Seller Protection

[pa-rex]

Subject: Follow-up Complaint Regarding Order No. 06-13617-16372

Dear eBay Support Team,

Good evening.

I am writing to follow up on a complaint I submitted on October 17, 2025, regarding Order No. 06-13617-16372.

The item sold was a nitro engine for a radio-controlled airplane – O.S. MAX FS 70-2 Surpass.

The engine was in very good condition and worked perfectly. It had been previously used, which was clearly stated in the item description at the time of sale.

The engine was shipped to the buyer in Greece, and the delivery was completed on time and without any damage.

However, after receiving the item, the buyer completely disassembled the engine, causing damage in the process. Shortly after, he opened a dispute on eBay, claiming that the engine did not match the description and had multiple defects. He requested a full refund.

I refunded the buyer in full, and in accordance with eBay policy, I also covered the return shipping costs by providing the buyer with a prepaid return label.

Despite my repeated requests, the buyer delayed the return for an extended period, providing various excuses each time. The engine was finally shipped from Greece on October 6, 2025, and I received it on October 17, 2025 (tracking number 988887683051, GLS).

Upon opening the package, I discovered that the carburetor had been broken, rendering the engine unusable. In addition, some parts were missing, specifically the Type F glow plug.

When I contacted the buyer, he responded that he “did not break anything” and simply “forgot to include the Type F plug in the package.”

Furthermore, the buyer’s communication with me has been highly inappropriate and offensive, which is unacceptable behavior within the eBay buyer and seller community.

I have all necessary evidence, including photos, videos, and complete message history, available for review.

As I have not received any response to my initial complaint, I am submitting this follow-up request.

Please advise me on the next steps and the expected time frame for reviewing my case.

Thank you for your attention and assistance.

Kind regards

eBay does not protect sellers at all. It charges quite significant fees for its services and does absolutely nothing in return. I have submitted several complaints regarding the buyer’s actions in this situation and have not received any response from eBay. I want to completely delete my account and no longer have anything to do with eBay.

[papso22]

I am sorry but this board is not a route to ebay, it is for members to get help from other members.

[tommystrezures]

We are buyers and sellers like yourself and not ebay. If you need to talk to them about this issue then it can be done from here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

[plpmr]

adding to the advice already given -

These are the UK boards and you are in Latvia, best log into your designated site - https://www.ebay.com/

[red_magpie]

I want to completely delete my account

Sadly, that's the stark choice facing all eBay sellers: to accept the risk that eBay's money back guarantee is wide open to abuse by dishonest buyers, or give up selling here. 

eBay has attempted the impossible, to provide strong protection to buyers without any meaningful ability to verify claims. A reply that other sellers have told us they received from eBay sums it up perfectly, that "As we did not see the item, either as received by the buyer or as returned to the seller, we are not in a position to determine who has the valid case, or take sides".

Unfortunately for sellers, it's become clear that eBay's idea of not taking sides is to find cases almost automatically in the buyer's favour. Most appeals seem to be unsuccessful, which is hardly surprising. There is no certanty that photos provided by either side are a true picture of the item as sent or received, and as eBay admits, they never even see the item concerned.

If eBay refused a genuine claim, the buyer could potentially sue them for failing to honour their money back guarantee. But eBay doesn't offer any guarantee to sellers, so the safe and easy answer is to support the buyer. Sellers don't seem to matter to eBay; for example when a seller has been required to refund for non-delivery, eBay gives them no support if the buyer then keeps the item as well when it arrives.

eBay has arranged its corporate structure in such a way that its money back guarantee is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, so there is no right of appeal to any independent authority.