EBay automatic refund not consulted - case closed.

[twiglet789]

EBay issued an automatic refund to a buyer who claimed my item was not as described. The buyer did not contact me and the first I heard was an eBay message saying they had refunded the buyer and the case was closed. I had to contact the buyer to find out what the problem was. She responded to messages at this point and said the Jellycat had a defect. I have not received the bunny back and the buyer has a refund. 

I have offered to email the buyer a prepaid postage label to return the bunny but she is not responding to any messages. This seems an unfair I was not consulted at any point and have lost money and the item. Is this a normal state of affairs now or is there someone I can contact at eBay to get the item returned to me? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tressygirl]

Did the refund actually come from you?  Check your Available payments and bank account to see if the refund was withdrawn there,  eBay may have made a courtesy refund out of their own pockets.

@twiglet789 

[jckl1957]

There have not been any changes - the process is still as follows.  (Unless the buyer is claiming an item arrived damaged and it was damaged in transit and you sent with Simple Delivery.)

When a buyer opens a case, you get two emails from Ebay which arrive within minutes of one another.

One will say 'Your funds are on hold due to a request' and the other one will say 'return requested'.

If you don't respond promptly to the return request, accept the return and provide a label, the buyer can ask Ebay to step in.

At that point, Ebay refunds the buyer from your funds without need for a return.

Check your emails to see if you had those messages.

If you genuinely did not receive any communication from Ebay, then you may be able to appeal.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/appeal-outcome-case-seller?id=4369&st=3...

[twiglet789]

The email says that EBay has paid the refund but the £50 ish pounds the buyer bid on the item is/was not in my account balance. So they didn’t pay the refund  I did indirectly. 

[twiglet789]

I have just checked all my email including junk and the only notification I got from eBay was that they are processing a refund and I do not need to do anything on 2nd May. The buyer had not contacted me at all until I contacted her and asked why she was asking for a refund. How do I go about appealing the case? I have looked in the seller dashboard and there is no option to do this 

[jckl1957 · Accepted solution]

If Ebay have refunded the buyer, you don't need to do anything.  It sounds as if that was the case - you say they stated that you didn't need to do anything.

However, they would normally only refund the buyer if the item was damaged in transit.

Where have you seen that the buyer was claiming the item was 'not as described'?  That would mean you were liable for the refund.

Maybe you need to contact Customer Services to see what is happening.

[twiglet789]

Yes it did come from my account. My first thought was that eBay ‘paid’ the refund but sadly not. Thanks for your help