eBay

sylauk3 · ‎25-06-2025

Sold a camera and he initiated a return beacuse “he just doesn’t like it”. I rejected the return and he found an address on the box I packaged the camera in and messaged that he will be there today to return it. The address is not mine, it’s a friends from when he sent something to me. I warned my friend but this feel insane so no sure what to do. Reported him to eBay

vinylscot · ‎26-06-2025

Does eBay have any system in place for dealing with undelivered SD items?

I would imagine they probably haven't, and they considered the expected amount they would need to pay in compensation to buyers for undelivered items, when the contracts with RM/PO/Evri were drawn up.

They will have decided that it's really not worth their bother dealing with them, and they're quite happy to let the courier companies dispose of them using their own systems.

If this could be clarified, the issue of the seller's address would be much clearer. Although Royal Mail and most courier companies do request that the seller's info is on the package, there would be no point, if the "Marketplace Seller" text (obviously embedded in the code) automatically means there will be no attempt to return the item to the seller.

Another point which suggests that such items won't be returned, even if the seller's address is included, is that eBay has not introduced a system for sellers to repay a refund, if the item is returned to them. As it's eBay losing out here, and not the buyer or the seller, I would be surprised if they had not devised a system for such circumstances, if items were returned to seller.

4_bathrooms · ‎26-06-2025

@vinylscot wrote:
Does eBay have any system in place for dealing with undelivered SD items?

According to the terms and conditions:

"10. Undeliverable or Uncollected Items.

Items that the carrier is unable to deliver to the buyer or are uncollected by your buyer, other than those that do not comply with these Terms, may be returned to you. If the item is returned to you, you may be responsible for refunding the buyer the item cost, and any amounts paid by the buyer for delivery, see here for further information."

It's important to note that sellers are protected against loss or damage in transit under SD. An item that isn't collected or deemed to be undeliverable is neither lost nor damaged. According to those terms if the seller receives the item back they may be responsible for reimbursing the buyer. If the seller does not receive the item back it seems eBay will deem the item lost and refund the buyer themself.

The bit I don't understand is why the seller may be held responsible for refunding the delivery charge paid by the buyer?

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

vinylscot · ‎26-06-2025

Like so much with SD, it's as clear as mud.

This seems so self-defeating, a clear (but unsaid) hint to the seller, not to add a return address to their parcels, although eBay does say that you should do so, in their pages of packing advice.

If you try to work all this through in your head, you end up with arguments about proving negatives, etc. I know some buyers are dead against it, but I can imagine eBay will add the seller's return details to labels, or to the encoded information at least. Their tracking, if integrated properly (some hope!), will then be able to identify which items have been returned.

I suppose we'll just need to wait until it all pans out, to see what happens in the real world.

akemp1 · ‎27-06-2025

@4_bathrooms wrote:
A carrier is not going to attempt redelivery of an item that was previously deemed to be undeliverable. Also, a Click & Collect point isn't going to hold on to an item indefinitely. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of sellers would rather get their item back and the buyer to receive their guaranteed refund.

But under SD ebay is more than a carrier and are responsible for finding the buyer, agreeing the address with them, setting delivery expectations, handing delivery related casework. My point is if they want to get involved in delivery they should take the whole problem away from the seller not just the profitable and easy bits. It's not fair that the seller should have to fully refund or pay for a 2nd delivery if the buyer's address is wrong or can't be bothered to collect. That's a situation that ebay should be managing with the buyer and maybe making the buyer pay for redelivery or making a deduction on the refund for the outbound postage where appropriate.

@4_bathrooms wrote:
I have no idea why you would want eBay to have more involvement than they already do; the seller would simply be left with no item and no funds for an even longer period of time than they do at present.

The seller should get paid anyway after 14 days if they dispatched the item and the arrangements that ebay have made with the buyer for delivery go on to fail. That shouldn't be the seller's problem and Ebay should be owning it as they have taken over delivery. Arguably it should have been ebay's problem before SD in circumstances where the buyer address they collected/validated is undeliverable under the postage service the seller specified on their listing. It's ebay that have the ongoing relationship with the buyer not the seller who might never have something the buyer wants again.