Buyer resold my item, and wants to return because their seller claims it’s faulty

[climbaroo]

Hi there, I sold my first item on eBay and was quite inexperienced.

I ended up selling it to a reseller, who resold it to another person. Now the reseller’s (my buyer) buyer claimed that the item is faulty, so my buyer wants to return. I asked for the serial number to confirm that the buyer didn’t swap it out with another device. And also pictures showing the fault, I did not receive any. Unfortunately I also didn’t keep any evidence that it is working fine, although I tested it before sending.

What should I do, should I accept the return or waiting for them to provide more evidence? Do resellers violate eBay policies? When they resell, the seller has no visibility of the end buyer, which adds risks to the transaction 

[tressygirl]

Aaaah thank you @myriad*seller  goodness one lives and learns on here, every day a school day.

Thanks all, and thanks M. seller for that bullet point explanation , excellent !  🤗

[vintique*violet]

See @4_bathrooms  response.

[climbaroo]

So I’m the seller, I sent the item to buyer #1, who sent from their address to buyer #2.

Now buyer #2 opened a return request with buyer #1, so buyer #1 wants to return to me. All these steps were within 30 days from buyer #1’s purchase to me.

Does buyer #1 lose MBG because they sent it to a new address after he received it?

[tressygirl]

To be honest I thought it did,  but 2 very senior experienced posters here say otherwise, so I'm happy to stand corrected.

Another experienced member  though has said it ends with the first sale.

Sorry for the mixed answers you are receiving @climbaroo   but I have turned to our Community managers to clarify . If I get an answer I'll be back !

[game_raid]

No, because they have sold under a different order number or a different marketplace.

Buyers are free to do what they want with an item once it's been delivered.

As long as they open a return in 30 days they are protected, as I said prior it's morally wrong but this has been going on since the 30 MBG was introduced.

If for example your buyer sent it direct to their buyer shipped from you and you could prove this then you have a case, then it falls under the drop shipping policy but from what you said have you delivered direct, they listed and sold the item and shipped out themselves.

I wouldn't call it a scam as such, more of a dishonest way to sell.

[dch2112011]

An interesting point would be the answer to this question :

How can a buyer open a return for something they no longer own - having sold it ?

By admission in writing they state they have sold the item and are therefore opening a return on behalf of a third party - is that allowed ?

[game_raid]

Each transaction is separate, each buyer has the MBG attached to the order, until the MBG closes they are covered.

It's basically a loophole that can be exploited.

Another thing that is common they buy to resell thinking they can make a quick bit of money but the item does not sell so instead of being stuck with it they return under a false reason at the end of the MBG 

[climbaroo]

I wish they can be banned. I’m just someone who tried to clear out a bit of space and sold my spare items cheaply.

Now I’m losing money on postage, having my items damaged, while having to think about this during holidays.

I guess individual sellers should never bother with eBay, I feel like I’m being played by the rules.

[lucy_farmer]

'An interesting point would be the answer to this question :

How can a buyer open a return for something they no longer own - having sold it ?

By admission in writing they state they have sold the item and are therefore opening a return on behalf of a third party - is that allowed ?'

Well, if there was a human being with a brain , common sense and/or morals involved it'd probably be a different outcome............ but this is ebay ! The computer doesn't give a hoot as it ticks the '30 day box' (whichever way you slice it) and the human computers in CS aren't allowed to  give a flying wossit either 😁

[tressygirl]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

An interesting point would be the answer to this question :

How can a buyer open a return for something they no longer own - having sold it ?

By admission in writing they state they have sold the item and are therefore opening a return on behalf of a third party - is that allowed ?

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Well that is exactly what I believed, and t seems wron

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@dch2112011 wrote:

An interesting point would be the answer to this question :

How can a buyer open a return for something they no longer own - having sold it ?

By admission in writing they state they have sold the item and are therefore opening a return on behalf of a third party - is that allowed ?

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This is what I always believed,  if you've sold it , so you are no longer the owner,  but seems me was wrong.  😐

[game_raid]

You need to block this buyer on the link below, if they have opened a return accept this and report the buyer once returned. Then it all depends on how far you want to take this, let the return case close so they refund the buyer and then appeal the decision.

I wouldn't like to say how this would end, all they will see is a straight forward INAD case within policy, even by reading the message I don't think they would even care sadly. It will look like to them the buyer bought it, used it for a bit and then resold it and because they are in the 30 days they have the option to return.

Totally wrong on all levels.

Block a buyer.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/blocking-buyer-ebay?id=4082#section1

[dch2112011]

I believe that seller protection is given under the abusive buyer policy which is decided on a case to case basis. The admission that the item has been sold would seemingly be an abuse of the return policy 

abusive buyer policy 

The argument would be 'Falsely claiming an item was not as described'   

The point to highlight is that the original buyer accepted the item as described undamaged - so much so that it was suitable to resell BUT the resale description which is nothing to do with the OP has been disputed by the third party - this is between the other two parties and should not involve the OP

The sequence would be to report the buyer under the abusive buyer policy - if eligible a deduction of up to 50 % can be made 

or contact the Irish and place the argument to them and see what they come up with - it would be a discussion that needs to take place 

[climbaroo]

I asked eBay on live chat, mentioning that the buyer re-listed on eBay and re-sold, proving that the item was not faulty when the received it.

However the agent told me that an electronics can be ok at the time of receiving, but can develop fault later, and they said I have to accept the return. 

Even if it ‘developed fault later’, how is this my fault? I mean I’m not a retailer who provide warranty. Is this normal?

[tressygirl]

Do you know who you spoke to ?  Did it sound like Dublin,  Germany or the Philippines?

[myriad*seller]

If an item develops a fault up to 30 days after the item was delivered then the buyer can open a case

eBay gives buyers effectively a 30 day warranty on items, whether new or used. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@myriad*seller wrote:

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eBay don't care where the returned item is posted from. They only care that delivery to seller is shown by the tracking. 

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That isn't correct. In an INAD case the seller is only responsible for issuing a return label that is valid for getting the item returned from the address they originally arranged delivery to. The seller is not responsible for arranging a return from any other address.  

In the link I posted to eBay's MBG policy it states the MBG does not cover an item reported as being not as described if the buyer forwarded the item to another address after delivery. Whether this happened as a result of the item being resold or not is immaterial; it is the fact the item was forwarded to another address after delivery that caused the buyer to lose their MBG protection. However, eBay's returns process is automated so the only way to argue this is by communicating with eBay's customer services. I would personally do so via live chat pointing out the buyer sent the item to another address after delivery and include the link to the MBG policy pointing out why the buyer has therefore forfeited their MBG protection. Whilst eBay's CS reps are mostly trained to tell users what they want to hear anything a CS rep provides in writing is binding. I tend to find if you point eBay's own policy out to their CS reps - something that has to be done with annoying regularity - they will follow the written policy. Just don't expect a CS rep to actually know what eBay's policy is beforehand as they usually haven't got a clue.

I had a similar case albeit a while ago now. A buyer purchased a glass shower door and reported that it had arrived damaged (i.e. smashed) a few days after it had been delivered. I arranged return shipping from the address provided with the order but the buyer messaged to say it needed to be collected from another address a few miles away and that it wasn't on the pallet it was originally shipped on any more. It was pretty clear the damage had occurred when the item was being transported from the original address to the new one as when a tempered glass shower door shatters it is nigh on impossible for anyone to lift the box up. This is because what was 50kg evenly distributed over a large area becomes 50kg of glass nuggets sitting in one compact mass at the bottom of the box. Anyway; after contacting eBay's CS and pointing the relevant part of their own MBG policy out to them they agreed the buyer had forfeited their MBG protection by forwarding the item to another address and closed the case without requiring me to refund the buyer.  

[game_raid]

It is eBay policy, most sites now offer 30 day returns as standard so eBay has to offer this protection to get buyers, but the protection gets abused and this applies to pretty much anything that is sold on here.

Buyers will claim it was damaged/faulty when they opened it even though you know it wasn't but you can't prove it and because eBay can't physically inspect the item they will always side with buyer.

This is the issue with selling electronics, we stopped many years ago due to the problems that we were  having, it got tiresome in the end so we pulled everything.

[dch2112011]

The angle is not whether it developed a fault or was damaged or the wrong colour - it is whether your buyer sold on the item and if so the description and price and photos in other words the sale between your buyer and a third party is not under your influence and therefore you cannot be held responsible for what happens after your buyer has sold the item including  the condition or how it was caused whether by fault, accidental damage or miss selling in terms of what your buyer represented to his customer.

This needs to be discussed with Ireland - Tressygirl can give you all the details on how to get hold of them - also report the buyer first - abusive buyer policy - ebay look for that to be done - it offers some weight to your argument  

[climbaroo]

Thanks, what would you think my best option is? Should I accept the return, then dispute the eligibility of MBG, and report the ‘abusive buyer’. Or should I not accept the return and ask eBay to step in?

[game_raid]

You must always accept the return, if you don't they will close the case and the buyer keeps the item and refund.

Never ask eBay to step in on these type of cases, you will lose.

Accept, wait for it to be returned and then decide how far you want to take it, once delivered back to you report the buyer for abusing the return.

If you decide to challenge this, let the case close, eBay will refund the buyer and this then gives you a chance to appeal eBay's decision