Help! Advice needed.

[Goldknight]

I won an eBay auction a couple weeks ago. When the item arrived, it wasn't the item listed/described. They had misrepresented the item in order to increase its value. I asked for a refund to which they refused. So I opened a case. eBay said to try to work things out and if a resolution was not found then they would intervene May 1. I got a message today from the seller offering a refund if I returned the item first. I said hell no. They couldn't be trusted. They should refund and then I'd send the item. Shortly after, I then receive a message asking to print a shipping label and then I'd get my refund if shipped by May 7. The message looked like maybe it was from eBay, but tough to tell. How does this work? Anyone have any experience with this? Not only that, but I think I should be compensated for the new shipping cost of returning the item.

[theultimatebrucelee]

I remember a very similar situation happened to me back in 2011. After I opened case with ebay because seller refused to refund my damaged item, they asked me to first ship back the item and update the tracking number with them before getting my money refunded. I did that and afterwards ebay send me a $10 or $15 value credit coupon intended to cover my shipping charge, but since I had to ship out of the country, that didn't really cover my entire shipment cost, but I was just glad to get my money on the item back.

I think ebay just wants prove of you shipping the package back, so shipping back with cheapest method with tracking number would do the trick. And I don't think you have to wait for the item to arrive on their side to get the refund. Not sure if this is still accurate today though. It might be good to call them to make sure, their phone customer service is really nice and theres almost no waiting time.

[zerospace]

GK, you have to return the item before you get a refund -- at the very least, you have to ship it and provide a valid tracking number for that shipment. Once eBay has that tracking information, they'll issue you the refund on the seller's behalf. Basically, the seller has probably been informed by eBay that he/she is screwed here. Provided you have proof of the return shipment, eBay will side with you as the buyer and give you the refund even if the seller refuses to do it voluntarily (though it is probably going to be automatically done by eBay either way, as it may be that the seller has authorized this from their side of the case -- eBay will go so far as to take the money from the seller's PayPal account or bill it to their eBay account, but you will get it regardless). Most of this stuff is actually done by bots on eBay's side (google it -- it's common knowledge among powersellers), so no human is going to look at it and not give you the refund. It would be up to the seller to appeal, and they'll probably lose unless they can prove you did something wrong.

The returns process now is very automated and when you open a case, everything will be "officially" through eBay, as they are the mediator. It's eBay's label system that will be used to generate the return label, and the seller will pay for it (the seller is supposed to pay for return shipping for items not as described, and eBay can force them to).

Honestly, the way the system is now, it's hard for the buyer to lose an item not as described case, unless it's completely bulls**t. And even then, the seller often still gets screwed. The best thing to do is well... not mis-represent your items as a seller, nor make it easy for a buyer to claim anything against you. I spend a ridiculous amount of time doing these things, and I still make mistakes. *sigh*

A few years ago, my hubby won a piece of artwork and when it arrived, the seller had packed it SO poorly that it had been permanently bent (heavy watercolor paper with a nice fat crease through it). I advised him to contact the seller first and see if he would offer a partial refund for the damage. The seller, of course, refused and was quite belligerent about it, because he was clearly unhappy about the ending price of the item originally. So, I told my hubby to open a case and again simply request either a small partial refund because it was damage to a one of a kind item, and he still wanted the item anyways or at least a refund on the cost of shipping. Again, the seller refused. So, at the time, it was up to the buyer to escalate the case to eBay for a decision. We made our final plea to them and submitted it. Shortly after, the seller issued a full refund without requesting that the item be returned. He then began to email my husband demanding that he return the item. (He was trying to circumvent the whole money-back-guarantee process by doing it this way -- he thought he'd spare himself the hit on his eBay account by issuing the refund). Anyways, long story short -- we spoke to eBay and they told us not to return the item, that the seller had opted to issue the complete refund to prevent the case from being decided against him. Needless to say, we walked away quite happy, but that seller learned a very, very hard lesson about the money back guarantee. It HEAVILY favors the buyer.

The best advice I can give you is this: document everything. Have proof of everything. Have proof of the condition of the item when you send it back (take a photo!). Photograph the packaging. Leave nothing to chance and they won't have a leg to stand on . And if eBay somehow actually goes against you (which would be a serious rarity) -- file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. eBay is known to respond to those complaints and resolve situations quickly.

[Goldknight]

Thank y'all so much! Your posts were a huge help and I feel better about shipping now.

[Serendipity_Collections]

I am curious as to how this ended... Inquiring minds want to know! LOL