Unfair & wrong outcome on Payment dispute

[whitenoise21]

Wanted to share a recent horror story to see if I was alone on this or to see if there are more sellers out there victims to eBay ridicules policies on payment disputes!

in short:

- I sell an item & ship it.

- I get sent info from eBay saying it’s been delivered 

- seller says it hasn’t been, indeed they say courier left it in somebody’s else’s bin and they haven’t got it.

- so I’ve done everything right, however unfortunately the seller hasn’t got the item.

* common sense would say the seller / eBay takes up dispute with courier right??

- instead they open a payment dispute with their bank through eBay under the reason “item not as described”

- of course I send evidence demonstrating the buyer didn’t receive the item, so it’s impossible to say it wasn’t as described!

-  despite this, the sellers bank found in their favour ( conflict of interests?) and eBay subsequently took the funds from my account & a £14 fee.

Despite the fact the buyer themselves said they never received it & thanked me for all my help, eBay themselves can see all the evidence and AGREE with ME in saying it’s wrong, they say as it’s a payment dispute with their bank ( that I cannot approach myself as eBay will not give me the banks name)  through the bank there is nothing they can do.

im completely blameless, have been robbed of my funds, charged a fee ( which they later refunded me) and spent hours on the phone with several eBay agents & sub contractors all giving me incorrect information, clearly a process that is broken & wholeheartedly unfair 

anyone else had this sort of issue?

[papso22]

Sellers can't win not as described payment disputes and can't lose not received ones when tracking is showing delivery. 

Your buyer knew exactly what they were doing, but, as you have found, there is no help from anyone.

Depending on the amount I would consider a claim directly to the buyer, try asking citizens advice. 

[whitenoise21]

Wise words..

honestly as the amount is small my mental health & my time is worth more, but I can’t help feeling they have fraudulently obtained money from me which I find so wrong. 
I would be happy to be part of a group bringing action for change on this, but otherwise it’s a battle I’ll walk away from.

thank-you!

[red_magpie]

there is nothing they can do.

It's true that there's nothing you can do through the buyer's bank, because as buyers now pay eBay you are not involved in the claim. The claim is against eBay and it's entirely up to eBay whether to accept it. If they do, you have agreed to reimburse them - and pay their admin fee.

eBay could if it chose have contested the claim. However, what counts isn't whether the buyer actually received the item, it's what the tracking record states. If it records that the item was delivered, that's what eBay and the bank will go on. So if the buyer says that it was not as described their claim is likely to be accepted automatically.

You ask if anyone else has had similar issues - join the club!  eBay's money back guarantee and the bank chargeback system are massively weighted in favour of the buyer. These protections are wide open to abuse. eBay has become a very risky place to sell things.

[john1297576]

Just a thought in all the proceedings, where you have proof of delivery, but buyer claims not received BUT then opens a Not as described case, did you at any point have the option to supply a return label and state that you would  be happy to refund on return of this item.

As he claims not received he has nothing to return for a refund.