eBay Money Back Guarantee - be careful and need advice

I very occasionally sell stuff I no longer want / need on ebay. My last activity was back in 2012 and I am back again in 2015. Boy am I Naive to the new ebay.

I listed an item for local pickup only......payment by PayPal. Reason I did that was I had heard from another local buy, swap and sell faebook group that many people were trying to pass counterfeit money when paying in cash, so I figured I would be good to go with PayPal as it protects me from this.

Auction ends, Item sells for $485. Money goes into PayPal, but it's on a 21 day hold. Extremely Annoying but I don't need it urgently.

During the pickup, my buyer expressed confusion about what was included, vs what was in my eBay listing. I told her she was mistaken and I would be happy to cancel transaction. She said she was all good, I loaded the goods in her car (she was very heavily pregnant) and she drove off. I even gave her a demo of the item and also waited so I could give her directions back to the freeway.

Now the buyer has raised a case for Item Not As Described. Ebay have told me they will find in the buyers favour and refund all moneys to them, as well as bill me for return shipping. The item is a massive pram, so I dont want to be left with a huge courier bill.

I also raised a complaint about the buyer, and asked eBay to clarify it's money back guarantee policy for local pickup items, paid for with PayPal. They stated that these types of transactions were not eligable. However, I have another eBayer managing the buyers case saying eBay will find in the buyers favour. They both completely contradict one another.

I'm waiting to see what the outcome will be, but I think if eBay do not rule in my favour, I will arrange to meet the buyer in person, pickup all goods and issue a refund. If the buyer wants to be vindictive, they can arrange a courier, there are no guarantees on how well they will pack my items and I will be left wearing the cost.

Does any of the brains trust here have any advice for me. I am so angry at myself and also at eBay
 
I am so angry at myself and also at eBay

I have a few clients that do ebay for a living.

You will run into ebay nuts.

rather than resolve an issue with the seller ( which is common sense) they will go to town to make things hard for the seller because of some miniscule, non material issue.

Note that many of these peops do life that way, and that is no reflection on you, ebay or PayPal, more on the bozo buyer.

ta
rolf
 
in a previois life i ran my own ebsy business

i hate ebay and paypal with passion

basically paypal is for delivery only, pick up and you are stuffed

my first of many negative xperiences involved a pick up for $2500, and i got a chargeback a few months later. $2500 out of pocket

Thinking i had learnt my lesson by never accepting paypal for pick up,

my next neg experience was on the request of the buyer who paid extra for exprss shipping, all trackable online. I got an email from the buyer saying they were happy. Fast fwd a few months and a dispute was opened and i lost $2000 because even though it was trackable it wasnt signature delivery
]$2000 out of pocket!
 
I know it's too late after the fact, but NEVER, EVER, accept paypal for an item that a customer is picking up.

That being said, that won't protect you from the numpties. There are a heap of them out there.

As for the refund, if they find in the buyers favour, you won't have any choice in the matter, they will rip it out of your account. If you are having issues, it's always easiest to resolve if you get on the phone & talk to them at ebay.

Be warned that if you phone them, you could be on hold for ages. Choose the option for them to call you, & they do it pretty much straight away. If you don't get a satisfactory answer (often the case), leave it some time, then get them to call you again. Keep doing it until you get someone to listen & understand what it is you are saying.
 
Top advice Skater !!! (as usual).

I am on the phone to them now. I keep asking them to escalate me to someone who has the authority to fix my issue, today, on this current call.

I'm still on hold.........I suspect they will just spin me out until I've exceeded a hold time and they hang up on me..........but my call is very important to them.

I will never sell on eBay again after this experience
 
Morning All,

Just got of the phone with Ebay. I used their website and opted for the call me option. They pretty much called immediately.

I spoke with 3 people and asked to be escalated to someone with the authority to do the following

i. Resolve my case
ii. Authorise immediate release of funds in my paypal account

I calmly explained the situation, very simply, using point form.

Ebay hav now closed the case in my favour. Funds will be in my PayPal account within 24 hours.

A good outcome, but not counting my chickens until I have the $$$$.

No PayPal on local pickup ever again
 
Please explain why delivering an item to the seller (as opposed to having them pick it up) will offer protection in cases like these?
Is it because the seller ticks a box when finalising the purchase on ebay along the lines of 'I agree to accept the goods in the condition they are delivered in'?
Otherwise, I don't see how it makes any difference - they can complain anyway.
Thanks.
 
When I sell stuff on eBay, as soon as funds are cleared in PayPal I withdraw and never keep a positive balance. The Bank account I have linked has only a few $$ in it.
 
When I sell stuff on eBay, as soon as funds are cleared in PayPal I withdraw and never keep a positive balance. The Bank account I have linked has only a few $$ in it.

Wouldn't you just end up with a negative balance then? I mean I imagine they'd still try to reverse the payment.
 
Ebay hav now closed the case in my favour. Funds will be in my PayPal account within 24 hours.

A good outcome, but not counting my chickens until I have the $$$$.

No PayPal on local pickup ever again
That's a great outcome. Often when you ask to speak to a supervisor, there is never anyone available, and yes, I'm aware that there probably IS, they just refuse to refer you to someone else.

Please explain why delivering an item to the seller (as opposed to having them pick it up) will offer protection in cases like these?
Is it because the seller ticks a box when finalising the purchase on ebay along the lines of 'I agree to accept the goods in the condition they are delivered in'?
Otherwise, I don't see how it makes any difference - they can complain anyway.
Thanks.
It's all about the Paypal buyer protection. If you sell to a dodgy buyer & they pay via Paypal, there is no proof that they picked it up. They can claim 'Item not received', and paypal will refund them. If you have to post it to them, there is often a tracking number, so proof that they got it.
Congrats on the outcome. I think eBay/PayPal sometimes take the path of least resistance....like property managers...
Not so. It is sometimes very hard to get things sorted out. It all depends on who you speak to. Some of their staff are hard to talk to, and just refuse to do anything, while others are fantastic.
Wouldn't you just end up with a negative balance then? I mean I imagine they'd still try to reverse the payment.

No! If you owe eBay money, & they can't get it, they will close your account. They will also close anyone else's account that is from the same household. Once they have de-registered you, you can't come back. Well.....you can, but it's extremely hard.
 
I believe, ebay offer 'new' buyer protection since nov 2014.
There are 2 different types of buyer protection, one is ebay and the other one is Paypal.
My case was that I paid using Paypal and arrange a courier to pick the item up. When the item arrived, it was really bad (holes etc) so I lodge claim with paypal since the ebay buyer protection was not available when the item was sold. I was not elligible for paypal buyer protection because of delivery.
 
I believe, ebay offer 'new' buyer protection since nov 2014.
There are 2 different types of buyer protection, one is ebay and the other one is Paypal.
My case was that I paid using Paypal and arrange a courier to pick the item up. When the item arrived, it was really bad (holes etc) so I lodge claim with paypal since the ebay buyer protection was not available when the item was sold. I was not elligible for paypal buyer protection because of delivery.

Anytime you use Paypal, you are eligible for buyer protection, BUT you can't lodge a claim with both Ebay & Paypal and get two lots of protection.
 
Hey Skater

There are 2 buyer protection policies.

eBay buyer protection and PayPal buyer protection

The eBay buyer protection policy is decidedly unclear as to whether or not it covers items available for local pickup. This is the new one that came out in November 2014. The PayPal protection policy is extremely clear. It explicitly states that it does not cover items that are picked up locally

You can open a case in either eBay OR PayPal

The eBay buyer protection policy is hated by sellers. It pretty much gives all power to buyers. EBay usually decides in the buyers favor, as they are using this to attract buyers back to eBay. From what I read in the forums, sellers are leaving eBay in droves, I guess no one at eBay did high school economics :)

I have read countless stories about people selling shoes and clothing, buyer claims they are counterfeit, they are not, buyer sends back counterfeit item, gets their money back, keeps the item, seller loses. Same story but buyers have also been sending back items that are the same but a different color. There was a guy selling computer parts. People were buying from him using his parts and sending back the same part dead. They got their money back

Ebays policies tell me that casual sellers are not wanted. You can still do it, but you need to only accept cash on pickup and not PayPal
 
Hey Skater

There are 2 buyer protection policies.

eBay buyer protection and PayPal buyer protection

The eBay buyer protection policy is decidedly unclear as to whether or not it covers items available for local pickup. This is the new one that came out in November 2014. The PayPal protection policy is extremely clear. It explicitly states that it does not cover items that are picked up locally

You can open a case in either eBay OR PayPal

The eBay buyer protection policy is hated by sellers. It pretty much gives all power to buyers. EBay usually decides in the buyers favor, as they are using this to attract buyers back to eBay. From what I read in the forums, sellers are leaving eBay in droves, I guess no one at eBay did high school economics :)

I have read countless stories about people selling shoes and clothing, buyer claims they are counterfeit, they are not, buyer sends back counterfeit item, gets their money back, keeps the item, seller loses. Same story but buyers have also been sending back items that are the same but a different color. There was a guy selling computer parts. People were buying from him using his parts and sending back the same part dead. They got their money back

Ebays policies tell me that casual sellers are not wanted. You can still do it, but you need to only accept cash on pickup and not PayPal

Yes, you are right... to an extent.

The eBay new policies are tough, and a lot of sellers don't understand them. I would NOT want to be selling too much secondhand stuff at the moment, simply because there are a lot of dodgy buyers out there, that know how to work the system.

I have also heard countless cases of sellers being ripped off, but to be honest, half of the time, when you read what has transpired, you can see how it happened, and how that same seller will get caught again & again. For instance, one person I know sells ornaments. An item she has trouble with is miniature horses. The listing says that they are miniature horses, but in the listing there are no sizes. Time & again, she has had to refund them because buyers are saying that they didn't realise they were so small. She has been advised to put the size in the listing, but she will not.

I find most buyers are fine. It's just a small few that make things tough for the sellers, but there are a lot of sellers that are scared off by what might happen if/when they get a nasty buyer.

With the new defect system, there are parts that are actually good, but others that make it really tough unless you are selling over 400 items every three months.

Thankfully, I do sell that volume, but I don't on my 'junk' store. My main store has 100% positive feedback, and a defect rate of 0.56%. You are allowed a defect rate of 2%. Once you drop below that, then you will no longer be a Top Rated Seller, and if it goes too much lower again, they close you down. Now, what makes this unfair is that it this defect rate is for the past three months if your volume is high enough. If it isn't, then it counts for the last 12 months. That's pretty rough on a store that, say, sells 100 items per month.

I know sellers that have put their stores in permanent holiday mode until some of their defects drop off, so that Ebay don't shut them down.

Another thing is, that they immediately defect you, if a buyer opens a case for Item not Received, and they don't take the defect away, if the buyer does receive it. Again, not too bad if your volume is high enough, but if it isn't, you're pretty screwed.

I'm not sure if you read my thread on the piece of work that I've been dealing with in Adelaide. I copped 3 negs, on two purchases. I was able to get the red dots removed, because, at the end of it, I had done nothing wrong. But they won't remove the defects. I don't really care about that (although it is unfair), as the customers don't see the defects, & I've got a very low rate.
 
Wouldn't you just end up with a negative balance then? I mean I imagine they'd still try to reverse the payment.

Still rather have the cash in my hand. Negative balance, not a big deal. I just think you'd be silly to leave YOUR money in Paypal. But then, I'm not an eBay trader. I have sold a few things on there and whenever I have, I rip the cash straight out. When I purchase something, I use a linked credit card on Paypal.
 
I thought eBay made it mandatory for all listings to must have paypal payment.
So even if someone picks it up from you, they can still pay by paypal.
eBay is so shockingly bad for sellers now but there is just nothing else as good.
 
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