Question Re: Swapped items in Member To Member Support DO NOT DELETE

Swapped items

anthonmiles-darb-0 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 18:10:09 GMT

I have sold items in the past and the buyer has opened up a return

If I refuse the return the buyer will be fully refunded and will keep the item

If I accept the return I will have to pay for its return out of my own pocket

A lot of times the item that has been returned as damaged or not as described, is returned in exactly the state I described it in my listing there was nothing wrong with it they lied to send it back

A lot of other times items have been swapped

When I have spoken to eBay I have been told to speak to my local police and file a fraud claim however most of the returns I get are from abroad so the fraud has not occurred in this country so I cannot open up a fraud case against someone say from Outer Mongolia

Now before any members of staff posing as an eBay user state "well you signed up to eBay regulations" blah blah blah !! Does no one see the absurdity in this policy and that even if I have fantastic feedback - me the seller loses out every time

Where is the sellers protection I don't get it as there is none

Also why do buyers not have the same feedback options do that I as a seller can leave "RED" bad feedback to state not to trust "this buyer" that would stop the fraud and would stop the buyer putting malicious feedback on the seller

By the way I buy as much as I sell on eBay so I would also be one of those buyers that could get bad feedback and I would be more than willing to accept bad feedback if I abuse the system

Re: Swapped items

1956glyn — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 18:26:29 GMT

Now before any members of staff posing as an eBay user state "well you signed up to eBay regulations" blah blah

Well that is one thing you got wrong. No one responding on these boards are Ebay staff members.....we are all just members like you trying to help others out if they have an issue in our spare time.

Re: Swapped items

red_magpie — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 18:43:45 GMT

The "well you signed up to eBay regulations"does apply in a lot of cases, because we have signed up to accept all of eBay's policies - including the huge, built-in bias in favour of the buyer.

EBay's attitude when items are returned damaged by the buyer or swapped for another one is definitely NOT what we signed up for or accepted in their published policies. Both eBay's money back guarantee policy and their condition of returned items policy portray a fair situation where buyers must return items as they received them, and sellers are able to reduce the amount refunded if they don't.

The reality is very different. Sellers have told us that eBay's response to items being returned damaged or swapped for another one was that as eBay didn't see the item the seller delivered, or the item the buyer returned, "they are not in a position to take sides and verify who has the valid complaint". In every case, eBay's idea of not taking sides was to find in the buyer's favour, and require the seller to refund them!

I suspect that what's behind this is that if eBay turned down a case that was genuine, the buyer could sue them for failing to honour their money back guarantee. EBay doesn't give any guarantees to sellers, so the safe, easy and cynical answer is to give the benefit of any doubt to the buyer, and make the seller refund them.

EBay's user agreement requires us to accept their decisions on all disputes and refunds. A big part of the problem is that eBay is unregulated, so there is no right to any independent appeal.