Buyer contesting international shipping cost

[hardawayandco]

Hi all,

I'm having an ongoing issue with a buyer in another country and I'm looking for some advice if possible please.

I'm based in the UK and a buyer from Canada made a best offer on one of my items. I accepted and they paid straight away, but then sent a message asking why the postage was so high. I explained the international postage price was set by Ebay GSP and out of my control. I offered to cancel the order if the postage was too high for them. They confirmed it was high (more or less the same price as the item) but they were OK with it as they wanted the item.

Fast forward to the item being delivered and I receive a message from the buyer saying I had only paid £4.99 postage to ship it to them and demanding I refund the difference in postage as I'd lied about the cost. I tried again to explain that the International side of the shipping was handled, charged and collected by Ebay, and the postage sticker was the domestic postage from my post office to the Ebay GSP centre before it was shipped to him. The buyer refused my explanation, accused me of breaking Ebay Terms of service and fraud and threatened to get Ebay involved if I didn't refund him. I explained the sticker was a Royal Mail GB sticker to Ebay's GSP centre, it didn't say international, mention Canada and had the post code of the centre's address at the bottom, but as he clearly didn't believe me he was welcome to ask Ebay for clarification.

The buyer opened an item return case against me as "Doesn't match description or photos". The comments, again, accused me of fraud and stated I only paid £4.99 to ship it from the UK to Canada. I called Customer Services for advice a couple of times over the next few days trying to get some advice on the best way to handle the situation. Customer Services were very helpful and told me I hadn't done anything wrong with the shipping. They advised me to message back within the Returns case to explain my side of things and if the buyer hadn't closed the case after the allotted time I should raise it with Ebay for investigation.

Ebay then investigated and found in the buyers favour as they couldn't determine the condition of the item the buyer received and I needed to arrange and pay for return shipping from Canada. I called customer services again as I was now at a loss as to what to do. Again, they were very helpful and said that as I hadn't done anything incorrect Ebay would cover the return shipping through the Global Shipping Program but I should message the buyer to explain a breakdown of the shipping costs (as a last ditch effort to get them to understand) and to confirm if they wanted to go ahead with the return. The customer services rep would then call me tomorrow to finalise. The buyer responded with (quote):

"sounds good. I've already confirmed with my national carrier that I can ship it back to you for less than $15DN (8.46) instead."

When I spoke to the customer services rep again today they said the buyer's last message made it sound like they were offering to ship it back and to let them send it. I said I didn't think that was their intent and I was feeling caught in the middle here but they asked me to clarify with the buyer. I messaged the buyer, naturally his quote about postage costs was only about how cheap it should have been to send and not an offer to return the item. He said this (quote):

"To clarify; the £5 postage you paid, indicated by your original postage label, was for the distance of the entire trip across the ocean — you set that price, not eBay. So charging me £32 but only spending £5 to ship the item was fraud and a violation of eBay’s TOS. I just can’t tell if it’s you who’s defrauding me or if it’s eBay. So I’ve been polite and decided to let eBay investigate and make the decision who is at fault. Since eBay has authorized the return I know that they found merit in my complaint.So, offering of an explanation (from eBay) of the cost of shipping is a waste of both of our time. If eBay has something they want to communicate to me they can contact me directly. My prev reply was simply to let you know I had already checked and confirmed the actual cost of shipping and that you were over charging me, before I contacted you or lodged my complaint to eBay. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have complained. There’s no reason why I should (or would) offer to pay for your (or eBay’s) shipping costs. I would just keep the parts. And if eBay was at fault they would pay for the return shipping.So you can either refund the difference *you* overcharged me and we can both move on immediately with our lives, or you can send me the return shipping labels at your expense. And you can spend another “£32” (we all know it doesn’t cost that so, lucky you) so I can ship you back your 312g of 3 plastic pieces and we can drag this out a couple more weeks until you receive the pieces. I hope that clarifies things sufficiently."

The customer services rep has arranged to call me back this Friday, but I've now realised if the case is not resolved within the next four days (Friday) the buyer will be automatically refunded without having to return the item. I tried to call again but got a completely different rep who didn't know anything about what was going on or

Can anyone suggest anything I can do or should have done differently here. I feel like I've not done anything wrong and I've followed all the rules. I'm banging my head against a wall trying to get them to understand how GSP works. Has anyone else had a situation like this that can offer any advice please?

Thanks all,

[*vyolla*]

This is crazy, you've got an extremely unreasonable buyer there who clearly hasn't a clue how eBay's Global Shipping Programme works. 

They are also abusing eBay's Money Back Guarantee by trying to get a refund via the not as described route.

Hopefully Dave@ebay or marco@ebay will be able to take a look at this and point out to eBay Customer Services that the buyer most certainly is in the wrong here and that the case should be found in your favour. 

[cobwebcottage]

If the case does close against you, call CS again and ask to speak to a manager. Once they have read all of the messages, they should also refund you.

It goes without saying that after this is all over, block the buyer. I wish we all could as they sound like a nightmare!

[666semai999]

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@*vyolla* wrote:

This is crazy, you've got an extremely unreasonable buyer there who clearly hasn't a clue how eBay's Global Shipping Programme works. 

They are also abusing eBay's Money Back Guarantee by trying to get a refund via the not as described route.

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Yep this is why I don't ship or buy from abroad now GSP is a ridiculous price I just looked at a 28mm miniature from the states £11 + GSP $86 (£66) what a complete rip off tbh.

[666semai999]

As  vyolla said they are abusing the Money Back Guarantee you have proof as they didn't mention anything about the item only the postage before opening the case I hope you get it sorted.

[lucy_farmer]

I'd be inclined to direct your buyer to the ebay Forum Buyer boards in his county .... to ask for advice on his being 'scammed'..... he might suddenly go quiet!

On the other hand, he might do what the Americans call 'doubling down', because some people just can't be 'wrong'....

[hardawayandco]

Thanks for taking the time to respond everyone. I'm kind of at my wits end with the whole situation, but it's reassuring to know I'm not in the wrong. I was beginning to have doubts!

As the case has already decided to enforce the return is it likely it can be overturned by someone at Ebay at this point? I was baffled by the case going in his favour; does anyone know if Ebay has automation to decide these things? The email I got with the outcome was either boiler plate or automated (and was signed by Alpha.)

I'm going to have to call CS again in the morning (I'll ask to get a manager, thanks Cobwebcottage) and see if I can get Ebay to send the buyer a shipping label ASAP. I just want this over now, even if it feels like the buyers behaviour is being rewarded by him winning the case.

Thanks,

[cobwebcottage · Accepted solution]

They will refund the buyer but also let you keep the payment. (This is what should happen).

When you speak to CS, make sure that you emphasize that it was sent through GSP and that they read all of the messages between you and the buyer. Make sure that they know that the only reason the buyer has opened an INAD is because they don't understand the postage charges.

I am sure it will end OK for you.

[thetimetower]

Pretty sure any issues with the GSP after you have sent to the UK facility is covered by ebay. U just need to escalate it to GSP. 

[papso22]

Not any issue unfortunately.   Not received and damaged in transit are, but nothing else is.  

[hardawayandco]

Final update: I spoke to CS again. Once again they were very helpful and this time it resolved everything. I asked if I could speak to a manager but was told a manager would have access to the same system as the rep I was speaking too and could they try to help first.

I explained everything, then asked if they could read all of the messages between the buyer and myself. After a few minutes of silence the rep asked if I had reported the buyer, which I had. He said he was immediately going to close the case, refund the funds Ebay had frozen from my account, fully refund the buyer and there would be no negative outcome for my account or status. Exactly as cobwebcottage said it would.

I told the rep I wasn't thrilled the buyer was going to get a full refund and keep the item after his actions, and asked if there was a way I could further report them so they don't pull this stunt on the next international buyer unlucky enough to have something he wanted. The rep walked me through reporting him again, but it wouldn't go through on either the app or the website, presumably because I'd reported him already, so the rep said he would try and get the report done from his side.

Since then the buyer told me not to forget to send them return address labels for the item, I said no thank you then blocked them the next day. I can see in my sales page they have left me negative feedback, but I have zero negatives in my feedback page, so it must have been swiftly removed. I'm curious what they would have said, but I think I can guess.

It's finally over so I wanted to thank you all once more for replying. The reassurance I hadn't done anything wrong was really appreciated at the time.

[cobwebcottage]

Great news! I'm pleased all the hassle is over and it worked out ok.

[toffeecat]

Try explaining to someone who doesnt speak english - Ive had the same issue with someone from France and Germany, they dont speak english but are buying on .co.uk   and complaining about exactly the same thing.   Its just random, I sent ONE photo to the USA they charged her $36.   I sent a 4kg box to the USA she was charged $36.   Youre right they then have a go at us, for ebay charges.   It seems nowadays they just let the buyer win, whatever the issue. I had a Tracked 24 item, delivered. Photo of delivery. They claimed they hadnt got it, they had as I google mapped the house and the door the photo showed was the door of the correct address - and Ebay refunded them, over £50 out of my account - when there was proof it had been delivered. So I am out of pocket the money, the money I had to pay to post it and then refund and the items. Theres no integrity anymore. As sellers we cant even leave bad feedback for buyers who are rude, fraudulent, repeatedly bid and dont pay etc etc etc So we can even warn others about these waste of timers and scammers

[eastern-lights]

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@toffeecat wrote:

Try explaining to someone who doesnt speak english - Ive had the same issue with someone from France and Germany, they dont speak english but are buying on .co.uk   and complaining about exactly the same thing.  

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When I am corresponding with foreign Ebay customers I send my messages in both English and their country's language. I use Google translate on my messages, which I keep as straight forward as possible. Before sending I run the translated message back into English using Google translate again to check that the translated message means what I want it to mean.

It is a faff but it does avoid misunderstanding. 

(I do sometimes find though that it proves to be unnecessary and their  English is better that some of the English customers.)

[666semai999]

Great news that it was sorted and your not out of pocket, can't believe they refunded the buyer as well as you stated they only said it was inad after they argued about the postage cost.

I have a few old gaming miniatures to sell & they would normally sell very well in Europe and USA but not sure I want the hassle of posting items out especially as I can't send a combine postage invoice now.