ebay refunding $405 for an item still in transit

[retro-boho-and-co]

Hi, I am hoping someone can help me! This is completely crazy!!

I sold an item (in Australia) listed with air mail delivery but with sea mail as a delivery option in the description.

Buyer (in USA) chose sea mail delivery. This takes 8-12 weeks. Item lodged March 17.

Item is due for delivery May 18-June 18. Buyer was informed of this. Buyer questioned where  the item was in early April and I again explained estimated arrival date is May 18-June 18 and that sea mail takes between 2 to 3 months.

In mid April buyer opened a dispute item was not received. I again explained the item is not due until mid May at the earliest. Buyer indicated they were happy to wait until June 18.

However, buyer did not close the case. I escalated the case to have it closed. Instead, ebay closed it with a refund to the buyer as the item had not been received. This is despite me saying it was not scheduled to arrive yet. Tracking shows the item was lodged on 17 March and on 20th March was loaded at the dock.

Ebay has said - there is no update in tracking (there are no updates in tracking while the itme is in the boat), item has not been received, my appeal was rejected and they will not reopen the case.

So $405 was refunded to the buyer, who will recieve the item in the next week to month.

Ebay has said to ask Australia Post to return the item (this isn't possible) or to email the buyer and request payment. I have emailed buyer with no response.

Surely this is not the only way to resolve this, I can't believe that despite multiple phone calls and emails stating delivery schedule and  date, that ebay has refunded the buyer.

Please help! I was selling things to pay for my kids birthday and I don't want to cancel it. It's incredibly stressful dealing with ebay help as they seem unable to actually use common sense and it appears once a case is closed there in no method to re-open it.

I would not mind if it was less  than $100. This is $405!

[springyzone]

PS I should have added-I hope the buyer does do the right thing by you once the item arrives. I'd be upset too, losing that amount of money must hurt & to have to ebay pay fees on top of it must be salt in the wound. Good luck.

[retro-boho-and-co]

Thank you for all the feedback and help. I will use this to follow it up, if necessary following the route of the financial ombudsman.

I agree that this must be all automated, that there is a bot or some type of automated response system

I was phoned by customer service in the US at 5am this morning (I requested a supervisor at some point in one of the conversations)

That person said

- ebay made no mistake

- the item is lost

- i can only send an invoice to the buyer via paypal when it is delivered

- there will not be any reimbursement from ebay for the item

The crux of the problem seems to be the item was listed with an air mail delivery option (so an air mail delivery date) but with an option for sea mail in the description (which the buyer took). So ebay now reads an air mail delivery date and operates from that despite sea mail being used.

Ebay admitted no mistake in the refund, and continued to describe the item as "lost" "delayed" and "not delivered" even when these words cannot be applied to an item which has not yet reached the estimated delivery date. In other words, despite it clearly not being overdue yet, ebay insists on describing it as such in all emails and all phone calls. Delivery date has yet to be reached.

I sent a photo of the addressed article and the customs slip to the buyer but now when I open the message I can't seem to download the pic. my phone has been factory reset in the meantime and I have not got the original pic. However I have the postal receipt which shows a sea mail lodgement on that date to zone 4 in the US. I am not sure how to access the photos sent to the buyer as they can't be displayed so I am a little worried by that.

I do have an acknowledgement in one of the emails that ebay understands it was sent by sea mail. However they are still saying they are correct in using the airmail date for the delivery date.

[dazzledayz]

I should also add to the above.

Take screenshots of any and all eBay emails on this matter, both from them and yourself.

Make sure the dates are in the capture so a sequencce of events can be established.

[retro-boho-and-co]

There have been that many of them, mostly circular, that it is too stressful for me to even think about this. I should say, none of the emails answer the 2 questions I have repeatedly asked which are:

1. is this item remibursed when tracking shows delivery

2. Where can I lodge a complaint

The postage receipt I do have has the customs number (item number) on it, which matches the item number of the article. Which is therefore proof the item was posted on that day. to that zone and is the same article.

I can only now wait for the tracking to be uploaded when this item is processed once it reaches the US.

Yes, I will not offer sea mail again and probably will not offer international postage either. I have never had such a problem, and it seems simple to me but apparently incredibly complex for ebay to understand

I will follow the financial ombudsman route for an unauthorised debit from my paypal account once I have the proof of delivery. I think the ombudsman will be more objective, and understand this is a legitimate sale and I did everything a seller could be reasonably expected to do, and that the refund was premature and unfair, and financially penalises me. I will invest my energy and time in that route as both ebay and paypal seem adept at deflecting responsibility and in providing non answers and non solutions (eg ask Australia Post to return the item, send a new invoice to the buyer, request insurance cover from the carrier, ask carrier where item is etc).

I will stop now communicating with ebay on this as it is generating extreme stress and it is clear they consider the case closed

[dazzledayz]

I only just saw your second last message.

ebay are obviously going to hang tough on this as they do NOT allow sea feight as an option for delivery.

You did do the wrong thing by including a non-sanctioned method elswhere in your listing.

That said, if you have a message from the buyer stating that they opted in for that method reatain a copy.

You would have to have sent them an invoice for the ammended amount of freight as well so PayPal should have a record.

Make sure you retain a copy of your original listing as well, showing the full item description with the offer of sea mail.

You can do this by opening the item from your sold items and saving it to your computer (File => Save Page as => Wepage HTML)

eBay will delete the full listing after 90 days.

[retro-boho-and-co]

I'm not sure I understand your comment about a non sanctioned delivery?

Ebay does offer sea mail as an option in the drop down menu for international postage. It is the last option on the menu from memory, or near the bottom

However, I could not figure out how to offer both options (it seems you can only choose one) so instead offered air mail in the listing, and sea mail in the description. I have often done that with international postage and never had a problem

[kopenhagen5]

Seamail is an option, however eBay or PayPal don't give seller protection for items sent via seamail.

[retro-boho-and-co]

I should have said, ebay DOES allow sea mail as a delivery method, it is one of the options in the drop down menu (it may not be available for all routes, but this is definitely an option between Australia and the US)

In none of the messages or phone calls have I ever been told  that I couldn't use sea mail to send it?

Only that the listing said air mail (despite the buyer indicating sea mail in the message following the sale)

[retro-boho-and-co]

Apparently seller protection is offered for sea mail with paypal, but only if the dispute is lodged with paypal

Paypal cover all delivery options with no exclusions a s long as documentation is provided (from what they told me, but who knows really as what you are told varies between which "customer service" operator you get)

[kopenhagen5]

Ah yes, I think you are right.

My thought was that an eBay case cannot be opened unless paid via PayPal and in this instance neither will cover.

Unfortunately most buyers will use the eBay case first if they haven't missed the deadline and with seapost, I imagine the estimated delivery dates are long giving the buyer many months to open a case.

So I think that is what dazzle meant by non sanctioned.