Extended item not received protections

[suelel1968]

Another Ebay announcement which raises more questions than answers. Is ebay swallowing the cost?  Or are they charging the buyer? Does Large letter constitute tracked, because it sure is frustrating when you see the item is posted weeks after you gave a refund? Whats to stop claiming off RM and then ebay refunding. Most of us would be happy if they just stopped adding defects for late delivery  or got AI that could actually recognise that late deliveryvwas not your fault. 

But well done for listening Ebay. 

We’ve heard from you, our sellers, that one of the biggest frustrations is when delivery delays lead to Item Not Received (INR) claims and unexpected refunds - only for the item to show up days later. This is why, starting in November, eBay will introduce a new improvement to enhance trust and reduce friction from these premature INR claims.

What’s changing?

Before: Seller issues a refund to close an INR case. If the parcel is delivered later, the seller will not recover their refund and it will be lost.

From November 2025: If tracking shows delivered within 30 days after a seller has refunded, eBay will reimburse the item cost and remove any negative or neutral feedback directly linked to the claim and regarding delivery.

Are you covered?

You qualify automatically when you meet the following criteria:

• Item dispatched within your stated handling time.
• Used a tracked shipping service purchased via eBay labels on our platform.
• Tracking shows that the item was delivered within 30 days of original case closure.
• Your seller account has not been flagged under our risk detection policies.

This helps ensure sellers aren’t penalised for delays outside their control, and reinforces our commitment to standing behind sellers who do the right thing. 

Thank you for selling on eBay.

[kyanyama]

I wonder if they've discovered there have been some naughty folks who have abused the system and got freebies?

I've been fortunate that I haven't had to deal with this particular problem.  Bet lots of sellers have.

I did have one buyer state my tracked item was delivered to a door that was a different colour.  I did a bit of goolemapsnooping and discovered they were in a rural location and had both a front and back door easily accessible for deliveries.  I could only see the front door!  But the RM gps tracking showed it was delivered to the correct house!  I replied to the INR with all the necessary info and advised the buyer Royal Mail would be conducting an investigation.  The INR was quickly closed with buyer stating they had 'found' their item.  Blocked and reported!

[ile136yz]

Is this for Private Sellers ( SD or Custom), & Business Seller?

[jckl1957]

You would not be able to claim from RM.  If you buy your label from Ebay (Packlink) you would claim through them.

Large Letters would be covered, as long as you used a tracked service and you bought your postage from Ebay, so, either Simple Delivery or Packlink.

This is the 'sticky' condition for me:

'Used a tracked shipping service purchased via eBay labels on our platform.'

I only use Royal Mail and either a large letter stamp or Tracked 48 purchased directly from the Post Office.

[suelel1968]

Hi @jckl1957  i buy RM though Ebay and always claim directly with RM. They have just upgraded the system and you get an answer the same day as to whether the claim is accepted. You are right about Yodel and claiming via Packlink though. 

[sml192]

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@ile136yz wrote:

Is this for Private Sellers ( SD or Custom), & Business Seller?

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The announcement doesn't say that it is only for Business Sellers so presumably it will also include Private Sellers using custom postage.  Items sent using Simple Delivery are already protected anyway.

[dch2112011]

At a glance, I suspect that ebay have found out via SD the reality of the sheer volume of INR claims being made against ebay (which costs them more than the tea and sympathy previously offered to sellers)

They are now faced with reality -  buyers claiming refunds at the earliest opportunity only to find out for themselves that more often than not the goods are delivered after the refund  with the buyer keeping both the goods and the refund at ebays cost !

They have therefore introduced this welcome policy to safeguard themselves and have extended it to sellers. The trade off is that sellers have to purchase postage through ebay.

The bigger platforms  offer 30 day delivery refunds and one a £4 refund /credit if delivery is later than the EDD -  mind you the delivery estimates on these platforms are amazingly accurate and the tracking is unbelievably informative - RM and Evri are the main carriers.

You can choose carrier.

Because of the volume collected from one collection point,  these platforms seem to be getting delivery priority over individual sellers on ebay  who generally have to use one of the thousands of third party collection points.