eBay

diddy-55 · ‎02-09-2025

UK Seller here.

I sold a NEW and sealed iPhone 16 on the 14th August and paid extra at my own cost to get the buyer the item on next day delivery , on the 22nd August the buyer contacted me asking for the item to be returned as 'Doesn't work or is defective'

''The Phone is not activating currently we have tried cycling it through a few times but the screen would not turn on.

I have left the phone on charge for hours on end but had no luck. I've also tried some other troubleshooting steps but nothing. Some forums are stating it could be a hardware issue so I'd like to have this returned if you could have this inspected and a resolution brought forward after"

I requested for an return label to be issued to the buyer with my personal home address on the label.

I received notification that the item was out for delivery to my address on Friday, and then received further notification the item was "delivered" while I was in the property with no Royal Mail calling card left either.

I thought I would leave it for 24 hours or so as it may of been with a neighbour etc but no sign of said return.

I contacted Royal Mail on Saturday 30th August who advised they checked the GPS and the item was delivered around "7 minutes drive" from my property and was not delivered to my property.

Royal Mail opened an investigation and as of yesterday (1st September) I received the below email:

I am sorry to learn that you have not yet received an item that was returned to you, even though it was confirmed as delivered on our system. I can understand your concern.

"We have now completed our investigations. I can confirm that this item has not been delivered to the address you have provided which is xxxxxxx

The purchaser gave us a different address to the return information that you supplied to them. Based on the information received, we delivered the item to the correct address. In light of this, I’d advise you to contact the person who returned the item or the selling platform used for this transaction for more information.

Due to GDPR guidelines I am unable to share the delivery address details we used in the return of your item. Please check this with the purchaser or the selling platform directly"

I have shared this email with eBay - the buyer isn't contacting me and I am under pressure to issue a refund to the buyer from eBay.

I am not quite sure what to do or where I stand on this, I used the eBay call me function and got absolutely nowhere with them, I have contacted Royal Mail further and awaiting a response.

eBay said there is nothing they can do, its the carriers fault and stepping away from helping me out - meanwhile today is the deadline for issuing a refund - but I cant issue a refund for something that is not in my possession.

I've had an eBay account since 2007 and I think this is the final straw for me unfortunately - there doesn't seem to be any support for sellers constantly a one way street with the stress this has caused me over the past few days or so.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

diddy-55 · ‎03-09-2025

Not much point of an eBay member to member support with no responses/replies... 🙄

As of today I received notification that eBay will now be stepping in to resolve this.

red_magpie · ‎03-09-2025

member support with no responses

It was very unusual that your question yesterday didn't attrace any replies.

This may be because it's depressingly hard to offer any meaningful advice in the situation you described.

The buyer seems to have correctly opened a case under eBay's money back guarantee, and it is eBay's hands. eBay's initial "nothing they can do" response was typical of their position on delivery issues. They can't and don't attempt to investigate delveries, and generally place the onus on the recipient (which is usually a buyer) to contact the courier to prove that the tracking record is incorrect.

When buyers are in this position we can at least suggest other possible ways to claim a refund through their payment provider. Unfortunately you, as the seller, are entirely in eBay's hands with little advice to be offered.

The much better news today is that you have now obtained irrefutable evidence from RM that the item was not delivered to your address. The question, of course, will be what delivery address was given in the return label provided by eBay. This will normally be the address recorded with your registration details. If these are up to date and correct I would expect eBay to support you - although I don't know how they will deal with this or what happens about any insurance claim when a return label is issued through eBay.

If the address on the label was correct, is it possible that the buyer doctored it in the hope of keeping the phone for free? But surely this would have been pointless - you could presumably have reported the phone stolen, and had it locked.