Fair ebay have evidence of lying buyer, refunds so buyer has item & money?

[firsteditionbookstore]

Dear All,

In December 2020 I sold the rare & old Walt Disney book Santa's Workshop. The buyer agreed that it was as described, but left a false negative feedback. ebay have now just advised me that I am without the money and the book, and a dishonest buyer is holding all the cards over me. Unfair of ebay to support dishonest buyers.

BACKGROUND

• Buyer has written to get more money off the item falsely stating that the item was not as described.
• When through ebay I poinrted out that the book was as described, and including the issues he raised he demanded the return of the book
• I assumed ebay would see the evidence and ensure justice was done. I WAS WRONG! THEY DID NOT!
• It is clear that the buyer wanted more money off the item, through devious means

STATEMENT FROM ME THE SELLER

The ebay description I posted made clear the faults, stating:

"The rare dust jacket is in Good condition being mostly complete, with a crease to the front cover, small loss to the front cover, crease to the back cover, small loss to the top left corner of the back cover. But, the flaps are complete, advertising the following Walt Disney books to the front flap:"

This was also posted in the "Conditino" section of the ebay posting as well as in the main descritpion.

STATEMENT FROM THE SELLER

There is clearly no recouse through ebay for a dishonest buyer, who put in writing that he knew the book was as described and falsely stated in his ebay message: of 23 Januaury 2021 :

"I see what you are saying, but the images themselves, which are the main depiction of an item,"

NO TRUST IN FAIRNESS THROUGH EBAY

If buyer had an issue with the images and read the description he had the option to ask a question before buying. He did not.

ebay needs to be honest and fair.

The buyer now has the book and the money, and I do not know what condition the book will be returned in,if returned at all. Thank you ebay for assisting in this fraud.

WE NEED TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM EBAY FRAUD

The vast majority of my dealings with Customers on ebay has been very good. I have even received a recent positive feedback for another Disney book that had defects, and the comment was "as described". Ebay were made aware of this and ignored this too!

I now have to remove all my valuable items from ebay because the risk of fraud on ebay is too great.

ebay simply ignored all my messages and the evidence.

How can anyone possibly say that it is safe to buy and sell on ebay, where there is no accountability for those lying and breaking enay rules - and they are given your money and the item - and iof returned you have no recourse if it is not returned in the conditino it was sent!

I wish ebay would take fraud seriously!

[red_magpie]

I'm afraid that what you describe is the norm.

EBay's stated policy is that when they are unable to determine that an item is as described, they will support the buyer. As they never even see the item, it's almost a foregone conclusion that cases will be found in the buyer's favour.

When they support the buyer, the seller is required to send them a prepaid return label. If the seller doesn't do so, eBay will enforce the refund and will not require the item to be returned.

It's become clear that eBay takes little notice of anything the seller says to support their case. In all but name, eBay gives buyers a 30 day trial period, in which they can allege any fault to claim a full refund. I think that part of the problem is that if the buyer's claim was genuine, they could sue eBay for failing to honour its money back guarantee. EBay doesn't give any guarantees to sellers, so it's safer for them just to support the buyer. In the user agreement we have agreed to accept eBay's decisions. As eBay is unregulated there is no right of appeal to any independent authority.

It gets worse. If a buyer keeps the item received, and returns a worthless one, eBay says that as they never saw the item concerned, before or after delivery, they "can't take sides". Once again eBay's idea of not taking sides is to make the seller refund the buyer. EBay also allows buyers to open a case for a refund just one day after the latest estimated delivery date, but then does nothing if they keep the item as well when it arrives. Even with tracking evidence to prove delivery, eBay does nothing to support the seller.

EBay has become an absurdly risky place to sell anything of value because their money back guarantee to buyers is so wide open to abuse.

[firsteditionbookstore]

Dear red_magpie,

Thank you so much for your reply. But, there is a more serious issue here.

1. ebay has a provision for putting a complaint against a buyer who misuses the not as described return option

2.ebay uses their own messages system, has been advised of the correspondence, can see the correspondence for themselves, and ignored the evidence and contributed to the fraud

From what you say I am concerned that I will not see the book again, and have already lost the money.

This is theft and fraud, and the ebay system allows for criminal activity.

You state that this is the norm. This is of great concern to me and should be to everyone who uses ebay.

I HOPE THAT EBAY MONITORS THIS SITE AND READS THESE MESSAGES. I HAVE HAD MONEY FALSELY TAKEN FROM MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT AND I WANT TO KNOW IF I WILL SEE THE BOOK AGAIN! THIS IS THEFT & FRAUD. I THOUGHT I COULD TRUST EBAY!