Refunded a day after purchase for no reason?

[maxwell90210]

I purchased a book omnibus, which was offered as a "buy it now" offer yesterday morning and it was something that I have been searching for for quite awhile. I was delighted to have found this item and paid for it immediately with my credit card details stored within eBay. No problems with the payment, and straight through it went. 

To my surprise and disappointment , I received an email and message earlier today stating that my payment had been refunded to me with no explanation given and just a statement on the transaction of "other adjustment" in the refund details.

How can this happen and what recourse do I have as I was delighted to have found this item after searching for months. The seller is a shop with 97% positive feedback and 1.7m sales, so it's not as if a private seller changed their mind.

can anyone explain how or why this might have happened please?  (I have emailed the seller and eBay but no response yet.)

Thanks for any input...

[naughty_neena]

The seller has realized they do not have the book in question in stock.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

Could be a few reasons.

1/ Book was sold elsewhere previously.

2/ Item didnt go for expected price.

3/ Never had the book in the first place.

4/ Got a better offer elsewhere.

You cant force a seller to send you something.

Just leave relevant feedback to warn others.

[zzbottomzz]

This has just happened to me and Im fuming. I won the auction on a pair of non working elstead  swan neck floor lamps. I was delighted to have found them as usually you cant find a pair, they were for a project and Id been looking for months.

The seller was local too which was even better. Paid straight away and messaged the seller ( Saturday) Heard nothing, nor anything through Sunday when I messaged again. Finally heard back on Monday with apologies Ive been away, no problem at all when can I collect.

So initially she says I can collect in half an hour but has to be before 6.45 as she was going out. I live 25 minutes away and I was cooking at the time so asked if I could collect Tuesday. No problem says the seller I will message when Im home from work. So theres me sat waiting, checking my messages when I get a message from ebay saying the item has been refunded with no explanation, nothing.

Now Im sorry but anyone who thinks this is acceptable behaviou needs their moral compass looking at!

If you dont want an item to go for less than a certain price then start the bidding at that price

If you have it on sale elsewhere then say it in the listing

My seller couldnt say they were broken because they were listed as non working so clearly they werent happy with the price they got.

Its disgusting behaviour and if sellers can do this without any repercussions ( and yes i left negative feedback) then Ill just stop using ebay!

[jckl1957]

When sellers cancel after payment, they do have to give a reason.

If they choose 'out of stock or damaged' they do get a defect on their account.  Sellers who get too many defects are penalised by Ebay and reminded at least monthly that they are below standard.

Nobody condones this but Ebay can't compel sellers to follow through with a sale if they are unwilling to do so.

[zzbottomzz]

I agree that at the end of the day if the seller doesnt want to sell the item they wont. But I have been selling on ebay for over two decades and I wouldnt dream of doing this to someone! Its disgraceful behaviour. At the end of the day as a seller you should think to yourself " what is the bottom price Id be willing to accept on said item" Thats where you start the bidding - if it doesnt sell then you can have a rethink and relist. 

The only reason you get ghosted is because the seller decides they dont want to sell it for that price...well quite frankly they should have thought of that before they listed!

If its a legitimate reason for the refund then have the common decency to message the buyer and apologise.

Also Ive no way of seeing what reason the seller has put for the refund....if they have lied and said it was at the buyers request then they wont get a black mark will they.

It looks as though another seller is about to do the exact same thing to me too....another auction won and paid for and another seller not upholding the auction.

I think its time to walk away from Ebay...if you cant guarantee even when you have paid for the item that you can actually get the item whats the point!!!

Utterly disgusted.

[dch2112011]

A couple of years ago this is why some sellers used other adjustment as a reason for making a refund - I am guessing the same applies today from your post

The seller uses 'other adjustment' as a selected reason for making a refund - if the seller refunds 100% using this option he gets his fees refunded - if it is a partial refund using this option he doesn't get his fees back.

Sellers do this to avoid cancellation penalties or false declarations that buyer cancelled - it is a loophole that some sellers use to manipulate and disguise the real reason for cancelling the transaction.

Not at all helpful to buyers or in the spirit of ebay  - simple abuse of the system with no thought or explanation to the buyer - basically when selling such large volumes the seller has no concern for one individual customer  and no compunction to converse with the buyer 

It would be interesting to know whether you can leave feedback after such a refund ?

[zzbottomzz]

Yes. Ive been able to leave feedback. This particular item was going to be repurposed to use as part of my wedding arch for my wedding in 2 months time. Ive been hunting for something for months and when this came up I was delighted.

I spent a fortune on all the other bits I needed and now Im stuffed, I cant afford to buy a new arch, thats why this would have been perfect. The seller didnt give a *bleep* the impact their actions had on me...they just wanted more money. 

The stupid thing is, if they had actually messaged me like a normal civil human being I would have given them more because it was still cheaper than paying for a full price arch.

Now they have gone from 100% feedback to 50% and Ive reported the seller to ebay

[dch2112011]

It is very distasteful and wrong at every level however things tend to happen for a reason and I really hope this is true in your case and you find exactly what you want for your wedding arch and more importantly that you have a truly memorable, enjoyable and loving wedding day.

There are some excellent sellers on this forum who  seem to have a wide array of products and knowledge who may be able to help you with your search - maybe pop a photo up of what you are looking for - it might help ?

[zzbottomzz]

No Im afraid Im done with eBay. As predicted the second seller has just screwed me over too....wont respond to my messages, wont give me her address to collect....I made an offer on this item two days before the listing ended and she declined it so I placed a bid....no one else bid so I actually got the item for the amount Id offered her. Strangely her communication is like getting blood from a stone shes been so ellusive she told me I could collect last night but failed to contact me with her address.....then I arranged to collect tonight at 6pm but she only gave me a postcode with the excuse she was at work and will message me later although in the time she typed that message she could have told me her address.... and what a suprise 6.30 and no message....again! so Im guessing shes waiting for the 4 day mark so she can claim I never collected it....

Two sellers in two days both with the moral fiber of a rat!

[dch2112011]

That's really not fair on rats !

it really is shocking but ebay auctions are auctions in name only - they have little in common with any other auction  - 

The more I hear of the atrocious way some sellers and some buyers react I can only think of one solution if ebay are going to continue with the current format and that would be to withhold payment to sellers until proof of delivery is given or proof of collection -  time limits could be set to make this work.

I say this because it has been suggested that some sellers take the money from sales with no intention of supplying goods - using the sales proceeds as a cheap pay day loan - I found this hard to believe but with the regularity of goods not being supplied - could it be true ?

Fingers crossed you find what you are looking for from reputable and honest sellers wherever you shop in the future 

[sagr2519]

If it doesn't count as a cancellation, wouldn't the seller still have to send the item? Maybe try clicking "item not received" and see what happens.

[dch2112011]

unfortuneatly there is no way of forcing a seller to supply the goods you paid for - if only there was !  ebay offer protection to obtain a refund and may sanction the seller but that is where it starts and ends. If the order is still live of course you can claim under the MBG as an item not received.

[sagr2519]

If the seller clicked "other adjustment" rather than cancel as a way of evading the consequences, INR might be a way to force them to cancel it formally.

[dch2112011]

I can't see how an INR could be opened after a sale has been refunded in full - the order is no longer live ?

If it is possible it would be interesting to see the outcome - I feel it would be automatically closed in the sellers favour  but never seen that scenario - interesting proposal !

[selena950_0]

Hi this has happened to me today ! How do you leave negative feedback ? I had a full refund given to me from eBay but I don’t seem to be able to leave negative feedback because I never received the item as the seller cancelled it the next day . I think if it’s a buy now they should honour that sale ! Sel