Global Shipping Program - eBay lost item then refunded FROM MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT!

[kilps101]

I listed an item for sale through eBay.co.uk, using the Global Shipping Program to offer international shipping.

The listing ended on 12/07/15 and the winning bid was made by a guy from Germany, using eBay.de. Fine, I thought. I placed the item in the post, to the UK Shipping Centre, as requested. The item was clearly received there, as eBay added their tracking details to my listing when the item was forwarded to the buyer's address in Germany.

On 04/08/15 I noticed, by chance, that the buyer had contacted eBay Customer Support stating that his item had not been received. I don't know when this case was opened exactly. This case appeared in my list of open cases, but I received no notification that this case had been opened by email or through my eBay control panel. I contacted the buyer to ask what the issue was and whether I could help in any way. He replied, advising that he had contacted Customer Services as he had not received the item.

In the Global Shipping Program Seller Terms and Conditions, Section 11, Subsection a, the last paragraph begins:

"You will not be responsible under the eBay Money Back Guarantee or PayPal Buyer Protection Programmes for the loss of, or damage to, a GSP Item after its acceptance at the UK Shipping Centre."

As my item was clearly received by the UK Shipping Centre, I felt that it was for the buyer to resolve the issue with eBay themselves, as the item had been lost between the UK Shipping Centre and his address in Germany. I further took on this impression as eBay had not advised me of the case and in the list of open cases it stated, 'No Action Required' or similar. I therefore assumed that the buyer and eBay Customer Services would come to some sort of resolution between them.

On 05/08/15 I received an email from eBay stating,

"We are writing to confirm that your GSP item has been successfully delivered by the carrier. This is a courtesy email only and no further action is needed".

Great, problem solved. Or so I thought. At this stage I assumed the case would be closed as the matter had been resolved.

On 07/08/15 I received a further email from eBay stating,

"Customer Support has reviewed the case and made a final decision. We issued a partial refund of £**.** on 07 Aug 15 to the buyer. This amount will be deducted from your PayPal account or charged to your preferred reimbursement payment method. The hold on this PayPal transaction has been removed. This case is closed.

"Decision:

This case has been decided in the buyer's favour.

"Comments:

We didn't receive postal or tracking information from you. Postal or tracking information is required in order to be protected from losing a case.

"You can also view the details of this case in the Resolution Centre."

WHAT?!

I then messaged the buyer who confirmed he has now received the item, as per the previous email.

Regardless of the fact that the buyer has now received the item, why on earth was the refund made from MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT?! I haven't lost the item. I fulfilled my part of the deal 100%. eBay initially failed to successfully ship the item from their UK Shipping Centre to the address in Germany. If the item had never been recovered, the refund should have come from eBay as it was their shipping arrangement that failed.

In any case, the buyer has now received the item so now has my item and has not paid a single penny for it! To clarify, the 'partial refund' referred to in the message from eBay was a full refund of the price paid for the item as well as the price paid for shipping. I am worse off now than if I had given the item away!

I have contacted eBay customer services by telephone twice today. The first time I asked to speak to a manager after the call handler failed to assist. I was placed on hold for ten minutes or more before the line went dead. I have phoned back this afternoon and was refused a conversation with a manager.

Both call handlers advised that I need to speak to eBay Germany customer services. I have not dealt with eBay Germany at any point. Why should I be speaking to their customer services?! I placed my advert with eBay UK so my complaint should be dealt with by eBay UK customer services. No matter how many times I tried to explain this to eBay UK customer services, it did not seem to sink in. I do not speak German. This is why I do not use eBay Germany. I will have a hard time resolving this issue with somebody who speaks German. Since I was not getting anywhere with eBay UK customer services, I finally relented and have agreed to wait for a call back from eBay Germany customer services within the next 24 hours. Quite why I should have to wait that long is beyond me.

So far I am disgusted with the customer service I have received whilst trying to resolve a problem caused by eBay, through no fault of my own or of the buyer in this situation. eBay UK have failed to take responsibility for this issue or offer any kind of resolution whatsoever at this stage.