eBay complaint

[sprokk2]

Hey community, 

I've used eBay for my business and separately for personal use for years now. I've never had a problem. Until this January. 

I sold a fitbit for £4.19. Buyer sent photos showing the packaging had been sliced open and I decided to issue a refund. Unfortunately it kept saying via eBay that I couldnt. Called eBay and they were very helpful, saying to issue it via Pay Pal and it will sort it out so I did that. 

However, about an hour after submitting the refund the buyer started some sort of escalation. 13 February eBay called me apologising profusely as they couldn't close the matter as it still had an open 'make it right' period. They say they would be ruling in the buyers favour but not to worry as the payment would automatically know if sent on PayPal which he could see. 14 February arrives and eBay billed my PayPal with a further £4.19. 

I called eBay and had excellent customer service, bending over backwards for the mistake. Since then it's gone on and on with a 'back office' needing to send the payment, despite now being told by 19 people ive been approved for the payment. This Monday 22 March I hadn't heard anything and rang- was asked to upload loads of documents again via a link eBay emailed me. 

Today, unbelievably, Friday 26 March, eBay have sent a final reply saying that 30 days has passed since my item sold on 23 January so they will not be entering into any discussion. Ring and spoke to 4 people and want to raise a complaint and they simply say it's impossible. 

Only £4.19 but this is ridiculous! Any ideas?

Miracle if you read all this!

cheers 

[redwick1 · Accepted solution]

That was very bad advice from CS to say to refund through paypal and they would sort it out.

If you refund through paypal then ebay do not check and they refund and then take the money from you again as has happened. This has happened before and you are lucky it was just £4.19.

Ebay can sound as if they are being very good but often there is nothing they can do about it once it has been refunded through ebay.

Sorry it is not good news 

Even if you keep phoning them it will probably make no difference

The money needed to be refunded through the dispute and the case  should have closed automatically

[sprokk2 · Accepted solution]

Thank you!

[sprokk2 · Accepted solution]

After complaining and sending many emails, letters and wanting a 'formal complaint' to be raised. I have today received the £4.19 back to PayPal after over 2 months. They do not 'work in tandem' with PayPal as I was lead to believe. NEVER refund a buyer -as per your advice- outside of eBay, PayPal or not! Thank you again!

[redwick1 · Accepted solution]

That is excellent news. Thank you for coming back and letting us know. Shows it is good to be persistant. It is very unusual for that to happen but something we can advise others to do. Not to give up.

[red_magpie]

Called eBay and they were very helpful, saying to issue it via Pay Pal and it will sort it out so I did that.

There's your problem. As so often, incorrect advice from eBay. They should have told you to ask your buyer to open an eBay money back guarantee case. Then eBay would have sorted the refund automatically.

Refunds made outside of eBay, e.g. by PayPal, are not recognised. Therefore if the buyer also opens a money back guarantee case, the seller may end up refunding them twice.

You will be wasting your time discussing this with eBay. As far as they're concerned, the buyer has been refunded through the case and the issue is closed. You have every right to complain about the bad advice you were given, but eBay doesn't have a complaints procedure. We often hear that support staff can't discuss complaints.

If you want to risk wasting a stamp you can write to their head office at the address in the user agreement.