Front-line support refusing to escalate £1,300 Authenticator damage case - Need Community Manager help"
Summary: d13cruz expressed frustration over eBay's front-line support after a trading card, sold for £1,300, was returned damaged by the authenticator, despite initially being rejected for pre-existing surface scratches. They provided photographic evidence and invoked eBay's Seller Protection Policy, seeking a resolution or threatening to escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service and pursue a claim via Money Claim Online. jonatjonatjonat and suelel1968 offered advice on complaint processes, while 4_bathrooms discussed the implications of pursuing a claim with either the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Small Claims Court, highlighting potential risks such as permanent selling restrictions on eBay.
Dear Executive Resolutions Team,
I am writing to formally escalate the wrongful denial of my appeal regarding a trading card sold for £1,300.
The card was rejected by the authenticator for pre-existing surface scratches. I accepted this decision. However, the card was subsequently physically damaged by the authenticator prior to or during the return packaging process. It was returned to me with blunt corners and extensive new scratching. The external return packaging arrived entirely undamaged, proving this damage occurred inside the authentication facility.
I have attached direct photographic evidence comparing eBay’s own official inspection photos against the card's current condition upon arrival. As you can see, the corners are perfectly sharp in eBay’s photos, but are blunted and frayed now.
Under the eBay Seller Protection Policy, eBay is fully liable for items damaged while in the custody of its authentication partners or transit couriers.
Please review this evidence manually. I expect a full payout of the £1,300 sale price to resolve this matter. If this is not resolved within 14 days, I will escalate this to the Financial Ombudsman Service and initiate a claim via Money Claim Online (Small Claims Court) for property damage under the laws of bailment, without further notice.
Sincerely,
Daniel
4_bathrooms
·Jul 15, 2026 at 11:20 PMYou could only realistically pursue one of those avenues; having simultaneous claims with the FOS and MCOL would almost certainly result in the FOS claim being rejected.
If you take the FOS route a case handler will (eventually) decide on an assessment and what they think should be done. If either yourself or eBay disagree with the case handler's assessment you can ask for the case to be referred to an Ombudsman who will make a final decision. If you accept the Ombudsman's final decision it becomes legally binding and you can no longer pursue eBay through MCOL. If you disagree with the Ombudsman's final decision you will still be able to pursue eBay through MCOL but eBay will have one heck of a defence in the form of the Ombudsman's final decision. This is the cheaper (i.e. free), longer and slightly less certain way of recovering your money.
If you decide to go the MCOL route without involving the Ombudsman I have no idea how vigorously eBay would defend themselves nor indeed whether they would actually bother defending themselves at all. One thing I am certain of is that if you did choose this route - regardless of the outcome - eBay would deem you to be "a risk to the eBay community" and would permanently restrict your ability to sell on their platform - they really wouldn't be joking about the "permanent selling restriction" part. That's if they didn't NARU your account, anyway.
jonatjonatjonat
·1 month agoThis isn’t the executive resolutions team, just a forum of other eBay users sorry
d13cruz
OP1 month agoHi mate i cant seem to get any further than the standard team and they wont forward me so trying this way
jonatjonatjonat
·1 month agoThey don’t really have a complaints process documented, which is to their detriment, because you can probably claim you’ve now exhausted all avenues and jump to the claim. Their legal address can be found online
suelel1968
·1 month agoEmailing the ceo Jamie gets you to the executive team. Google the email address.