Simple delivery. Compensation for damage

[sword-calibrator]

I listed a vintage ceramic jug and bowl set which sold. I carefully packed it up with lots of bubble wrap and wrapped 'fragile' tape around the outer packaging. Simple delivery indicated it had to go via Evri. Buyer reported it smashed on receipt and sent a photo. As a good seller,  I refunded immediately as ebay had always required in the past. I contacted Evri who eventually told me that because it was sent using simple delivery, I had to direct any claim to ebay. Ebay told me that because I had voluntarily issued a refund, the case was closed and I wouldn't be getting my money back. So..................
What I've learned from this is that despite what ebay used to require a seller to do in the event of a problem, this is no longer the case. DO NOT GIVE YOUR BUYER A REFUND!!!!

Ebay and the *bleep*py couriers have just about got everything stitched up and I'm not sorry their greed, no doubt as a result of their suits making bad decisions will mean buyers will leave in droves and open up a market for another platform, hopefully one that will be more focussed on the sellers that use it.

[papso22]

I am afraid you handled this the wrong way.

To get seller protection through eBay Simple Delivery the buyer opens a case using 'arrived damaged' and eBay handles the refund. 

This is indeed different to how it was.

Treat it as a lesson learned.

[thepillenwerfer]

Yet again somebody is in trouble because they didn't study the available information.  That isn't e-Bay's fault.  Had you acted correctly, ie tell the Buyer to open a Case, they would have their refund and you'd still have the money; the loser would have been e-Bay.

As an aside I've always found it best NOT to mark anything fragile when using Evri as that just seems to be an invite to abuse the parcel more than usual.  A few years ago a ceramics Seller on here did an experiment.  They sent twelve identical mugs in identical packaging to customers via Hermes (as it was then) and marked six of them Fragile.  The six un-marked ones got through fine but all the Fragile ones were damaged.

[department28]

Yes, a buyer is meant to open a case to get a refund/raise an issue. As you have discovered to your cost, you mustn't refund a buyer unless they have done this. Perhaps eBay could flag this up more noticeably somewhere, so that all sellers are fully aware of this?

Also, you could have excluded Evri from your postage options. Sending by Royal Mail might have had a better outcome. That is no comfort to you now, unfortunately.