item short shipped

[johna1949]

I am in dispute over a short shipment, only 25% of the £29.90 order was shipped. The seller said I could return item for a full refund but returning the item is extremely inconvenient for me so as there is nothing wrong with the 25% of the item that was received I suggested to the seller that I would accept a partial refund of £22.42, 75% of the order cost. The seller has not responded. I am a longstanding Ebay user (almost 25 years) and have 100% positive feedback. I contacted Ebay and spoke by telephone to one of their advisors who suggested that I open a return, which I did, but when I got notification that the return had been opened it seemed to suggest that I had now accepted that the item would have to be returned. I panicked as I am not familiar with the current returns process so I closed the return as I wanted to pursue a partial refund. The advisor I'd spoken to did not mention that a return could not be re-opened if the seller refused to consider a partial refund. I later spoke to another advisor who explained that to me, she suggested all I could do was report the seller which I have done. I checked out the money protection guarantee but again it seems like having closed the return option I am not covered. As I see it I have done nothing wrong. I ordered the item and got positive feedback from the seller. They then shipped only 25% of the items ordered and amended the original listing to reflect the 25% shipped but did not lower the price which they actually increased to £32.90. All I want is a fair outcome. I am a 75 year old man who lives alone and am incontinent following a prostate operation - the goods ordered were incontinence pads which I needed urgently. I do not have a printer to print a return label and it would have been extremely inconvenient for me to return the proportion of the order fulfilled.  I have explained that to the seller but they seem to accept no responsibility for the mess and no compassion for the situation I now find myself in purely because I mistakenly closed a return.

Wondered if anyone on here as any ideas on how I should proceed. Seems I can't even now take up the offer to return the item if I could find someone to help me with that.  One very disillusioned Ebayer.

[**peaseblossom**]

I am sorry but ebay can only enforce a refund.   They cannot make a seller send goods, even if they should have sent them in the first place.  

It's also complicated by the fact you've closed the return.   You could try asking ebay if they will reopen it.   They have been known to do that on rare occasions.   You can use callback on here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

Best of luck.

@johna1949 

[arkwebus]

As you have found eBay has - I am afraid - very strict procedures and it is very unlikely that they will be able to change things for you.

When this happens as you have been advised you should have returned the wrong order and got a refund and bought again [though would you have wanted to with this seller?].   EBay does require you [or a friend on your behalf] to print a label.  

I would have thought that a seller of such products would have had more compassion or processes to help. 

EBay really is not suited to some products   @johna1949 

[johna1949]

Update to my post. Thanks to those of you who responded, much appreciated. I contacted the seller again to ask once more if they would consider a partial refund. They did reply but only sent a pre-paid return label for me to return item. I messaged them to say I would get the item returned and it was posted the following day, 2nd April. I then messaged seller again to say I had returned the item, they replied telling me not to worry I would get full refund when they had received the item. I'd got a cert of posting from Post Office and later took a screenshot of the Royal Mail tracking info showing that they (RM) had the item which was in transit. By today (9th) the tracking info showed that the parcel had still not yet been delivered and I started thinking they were not going to respond, or deny receiving the item. I then sent an e mail to Ebay Customer Service referring to my earlier seller report and within a couple of hours got a message back to say that they had looked at my report and they (Ebay) were refunding me in full under the Money back guarantee.  Just checked seller feedback and there are 2 other buyers leaving negative feedback who also bought the same item and were also short-shipped. Grateful I am getting a refund, my faith in Ebay has been restored but what a palaver. 

[johna1949]

Sorry, made a typo and sent message apologising then discovered edit function so amended mistype.

[johna1949]

There has been a shortage of TENA Men Level 3 incontinence pads for several months now. You used to be able to buy them from a number of reputable sellers on Ebay or Amazon at a slightly lower price than the high street shops. Certain charities such as Age Concern also sold them at affordable prices. Since the shortage almost every one of those reputable sellers are now out of stock and no longer listing them.  A number of other Ebay sellers are now appearing, filling the gap by listing them at often extortionate prices.  They are no doubt buying them in from a variety of independent sources. I need them on a regular, ongoing basis and was looking out for an affordable option. I used to buy 3 packs of 16 pads from reputable Ebay or Amazon sellers for between roughly £15 and £18 with free shipping. These people who seem to be sellers of general cosmetic or pharmaceutical or cleaning products listed 8 packs of 8 pads for £29.90 so I took a chance as they had 99.5% positive feedback. Just one pack of 16 arrived however and the seller had updated the listing after I had purchased to show 1 pack of 16 to agree with the number shipped. They had also increased the price from £29.90 to £32.90 and marked the listing as Out Of Stock (7 Sold) which is very misleading to anyone looking to buy from them. Since this experience I have managed to buy 12 packs of 8 pads on-line from Superdrug at £4.75 for a pack of 8 with free shipping to build up an emergency stock pile. I also then found them for sale by Ocado for £4.50 for a pack of 8. Boots had an even better offer but were out of stock. There is no indication when this shortage is likely to subside, I have tried asking Tena themselves but didn't get a proper reply. The items are made in Slovakia so maybe there is an issue connected to the UK leaving the EU, I don't know. There are other brands which I have tried, including supermarket own brands, and they are OK in an emergency but you tend to use a greater number of them as they are, in my experience, of poorer quality so there is no financial saving in buying them.  My main objective in raising this with Ebay was because there are a number of other sellers who now seem to be following a similar practice and it is unacceptable in my opinion that sellers should seek to take advantage of vulnerable and sometime elderly people. I have no doubt that the pack I returned will end up being re-listed at a ridiculous price, which is another reason why I was reluctant to return them.  The word needs to be spread.