Spurious Return

[nevis1344]

I sold an old item which was delivered over two weeks ago. My return policy is within two weeks at buyer's cost. The buyer now says it's fake, presumably so that I have to pay the return.  It's not fake, but I can't prove it.  Do I need to pay return postage?

[*vyolla*]

Has your buyer opened an eBay return and selected the 'doesn't match description and photos' reason?

Buyers have 30 days to return an item that they consider is not as described under eBay's Buyer protection/Money Back Guarantee, and if your buyer has already opened or opens an eBay item not as described return, they'll be required to send it back to you for a full refund of their original payment, and you'll need to provide them with a pre-paid returns label (if you don't provide a label, the buyer can escalate the dispute and get one from eBay, who will re-charge you for it).

You will get a defect against your selling account if you don’t accept the return  and the buyer escalates the dispute to ask eBay to step in, which they can do after 3  business days.

Once you get your item back, if you feel that your buyer has misused eBay’s Money Back Guarantee you can use the Report Buyer link next to the item in your My eBay. This won't affect the outcome of the return case though.

Guidance for responding to a return request can be found on this eBay page:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handle-return-request-seller?id=4115&st...

[nevis1344]

Yes.  It's such a niche item it would never be counterfeited. He's either a panic merchant or doesn't like it. 

[tressygirl]

Yes, you do have to pay for the return tracked postage if the buyer opens a case for item not as described.

Accept the case,  issue the label within 3 days, and only refund,  through the case details, once the item is back with you,  you'll have 48 hours to do so.

If the case is escalated,  if there's any eBay intervention,  you can then appeal the decision for the refund,  the link below explains this process.  It's not easy to prove, as eBay do not see the actual item, and do tend to favour the buyer.

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

@nevis1344 

[*vyolla*]

Not much you can do here if your buyer has decided that it's not as described and is still within 30 days.

[nevis1344]

Weird. The buyer has now closed the return, saying he was mistaken.  I guess that's problem solved.  Thanks to all for your input. 

[tressygirl]

Excellent that is good news,  looks like they  may have opened the case for the wrong item, and thankfully realised !

Good result !  🤗

@nevis1344 

[*vyolla*]

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@nevis1344 wrote:

Weird. The buyer has now closed the return, saying he was mistaken.  I guess that's problem solved.  Thanks to all for your input. 

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Amazing, maybe he got it mixed up with another purchase. Benefit of the doubt and all that!