Item not received

[fruid]

I'm a private seller and have been using Ebay for 20yrs at least. I've just had a dispute notice today from eBay regarding an item I sold back in 13th April!  The buyer is saying they didn't get the item. It looks like they did raise the issue in September however the email went to my spam but that is still 5 months after!

It states 30days is the time to respond to an item not received unless done through PP and that goes up to 180days !! Obviously I don't have the postage details now and it would be far too late to get in touch with the PO.

What do you think? 

I mean anyone could wait 175 days knowing full well you never kept any info on the item being delivered and ask for a refund. 

[tressygirl]

They can ask,  but they'll get no joy from eBay,  as you rightly say they are far ,  far too late too claim from you , and probably too late  to claim from their payment provider.

I won't lay too much doubt on the reason why claim so late,  we do not know the person's circumstances,  long term illness,  for example,  but end of the day,  whatever the reason, it's too late for any refund,  should a case be opened they cannot escalate,  and if there is no way for you to close it,  it will just time out and close.

@fruid 

[fruid]

Thanks for getting back , I hope you're right. 

[tressygirl · Accepted solution]

You'll get nothing forced from eBay,  there's a strict 30 day MBG timeframe.  I believe chargebacks from their payment provider has a timeline of 120 days,  so they are too late there,  too.

@fruid 

[*vyolla*]

Are you sure it's not a PayPal item not received claim?

They'd still just be within time to open one of those.

[fruid]

It could be but I've been in touch with them and explained that i feel they've left it way too late to get in touch, it's simply not fair to ask for a refund after 5 months especially as there's nothing I can do about it now even if it was tracked. 

180 days for a paypal purchase is crazy unless pp want to cover the cost which is highly unlikely.

Ebay seems to have lost it's appeal to me, it's heavily weighted towards the buyer , it should not be possible to raise a dispute and ask for a refund after 5 months. 

[4_bathrooms]

You need to read the message. Does it state the buyer has filed a dispute with their payment provider or something similar to that?

[fruid]

This is what I got from eBay..

Your buyer filed a payment dispute for an order placed on 13 Apr, 2025. This means that they disputed a charge directly with their payment institution. They're requesting £29.89 back, and the reason for this dispute is that the buyer hasn't received their item yet.

[4_bathrooms]

You need to either upload tracking to the dispute or issue a refund. If you do neither eBay will find in the buyer's favour, refund them out of your pocket and charge you a £16.80 dispute fee on top.

How did you purchase the postage/shipping for the item? Did you purchase it through eBay, from Royal Mail's website etc?

[jckl1957]

You won't win a payment dispute (different to a claim under the Money Back Guarantee) unless you have tracking proving delivery.

You may as well refund if you don't have proof of delivery.

[*vyolla*]

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@fruid wrote:

 it should not be possible to raise a dispute and ask for a refund after 5 months. 

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Except it is, and without a tracking number showing delivery the buyer will get a full refund.

I always advise sellers to keep any Post Office receipts featuring tracking numbers or courier tracking number details for a year.

[fruid]

That's crazy.. 5 months !   It's actually 6 months from today

If I'm forced to pay that back I'm never selling on there again.  Who keeps tracking details for that long?  

[fruid]

I'm not refunding it. They probably had the item and then waited for a long period of time to pass ( 5months) and then posted a claim , it should be 30days for everything with no exceptions. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@fruid wrote:

If I'm forced to pay that back I'm never selling on there again.  Who keeps tracking details for that long?  

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How did you pay for the postage/shipping? Did you pay through eBay, Royal Mail's website, a courier's website, at the Post Office counter etc? Also, did you ever upload the tracking number to the sales record?

[fruid]

I post everything at the PO but there is no way I'll have the details that far back , not sure if I did it myself or through that new system they've dreamt up to make more money.

[4_bathrooms]

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@fruid wrote:

I post everything at the PO but there is no way I'll have the details that far back , not sure if I did it myself or through that new system they've dreamt up to make more money.

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If it was a Simple Delivery label or you otherwise purchased the postage via eBay the tracking number will still be in the sales record - find the order here then click "View order details". If it wasn't a Simple Delivery/eBay label or if you didn't upload the tracking you had to the sales record you won't find a tracking number there.

If you purchased the postage online via Royal Mail's website you would have received the tracking/reference number in the receipt they emailed to you.

If after all that you still can't find the tracking number you might as well just refund. Without a tracking number you can't win; if you don't voluntarily refund eBay will force you to and charge the £16.80 dispute fee on top.

[jckl1957]

If you don't voluntarily refund or respond to the case, Ebay will deduct the payment from your funds along with a charge of £16.80.

All the details are here - to challenge the dispute you would need evidence of delivery.

Do you honestly believe a buyer would bother to pursue this with their payment provider if they had received the item?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/payment-dispute-seller-protections?id=5293&st=...

[kyanyama]

Others have already advised on how to deal with a financial institution chargeback.  I've only had one but had proof of delivery and their claim was dismissed.

Don't forget to add the buyer to your blocked list.

And always keep proofs of post for minimum 12 months!  I keep mine in a small A5 plastic folder.  After another 12 months I dump them all so I always have a full year's p.o.p in date order.  After being on eBay for about the same amount of time as you I am a bit ocd.  I always take a photo of the parcel once it's packed and keep it in a folder on my pc.  It has helped me when I lost the p.o.p as I could look at the tracking number as I used to put on my own signed-for sticker (now obsolete with Simple Delivery).  But it's printed on the eBay labels now so I also have that in case I lose my p.o.p.

One of the poster's said, "Do you honestly believe a buyer would bother to pursue this with their payment provider if they had received the item?  Yes, they would, if they are wanting a freebie and know how to play the system.

Hopefully you will find the info you need to fight your case.  Good luck.

[fruid]

Thanks for the advice. To be honest I rarely get any issues like this but if they'd got in touch say 2 weeks after it should've arrived I would have been able to find the tracking number , if it was lost by the PO I probably wouldn't have got anything anyway , it's very hard with them to get any compensation.

Last week I sold a large item and the chap got in touch to say it hadn't arrived after 2 days!! ParcelForce had messed up and it got to him the next day , 2 days or 2 weeks is good but 150 days is not , I don't care what eBay's policy is , it should be 30days max for everything and everyone.

 "Do you honestly believe a buyer would bother to pursue this with their payment provider if they had received the item?  Yes, they would, if they are wanting a freebie and know how to play the system.

Agree 100% , with rules like this it's so easy to rip sellers off. 

I had an tachograph that I'd sold earlier this year returned , they said it didn't work and wanted a refund so I said fine, send it back so I can test it so they did and I checked the serial numbers and it wasn't mine, that was £150. I told them they'd just wasted £8 sending it back, never heard from them again.

[fruid]

Yes I do think there are people that'll exploit anything to get a freebie.