I’m looking for opinions from other sellers on whether this seems fair.
I sold a rare 1980s Adidas All Nations TC Seigen tennis jacket for £39.99. The buyer contacted me on the day of purchase asking if I could send it urgently, so I made a special trip to the Post Office and sent it via Royal Mail 24, and it arrived the next day.
The buyer then kept the jacket for around three weeks before opening a return stating that it “didn’t fit.”
When the jacket was returned, it had multiple new brown/orange stains across several white panels on the front of the left sleeve, along with an orange mark on the white front zip. These marks were not present when I sent the item, and my original listing photographs show those areas as clean.
I reported that the item had been returned damaged and uploaded before-and-after photographs. Despite this, eBay refunded the buyer in full and declined compensation, stating that sellers should factor in the possibility of items being returned in worse condition.
To make matters worse, because the refund was processed manually by eBay, I have been left £13.48 out of pocket in unrecovered selling costs, including transaction fees, postage, and promoted listing fees.
I am a Top Rated Seller with an excellent history, no defects, and I always refund returns promptly when items are returned in the same condition as sent.
Does this seem fair to other sellers, and has anyone had success appealing a decision like this?
Basically I’ve effectively ended up paying £13.48 for the privilege of having a rare vintage Adidas jacket returned to me in a worse condition than when I sent it.
