally work no differently as when a case is opened on eBay AU, it may not. 

I can only tell you two (maybe more like 2.5  ) things. If I have an open request, it will state that I have an open case in the resolution centre at the top of My eBay summary (but do want to note that my landing page is set to my selling page, the summary page is set out differently). This notice doesn't always update, not in real time anyway, nor does it mention what the case is related to - just on my selling account, it could be an open request, or a UPI that I've opened (I'll check on 'em, of course, but I'm just mentioning that it's likely easy not to realise a request has been opened without proper notice - and that's just dealing with eBay AU's resolution centre, where I don't need to log into a different site to check on cases.

And the last thing is... this is not the first time someone has mentioned this problem, but the third that I can recall in recent history. It's anecdotal and non-conclusive, but still indicative of there being communication issues between eBay and sellers who have had cases raised against them.