Ebay has refunded the buyer and I have not recived my product back and am being told to pay ebay !

[uksameer786]

Hi Guys ,

Please can you help , I am new to selling on ebay and just sold a phone wich was around £80 , the phone was recived by buyer and he opened a case on my stating it was not as discribed , I showed evidance that the case was false as I had everyting covered in my listing and the buyer messaged to confirm the details in messages. Not only this the case went on and my money was not relased , I spoke to ebay customer service and they advised to wait to recive product before giving a refund. Insted 5 days before I am supposed to escalte this case as I did not recive anything ebay reinbursed the buyer , he kept my product and ebay is asking me to pay them back ! 

Litreally feel like iv been robbed  , here !

How can I get my money back ?

[tobiasd4]

Sorry, but you have done this wrong.

Ebay never see item, but always believe buyer.

If buyer opens case for not as described, you issue returns label through case, refund in full on return.

As you obviously didn't issue label, ebay stepped in & refunded buyer with your money & they keep item.

You could message buyer & offer to send paypal payment to cover return postage, but can't force them to.

Ebay is biased to buyers & not interested in seller's side of case.

[uksameer786]

Thanks Tobias , you see I am new to this and ebay did not make this clear , I never was asked for sending my details in return as they were included in the package as well as ebay has them when somthing sells they gave me a label to print out wich had my return details on this.

I have learned that never to sell on ebay again this was a big mistake and now I am out of pocket and I have not got my phone back.I cant belive the way ebay delt with this case when I clearly showed and proved that item was as described then ebay customer service said to me to wait for the product to be returned but never informed me or reminded me to send my details to buyer , they case is now they are asking me to pay ! when I was informed wrongly by the ebay team even on my resultions page i had one option wich was to send refund nothing saying send return details.

[tobiasd4]

Ebay cases are automated, no human involvement, which is why if you don't accept case (even if you don't agree with reason for it)
then ebay take over & force the refund.
Don't let it put you off ebay, but if you have any questions come here & ask, rather than ebay CS.
We will always try to help.

[m25jet]

First of all, did you actually say anything in the case along the lines of "Please return the phone to me using the eBay returns label provided and I will refund your money upon receipt of the phone" and then issue a returns label, as you should have done?  If you did then appeal the case and explain that the buyer did not return the phone to you, and ask eBay to recheck the case again.  If an eBay returns label was issued but the buyer never used it then use that as evidence that the buyer never downloaded the label in order to return the phone to you, and argue that the buyer must have changed his mind and decided to keep the phone.  If you do that then there may be a chance that you could get the case overturned and decided in your favour, in which case you would receive a total refund of the money that was returned to the buyer.  However, you would only stand a chance of winning an appeal if you acutally asked for the buyer to return the phone during the case and actually issued a returns label for him to use but he never actually used the returns label and didn't return the phone.

In the event that you didn't ask for the buyer to return the phone to you and just decided to wait for him to return the phone off his own back then the buyer probably got the impression that you had no intention of refunding his money and decided to escalate the case to eBay for them to make a decision upon.  If this was indeed the case then your chances of successfully getting a refund out of eBay are about as good as your chances of getting blood from a stone.  eBay tend to be very buyer-biased and so would have forced a refund if this was indeed the case, in which case your account will have been hit with a refund-related defect.  If you rack up too many defects on your selling account then your selling days on eBay could be over sooner than expected.

[uksameer786]

Hi m25jet , Thanks for the reply , I was not promted to send any of the above at all , I have looked through me messages and on the resultions page I hade the option to refund thats all .

[john1297576]

Lesson to learn is always accept a case,however much you think the buyer is trying it on.

it woud have cost you to do it properly, but youwould have got te phone back and also a refund of the selling fee.

Now you have no phone, owe ebay money ad will not have the fee refunded.

"Insted 5 days before I am supposed to escalte this case"  You didn't open a case, you cannot or should not try to escalate the buyer's case, as that would just have caused a refund in any case.

If you owe ebay money, pay up, as they use debt collectors which would just incur more fees for you to pay..

[rusticrye]

Ebay can have no idea what you actually sent, or what condition it was in when sent and received, as they were not present when sent or received, so have no choice but to accept a buyer's word for it when they claim Not As Described, as per their Money Back Guarantee.  They cannot get into disputes between you and a buyer.  Only a judge can decide if a buyer is a liar or scammer.

You agreed to comply with the MBG when you registered your account. If you dig your heels in and refuse to offer refund on return, Ebay will either force you to pay for a returns label, or they will force the refund without the need for return. You will also have a damaging defect slapped on your account for failing to comply.

This may sound unfair, but it's the fairest it can possibly be.  The MBG is a very good thing (although you may not think that at present) as it gives buyers the confidence to shop with you and every other Ebay seller.  Without it, you'd be lucky to sell anything at all.  In fact, without it, Ebay would no longer exist.

You have to refund on receipt, and then report the buyer to Ebay for abusing the MBG by fraudulently claiming Not As Described (via the 'report' button on your ‘leave feedback’ page) if you're 100% sure that's what they've done.  A few of those from different sellers, and their account will soon be toast.  And add their Ebay ID to your Blocked Bidders List so they can’t darken your doorway again.

All you can do now is buy a suitable postage label online, from a carrier of your choice, and email it to the buyer, with a note saying that the phone must be returned to you within 7 days, and must be received back in the exact same condition as sent, or you will be forced to take legal action.  If it isn't returned as instructed, send them a 'before action' letter by Signed For post, telling them they have 7 days in which to return it, or you will be reporting them to Action Fraud (the police's online fraud unit) and taking them to Small Claims court to recover your losses plus all court and other costs.  If still no joy (unlikely, as that's usually enough to scare the pants off most small-time scammers), do just that. It's easy to do, and the process can be started online.

@uksameer786