Hello all, just thought I would share this to see if anyone else has the same concerns.
I collect vintage toys and mainly buy from ebay, but also sell items no longer wanted, so I am speaking as both a seller and buyer.
This week I purchased a ‘mint’ boxed set of collectors figures, dispatched with ‘simple delivery’. Unfortunately, but not unusual these days, they arrived just wrapped in a Home Bargains plastic carrier bag, no wrapping at all. Needless to say they did not fare very well in the back of a Royal Mail van.
Although these were from a private seller who did not accept returns, I decided to request a return as they were not as described, purely down to inadequate packing.
I was amazed at what happened next. Hit the request return button, added photographs of the item and packing and a few words to explain the reason for the request. Hit the continue button.
Next screen immediately popped up to say:-
Your request has been approved
Seller does not accept returns
You do not need to return the item
You have been refunded
Then asked by Ebay, How did your experience rate out of five stars?
All took less than two minutes.
What could I say, great for me as the buyer, but what about the seller, who clearly had no right of reply before the decision was made.
My question is what happens with the seller, do ebay recover the funds from them or do they stand the loss? Is this what the buyer protection fee covers?
If the seller has to pay they obviously have no say in the decision and appear to lose both the money and the item!
If they don’t lose any money, then it’s a great and efficient resolution for both buyer and seller, if not surely this is going to be open to every con artist on the site.
I did wonder if this is a feature of the simple delivery process or if it now applies to all listings?
Anyone any thoughts?
