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heartyourlife
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eBay seriously doesn't care about sellers stars in: "Lost package" (or "I'm out $210")
If you've ever doubted that eBay only cares about buyers, I present my latest fiasco:
Back on June 28th, I sold a 2015 Stadium Club Kris Bryant Auto redemption card on eBay for $210. Buyer paid immediately, I shipped it out the next day. Tracking shows it leaving my hometown (Iowa City, IA) being received and leaving the regional hub (Cedar Rapids, IA).
Flash forward about a week and the seller contacts me, saying they haven't received the card. I check the tracking and all it shows is it leaving Iowa and the nothing. We agree to wait a couple weeks to see if it updates while I contact USPS and he checks with his local hub. After a month there's no updates from anyone, so I refund the buyer his payment instead of going through the whole claims process. I sent him the refund on August 9th.
Jump ahead to August 25th. I get a message from the buyer "Hey USPS finally found your package and it was delivered. But I don't want to pay you what I originally paid for it, so I'm only willing to pay $150 or I can mail it back." Which right off the bat, to me, is a dick move on his part. Tracking clearly shows I put it in the mail and there was no foul intent on my part.
Keep in mind, this exact scenario has happened to me before. Package goes out, gets lost, payment gets refunded. Package shows up, eBay reverses payment, buyer gets his item, I get my money. End of story. Or so you would think...
With this in mind, I call eBay and get customer service on the phone. I explain the situation and the rep looks up the transaction on their end. When this happens, she tells me that the tracking shows it was mailed from Michigan on August 21st (12 after I refunded the payment), and delivered in NY. I'm obviously baffled by this and look it up myself, and see the same info. No mention of ever being in Iowa. So I tell them, hey it got delivered, can you reverse the refund so I get my money back. I'm told "that's not our policy". Taken back, I ask how that's possible when it's been done before. I get the run around and am basically told "You need to contact the buyer and arrange for them to resubmit payment." I then explain that the buyer isn't willing to give me the same money they purchased it for, and am basically told "it's not our problem. you need to work it out with your buyer..."
Seeing that this is going nowhere, I hang up and go back through my notes, marking down original payment dates, shipping dates, tracking info, case numbers, etc. so I have all my info sitting in front of me. I call eBay back and get another rep. I explain the situation again, how I live in Iowa but the package shows originating from Michigan, how it's showing as shipped 12 days after I refunded the payment, all the common sense things that say "I did everything I was supposed to do to make this transaction happen properly" and again I'm told "eBay isn't responsible". I ask how that's possible. The answer I'm given is that eBay isn't selling my item, they are merely advertising it for me, and it's up to me to make sure everything goes properly, and that they can't be held responsible for any problems. I'm also told that because I refunded the buyer of my own accord, they aren't liable for anything. So I back up and ask "if the buyer had filed a claim and you had sided with him (which they would have) would you reverse his payment"? I'm told NO, because eBay is only willing to work within a two week window of a transaction being initiated to help out a seller. I then point out that it's irrelevant whether or not I refunded him of my own accord or not, because eBay isn't willing to do anything about it regardless. I'm then given this line of how I need to contact USPS to find out why the tracking is wrong and that I should consider using an alternate method of shipping in the future to avoid this happening again. Which is completely irrelevant to the situation, which I point out. Because according to her, it wouldn't make a bit of difference in the outcome from eBay's standpoint. Yet they have these pre-written answers to complains that someone's just reading off a screen, when none of the advice they give would change a thing. I ask her what exactly I should have done to cover myself so that I'm not losing my money and my product, and she has no answer. At which point I lose it and start yelling and pointing out everything wrong with this scenario and get no response from the rep other than I should look into alternate shipping methods, which again would do NOTHING to fix the situation. Seeing that it's going nowhere once again, I hang up.
As it stands, the facts are: The package was sent (which is documented by USPS), it was received (which is documented by USPS and the buyer), but the buyer has 1) my item and 2) his money. And eBay is telling me I have to contact him to get my payment and there's nothing they can (or are willing) to do about it. Yet they can step in at any time and reverse a payment or put a hold on funds in my Paypal account at will.
It's been two weeks since I asked the buyer to mail the card back. Can you guess whether it's shown up or not?
I wrote the card off as lost when I refunded the buyer his money. I'm not mad about the money. I'm mad because eBay does NOTHING to help the people they depend on to maintain their business: SELLERS. If no one is selling, no one can buy. No one makes money. Obviously that's looking at it in the simplest terms, because no matter what people are still going to sell and buy on eBay. What kills me is they are happy to take my fees but aren't willing to do the proper thing when presented with all the relevant information that the transaction has been completed 100% as it's supposed to (minus the lost part - which I have no control over) and I'm the one who is at fault because of the shipping company I chose to use? It wouldn't have mattered if it was USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL...if any company had lost it, the outcome would still be the same: Buyer gets a free $210 card and I get a big "**** YOU"...
If anyone has any thoughts on the situation (or lives in the NY area and would like to pay the buyer a vist ) please let me know. Thanks for reading...
If you've ever doubted that eBay only cares about buyers, I present my latest fiasco:
Back on June 28th, I sold a 2015 Stadium Club Kris Bryant Auto redemption card on eBay for $210. Buyer paid immediately, I shipped it out the next day. Tracking shows it leaving my hometown (Iowa City, IA) being received and leaving the regional hub (Cedar Rapids, IA).
Flash forward about a week and the seller contacts me, saying they haven't received the card. I check the tracking and all it shows is it leaving Iowa and the nothing. We agree to wait a couple weeks to see if it updates while I contact USPS and he checks with his local hub. After a month there's no updates from anyone, so I refund the buyer his payment instead of going through the whole claims process. I sent him the refund on August 9th.
Jump ahead to August 25th. I get a message from the buyer "Hey USPS finally found your package and it was delivered. But I don't want to pay you what I originally paid for it, so I'm only willing to pay $150 or I can mail it back." Which right off the bat, to me, is a dick move on his part. Tracking clearly shows I put it in the mail and there was no foul intent on my part.
Keep in mind, this exact scenario has happened to me before. Package goes out, gets lost, payment gets refunded. Package shows up, eBay reverses payment, buyer gets his item, I get my money. End of story. Or so you would think...
With this in mind, I call eBay and get customer service on the phone. I explain the situation and the rep looks up the transaction on their end. When this happens, she tells me that the tracking shows it was mailed from Michigan on August 21st (12 after I refunded the payment), and delivered in NY. I'm obviously baffled by this and look it up myself, and see the same info. No mention of ever being in Iowa. So I tell them, hey it got delivered, can you reverse the refund so I get my money back. I'm told "that's not our policy". Taken back, I ask how that's possible when it's been done before. I get the run around and am basically told "You need to contact the buyer and arrange for them to resubmit payment." I then explain that the buyer isn't willing to give me the same money they purchased it for, and am basically told "it's not our problem. you need to work it out with your buyer..."
Seeing that this is going nowhere, I hang up and go back through my notes, marking down original payment dates, shipping dates, tracking info, case numbers, etc. so I have all my info sitting in front of me. I call eBay back and get another rep. I explain the situation again, how I live in Iowa but the package shows originating from Michigan, how it's showing as shipped 12 days after I refunded the payment, all the common sense things that say "I did everything I was supposed to do to make this transaction happen properly" and again I'm told "eBay isn't responsible". I ask how that's possible. The answer I'm given is that eBay isn't selling my item, they are merely advertising it for me, and it's up to me to make sure everything goes properly, and that they can't be held responsible for any problems. I'm also told that because I refunded the buyer of my own accord, they aren't liable for anything. So I back up and ask "if the buyer had filed a claim and you had sided with him (which they would have) would you reverse his payment"? I'm told NO, because eBay is only willing to work within a two week window of a transaction being initiated to help out a seller. I then point out that it's irrelevant whether or not I refunded him of my own accord or not, because eBay isn't willing to do anything about it regardless. I'm then given this line of how I need to contact USPS to find out why the tracking is wrong and that I should consider using an alternate method of shipping in the future to avoid this happening again. Which is completely irrelevant to the situation, which I point out. Because according to her, it wouldn't make a bit of difference in the outcome from eBay's standpoint. Yet they have these pre-written answers to complains that someone's just reading off a screen, when none of the advice they give would change a thing. I ask her what exactly I should have done to cover myself so that I'm not losing my money and my product, and she has no answer. At which point I lose it and start yelling and pointing out everything wrong with this scenario and get no response from the rep other than I should look into alternate shipping methods, which again would do NOTHING to fix the situation. Seeing that it's going nowhere once again, I hang up.
As it stands, the facts are: The package was sent (which is documented by USPS), it was received (which is documented by USPS and the buyer), but the buyer has 1) my item and 2) his money. And eBay is telling me I have to contact him to get my payment and there's nothing they can (or are willing) to do about it. Yet they can step in at any time and reverse a payment or put a hold on funds in my Paypal account at will.
It's been two weeks since I asked the buyer to mail the card back. Can you guess whether it's shown up or not?
I wrote the card off as lost when I refunded the buyer his money. I'm not mad about the money. I'm mad because eBay does NOTHING to help the people they depend on to maintain their business: SELLERS. If no one is selling, no one can buy. No one makes money. Obviously that's looking at it in the simplest terms, because no matter what people are still going to sell and buy on eBay. What kills me is they are happy to take my fees but aren't willing to do the proper thing when presented with all the relevant information that the transaction has been completed 100% as it's supposed to (minus the lost part - which I have no control over) and I'm the one who is at fault because of the shipping company I chose to use? It wouldn't have mattered if it was USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL...if any company had lost it, the outcome would still be the same: Buyer gets a free $210 card and I get a big "**** YOU"...
If anyone has any thoughts on the situation (or lives in the NY area and would like to pay the buyer a vist ) please let me know. Thanks for reading...