eBay

hosfa76 · ‎02-07-2025

Hi,

I really want help as eBay isn't helping at all.I sold a watch to a guy from Spain few months ago.he left the watch with the customs for three weeks or more after that he claimed that he didn't receive the watch as he didn't want to pay the custom fees and opened a case which was closed in my favour, Once he received the watch he claimed that the watch isn't as described and opened a return case.I called eBay to explain that its very obvious that he is making excuses and they said verbally that the case is closed in my favour while the case was still open online,I called again to ask why its still opened online while it is closed they said its a glitch on the system.after few days I got a message from eBay to return the watch and refund the buyer.i called them again customer service said that its a wrong message and the case was closed in my favour and advised to ignore it.after few days they deducted the money from me and refunded the buyer.I made an appeal and it was refused I called several times to ask for someone to listen to my recorded calls with customer service and every time they said we need to send the case to the Spanish team and they will get back to you and they never did.i called them so many times with no answer.i tried to get my watch back with the buyer and he refused to help.i can't generate a return label through eBay .I contacted the buyer again to tell hime that I can send a company to collect the watch from his place and he said I will return your watch through eBay only and I will not move a finger for you and eBay is not helping.its a vicious circle and lately the buyer became very rude and he said blow pipes to learn how to deal with buyers as if he is punishing me.i want to escalate this and get my watch back its a 450 pound watch not a cheap one to leave it for him .please help me with this as I don't want this guy to take my watch

red_magpie · ‎02-07-2025

please help me with this

I wish we could, but it's hard to know what to suggest.

Ths is what happens when eBay is allowed to structures its activities - I ca only assume deliberately - in such a way that although it's payments sprocedures are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, it's money back guaranteee is not.

eBay doesn't even have a complaints procedure - or to be more exact, they do, but it isn't publicised and an eBay rep. here told us that "It cannot be used for appeals of suspensions, restrictions, eBay cases or a lot of other things." In other words, it can't be used for the very things users most want to complain about!

Contrast this with PayPal, whose buyer protection policy IS regulated by the FCA, with a proper complaints procedure and a right of appeal to the Finanncial Ombudsman. eBay's money back guarantee is unregulated, unsupervised and with no right to any independent appeal. The user agreement even requires users to accept eBay's decisions, which I can only think is to make it difficult or impossible to bring any legal challenge to their actions.

I think it's a scandal . I hope that users who have been affected will consider lobbying their MPs or Ministers to have eBay properly regulated.

yorkshire*flower · ‎02-07-2025

So this is quite confusing as the buyer has been refunded without returning the watch? Where on the tracking is the watch now? how was the item sent/returned -Via the Global Shipping programme?

- Im confused at how the buyer has been refunded without returning the watch and if it was left in customs for 3 weeks or more was it over the 30 days by the time the buyer received it? (which negates his ability to open a case) If the buyer paid the customs to receive the watch then the tracking should show this. If its still in customs then the buyer cant claim not as described - which is my confusion

Ebay will side with the buyer on the basis that its "not as described" as a legit reason to return the item and they would have had to open a return case and send it back for a refund so is there something that you have not mentioned as that all doesnt add up.

papso22 · ‎02-07-2025

I think the OP failed to arrange the return postage so eBay simply refunded. They don't seem to have realised that a buyer can lose a case for item not received and still open and win one for item not as described.

It was further complicated by being an overseas sale which is difficult when it comes to return postage.

hosfa76 · ‎02-07-2025

first he claimed he didn't receive it and when the case closed in my favour he paid the customs and received the watch and claimed its not as described and they sent me to return the watch ,I called them and they said its a wrong message and the case is closed in my favour again and after that the issued the refund and they didn't give me access to purchase a return label.sorry if I didn't explain well

hosfa76 · ‎02-07-2025

ebay is taking the buyer's side all the time and the seller is not protected at all.i believe bay sellers need to do something to force them respect the sellers as well.i think they left me no choice except court action

hosfa76 · ‎02-07-2025

I believe ebay is losing sellers everyday.many other platforms became much more user friendly and the rules are more clear and straightforward.i really don't understand even if they decided to refund the buyer how they allow him to keep the watch and the money and not helping seller to get his item back.I feel its like kindergarten and they are punishing seller for not following their rules.the thing is in my case I followed the rules and they are the responsible of what happened and they don't want even to listed to my recorded messages.its a shame

papso22 · ‎02-07-2025

@hosfa76 wrote:

first he claimed he didn't receive it and when the case closed in my favour he paid the customs and received the watch and claimed its not as described and they sent me to return the watch ,I called them and they said its a wrong message and the case is closed in my favour again and after that the issued the refund and they didn't give me access to purchase a return label.sorry if I didn't explain well

I don't think customer services realised that there was a closed case and an open case, for different reasons, as the advice they gave was wrong.

The two cases have to be treated entirely separately.

You also can't purchase a returns label through ebay for an overseas return.

hosfa76 · ‎02-07-2025

That means they allowed him to steal my watch

papso22 · ‎02-07-2025

It means something probably got lost in translation. If you have evidence that you were misled by ebay CS to your detriment you could complain, however, what you were told goes against published policy so it will be a struggle to get anywhere.