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 

[4_bathrooms]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

The angle you are promoting assumes that the OP will issue a 'collect from address' label when in reality unless the item is large and bulky it would be more likely to be a 'postage label' which can be attached to the return package and dropped off at any receiving centre which means that it could be forwarded to another person in another area to attach and drop off without the OP or ebay knowing the reason or the story behind it.

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I may stand to be corrected but where "integrated carriers" (such as Royal Mail) are concerned I believe eBay only requires the seller to select the carrier name and the tracking number; i.e. they are not required to upload the electronic (PDF) label itself. When purchasing a label via Royal Mail's website there is an option for the postie to bring the label with them to stick on the package during collection meaning the buyer would never have a label they could forward to anyone else.

The issue in this case is not where the item is now - in all likelihood the OP's buyer has the item - or whatever their buyer sent back - in their possession under the MBG case that was opened for that transaction. The point is the OP's buyer forfeited their MBG protection in it's entirety when they sent the item to another address after original delivery as stated in the MBG. 

[podlingsmum2007]

This answer is brilliant!

[dch2112011]

That hypothesis would make a high percentage of items purchased in December as Christmas presents  for family, friends, colleagues or charity  void of any protection from the mbg.

Good news for all sellers who if you are correct can get any Not as Described case closed in their favour  on the basis that the buyer posted the present to their intended recipient - somehow I don't think that is reality.

With regards to the buyer choosing the collect option - it is just that an option - it is not compulsory - Are you suggesting that it is compulsory for a buyer to choose this option and if so Why is it not the only option ?

It does not state in the mbg that a purchase cannot be posted to someone else or given as a gift or resold.

The part of the mbg you so confidently believe backs your line of thought simply states under special conditions for snad returns buyers are covered if  the item was sent to another address after original delivery  and the item was forwarded as part of an eBay programme such as:
Global Shipping Programme
eBay International Shipping
eBay Authenticity Guarantee

The buyer is not covered if 

The buyer used third-party freight forwarding or mail redirection

In this situation based on what is written in the policy and shown to members in the scenario where an item is purchased and received by the buyer and then it was forwarded by standard post / carrier to another address  it is not specifically excluded from the mbg.

It is excluded if  the buyer uses a redirection service or a freight forwarder (A freight forwarder is an agent - mail redirection is a service by the provider to automatically  forward mail to another address )

It may be interpreted by ebay in a very liberal way but the only suggestion this would happen is the response from dave@ebay , this may well be the way ebay resolve the situation.

This will probably have to be subject to an appeal now that the OP has followed the poor advice to accept the return. 

In my opinion the OP should have reported the buyer and raised it with CS before accepting the return .

[dch2112011]

To clarify the OP did not have to accept the return - they could have loaded all the evidence to the case - if the buyer escalated to ebay then the evidence is in the case for them to decide and if the info given by dave@ebay is adopted then the case would be closed in seller favour 

ebay do retain the right to close a case 'automatically' but only in certain scenarios which are published in ebay help

[dch2112011]

Check this out - it explains ebay return labels to you - which is the most common form of return label used on ebay 

return postage 

[game_raid]

None of this make any sense @dch2112011  has pointed out, there is the issue of the item being a gift.

Based on this we had a return opened on boxing day which someone bought as a gift but the item is defective, these things happen. From what people are saying I should have contacted eBay and said, I will not be accepting the return because the buyer gave the item away so they lost the MBG, at least now I know for the future.

It is a brand new transaction made by the buyer, they haven't forwarded anything on to anyone, they have resold it under a brand new item and order number.

The forwarding from my understanding is those that use an actual forwarding address, the liability stops as soon as delivered to that address, what happens after is the buyers fault not the sellers.

If the buyer hadn't said anything no one would be none the wiser, what is happening here has been happening for years on and offline.

I hope the OP does get the resolution they want from this and eBay add to the policy page that if an item is resold or gifted to anyone outside their postcode area using a courier within 30 days of purchase the MBG becomes void, because this is what the policy sounds like it should be.

[game_raid]

On the next return before accepting we will ask if they resold or gifted the item, who to, where they live and which courier they used if they shipped the item, if they confirm they have we deny the return and we will be protected by eBay? 

[game_raid]

It would make total sense if the buyer had used a forwarding service to send to their buyer and they never handled the item at all, then yes the MBG should be void according to policy but from what has been said they haven't, they got it delivered to their home and then resold it, nothing has been forwarded to anyone.

I hope there is some clarification because it will be bad for business if you can't resell anything you buy or give as a gift within 30 days of purchase or your MBG  will be void if you do.

I may be looking at this totally wrong, I am just going from what the policy states and own experience.

[dch2112011]

You are absolutely correct the mbg is very specific - unfortunately  4 bathrooms muddied the waters by suggesting that if the OP used a collection from address service and the item was not there to collect that ebay would find in the sellers favour - this may be true - 4 bathrooms also is adamant that if the buyer forwards the item to another address that this breaches the mbg and it no longer applies - this is a little ambitious in the interpretation of the mbg and certainly is stretching the imagination beyond reality.

However Dave@ebay within his reply only partially agreed with this statement in that if the item was returned to the reseller for want of a better description and it was within the 30 days mbg claim period it may fall under the mbg for the resller to return to the OP but it wouldn't if the OP was asked to collect from a different address to the delivery address.

The point with this out of the box problem is that if it is resold the sequence of claims would be the third party to the reseller who would have to pay for the return, wait for it to be returned before opening a seperate case against the OP, however having sold the item it would be unfair on the OP to be held responsibile for the reseller's representations to his customer or if it was damaged in transit or by the final customer 

This is an unusual situation where a business seller is abusing the mbg - using it as a 30 day warranty for goods purchased and resold from private sellers on ebay -  the business seller will not be bothered that the item being returned is damaged - broken, abused, swopped, remorse or even an empty box - they are passing the reponsibility back to the OP the only way ebay allow by using the not as described route even though the OP has no input into how it was packaged, delivered, handled or any knowledge of  the reason for the return request to the reseller - 

It is a definate loophole which is cleverly being used