WARNING EBay guarantee = No money, you pay shipping, never get item back!

[Julian]

I sold my old non functional Go Pro karma drone on ebay stating the drone and controller don't pair (twice). The buyer gets it, calls gopro and is told if he wants to get it working they'll charge him $160.

He files a dispute with Ebay and says item not as described.

Ebay opens a dispute case June 25th, and then puts it on hold. Then July 1 they close it in his favor. I file a dispute they close it in his favor.

The kicker is....I have to now PayPal him money to pay him to ship it back at whatever cost he chooses!!!!

I think I'll be closing my Ebay account!!!

Sellers beware! This seems like an easy way to get free stuff! I've been an Ebay seller for YEARS, seems this money back guarantee is quite the lucrative way to get free stuff from people like me.



The puzzling part was the whole hold part.

 

[Julian]

This is the message I got from Ebay:

RE: Appealing a decision as a seller SR# 1-344453059734


Hello Julian,

Thank you for reaching out on eBay. This is Jovenson from eBay and I'd be more than happy to provide the information you need about your question. This is for the item GoPro Karma Drone, 2 batteries, controller, gimble, case, hand gimble holder.

I know how concerning that you don't agree with your buyer's reason on returning the item. Rest assured I'll be here to help you.

It shows that the case was placed on hold to give you ample time to provide either a return shipping label or refund the return shipping cost so that the buyer may be able to return the item back for a refund but the case hold expired without any resolution provided so we decided to issue a full refund without requiring a return.

Please remember that if an item is returned because it doesn’t match the listing description, we require sellers to pay for the return shipping, even if they don’t offer returns. This ensures buyers don’t incur an extra expense as they work with sellers to make things right. Since the shipping label was not provided to the buyer, we decided to keep our decision.

In situation like this, you may offer to send money via PayPal to pay for the return shipping cost, if the cost is undetermined, you may use an online shipping calculator or you can go to any couriers website where you can create and download a label and send to your trading partner.

Once you receive the item, I encourage you to relist the item again for I’m sure that there will be other buyers who are interested in your product.

I am glad that I was able to help you on how you’ll recover your item, and I wish you the best of luck in your future eBay transactions.

I hope I provided to you the best costumer service that I've provided. Take care and have a good day!

Sincerely,

Jovenson T.
eBay Costumer Support

 

[BigAbe75]

Very polite. Lol

did they ever let you tell them or provide documentation that the product clearly stated the very error that the buyer is complaining about?

 

[Ericd]

EBay typically sides with the buyer — A lot has to do with how the item is described. Perhaps if you said “Drone is NOT WORKING - will not pair with controller”. Sale of drone is “As Is - not working” they might have sided with you.
I lost a chargeback and the item (which was not defective) for a really strange reason — unauthorized use of buyers credit card, yet item was shipped to him at his Ebay address???
Sorry this happened to you.

 

[Ronnie]

Ebay sided with a buyer of mine years ago. a guy bought a used car from me but only paid 1/3rd of its cost with a new paypal account. The card backing the account was stolen. Ebay/PayPal took the money out of my account and put me in the negative, I could not use ebay again until I got the account to a zero balance. If eBay denied your claim your sol. I suggest that you send the buyer/scammer a prepaid shipping label for the same amount it cost you to ship it to him along with instructions to ship it back with the same company you used and in the same box. If the guy no longer has the box throw in the cost for it. I don’t sell on eBay anymore, just Craigslist or through my sons Facebook market place.

 

[granpachuck]

" I hope I provided to you the best costumer service that I've provided. Take care and have a good day!"

Had to read that one twice.

That is brutal. I was looking into listing a few items recently, and started reading the ebay forums, used by the the sellers, mostly. Many similar stories. Ebay has also jacked up the fees. I feel the same as Ronnie, CL works for me.

It is possible you were not scammed, but definitely scr3wed. The prepaid shipping label is good idea too.

 

[anmut]

eBay is on its way out. Sorry this happened to you.

 

[Julian]

The puzzling part is the whole "hold" part!

It shows that the case was placed on hold to give you ample time to provide either a return shipping label or refund the return shipping cost so that the buyer may be able to return the item back for a refund but the case hold expired without any resolution provided so we decided to issue a full refund without requiring a return​

​

The hold notice said no such thing. They began the dispute, and expected me to pay him to ship it back to me BEFORE they resolved the case. Effectively- I should have known i lost before it began! (This buyer knew the process)

I guess I'm screwed.

The buyer has blocked me on ebay, so I can't communicate with them - another clever suggestion that they planned this.

This money back guarantee is bullshit. It effectively means you ship your items to people and they can chose if they want their money back (and keep the item!)

Ebay is dead to me. Be warned....don't sell anything on it you aren't ok with paying yourself to send to rip-off artists.

I may collect dog shit for a few months and ship that to this guy! LOL

 

[jamesk]

As a seller, EBAY has become a joke over the last 5-10 years. Probably the buyer did not read all the info or thought he could get it working. Buyers have come to think that all shipping is free now and if you don't like your purchase you just send it back. As a seller, I have had so many bad experiences and so much trouble with Ebay customer service. Ebay lost out to Amazon over the last 10 years and now they are trying to regain that business by doing everything possible to side with buyers. I would say selling on Amazon is not much better and Amazon also usually sides with buyers.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I bought some rod riggers recently on ebay, first time I’ve ever used them, always was distrustful of ebay. Can’t say why for sure, just intuitive. I used to have a paypal account and got rid of that as well. When I was selling product most people used paypal. I had a customer who obviously messed up the product I sold them after the product arrived and paypal sided with the buyer even after I provided extensive documentation to show the buyer had wrecked the product.

Sorry that happened to you Julian… people are awesome. [sic]

 

[BigN8]

You can probably thank Amazon for this kind of stuff. Ebay in trying to compete with Amazon has adopted Amazon's very easy return policy with the buyer always benefiting.

 

[Ronnie]

Amazon did make it easy for me to get a refund on a life vest I ordered that was too big late May. I started the return process with the intent of exchanging it for the right sized vest. They didn’t have it in stock so they issued me a refund but also told me to keep the vest. Overton’s went the other way with a vest I bought from them. I want to return it because I changed my mind. They said sure you cover return shipping since nothing is wrong with it. Return shipping cost just as much as the vest, so I kept the vest instead. Ended up with a 2 for the price of 1 deal but know that kind of thing only hurts future buyers in the form of higher prices.

@Julian , sorry read that you got caught up in this policy scam. If it were me, I would pay a reasonable price to have the items shipped back to me just so the guy / scammer doesn’t get to keep it for free and to put the guy through the effort of packing and shipping it. I doubt I would try to sell it again or i wouldn’t try hard, at some point it costs more for my labor / time than I would get back on the sale. I suspect that you are already past that point. Besides, a drone on the shelf or hanging off the ceiling makes a good conversation starter/trophy/souvenir.

 

[2kwik4u]

@Julian I closed my ebay and PayPal account back in the early 2000's for this EXACT reason, although mine escalated to collections over a $50-ish modem.

I sold a DSL modem on ebay for ~$50. It was in working condition in good packaging. Sale and shipment went fine. Buyer had an issue in where they needed a CABLE modem, and clearly a DSL modem is NOT going to work. Like square peg round hole kind of not work. Buyer filed a complaint, and within 10 min the money was pulled BACK through my Paypal account. I had already cashed out Paypal, so that left my paypal at a negative balance. That ended up going to collections (I was too dumb back then to realize that $50 is less hassle than collections on my credit report). I fought and fought and fought that issue with Paypal. Literally a year and a half to NOT pay them. They kept tacking on fees and interest and all kinds of other crap. Ended up losing the sale money as well as ~$300 in fees. To this day I can't input my email address into Paypal without getting flagged, all over a $50 modem where the seller gamed the system.

I abandoned eBay and Paypal right then. Haven't been back to eBay since. I don't browse, purchase, or sell there. If I use PayPal for checkout (it's so ubiquitous now it's hard to avoid it completely). I have a separate email and credit card number to use for that reason only. Burn me once your fault, burn me twice; my fault.

 

[Bluewater272]

eBay has been a shitshow for sellers for over a decade, I wouldn't dream of selling anything there. Don't really buy anything either except random items that are new. Craigslist sucks now too. Basically if I can't move it on facebook marketplace, it just keeps taking up space in my house.

 

[Julian]

eBay has been a shitshow for sellers for over a decade, I wouldn't dream of selling anything there. Don't really buy anything either except random items that are new. Craigslist sucks now too. Basically if I can't move it on facebook marketplace, it just keeps taking up space in my house.

Or I just donate it or throw it away.

I even said "for parts" in the listing!

Total bullshit.

 

[mrmeaniemeateaterman]

Bummer Julian.
I used to sell small items like this on Craigslist, ebay, etc. Now I just donate stuff to neighborhood kids or to charity, if functional, or just trash it. Not worth the stress for a few dollars.

 

[Julian]

This article pretty much sums up what EBAY is doing:

How Buyers Scam Sellers on eBay (A Decade of Scams)

eBay quickly became and has remained one of the largest selling platforms online, but is it safe? This article discusses some of the ways eBay sellers get scammed.

turbofuture.com

1. Sellers cannot leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers, but buyers can still leave any feedback for sellers. Also, if a seller receives too much bad feedback they will be suspended from eBay.
2. Sellers must accept payment via Paypal or an eBay approved program. Sellers are no longer allowed to accept cash, check, or money order.
3. Buyers can now file disputes against sellers if they feel that an item was not as described, which would be fine except that a buyer doesn't have to provide any proof that the item was not as described.
4. Sellers have to accept returns. Yes, you can state "no returns" in your auctions, but that means nothing. If someone wants to return something, you have to accept it.

 

[2kwik4u]

Or I just donate it or throw it away.

All of the random "stuff" in our house get's purged once a year. Neighborhood yard sale happens the weekend after Labor Day each year. We gather up a full garage of "stuff" and price it to MOVE. I'm talking about CHEAP prices. I sold our old recliner last year for $20. Had the boys purge stuffed animals last year. Probablt had 50 of them set out. Had them priced at like $0.25/ea or something. Lady walked by and bought $5 worth, and said she would get more if she had more cash on her. Chatted for a minute, found out she was donating them to some charity somewhere. Gave her the $5 back and told her to take them all.

Standing rule is that once it leaves the house, it DOES NOT come back in. Anything that doesn't sell by 1-2pm gets packed in the car and driven to goodwill. Make $2-300 a year that way, and it gives us a reason to purge. Takes a little effort, but is SOOO worth it. I'm planning a massive purge this year, I'm ready to get this place CLEANED OUT. I've contemplated renting a small dumpster for afterwards for the whole block. We have so much useless crap in the house, it's really a waste.

 

[Julian]

 

[mraz72]

Julian, you mentioned I could get your stuff for free, what do you have for "sale" I might have to take a peak

jokes aside, I don't think the sellers are valued much on any platform (ebay, walmart, amazon).