Return–Who Pays Shipping?

It all depends if the buyer said it was an “item not as described”. If so, the buyer is placing the blame on you, then eBay expects you to pay for shipping both ways.

If the buyer is just saying they changed their mind, then the buyer pays for shipping.

The new auto-approval of returns is causing problems for me with this.

I had a buyer this month who messaged me saying that a shirt didn’t fit, and that they needed a large size. The shirt was a medium, listed as medium, and I also put all exact measurements in the listing.

Buyer started a return “Not as described” so they wouldn’t have to pay return shipping.

Armed with the original buyer message, I called ebay customer service expecting a quick resolution as they can see the buyer is lying about NAD.

First of all, every time I talk to ebay customer service now, the rep tells me not to approve the return. I then try to explain to them its not possible because ebay auto-approves all returns now (even with the rule disabled in preferences and RMA # added, all returns are still auto-approved).

The rep never really seems to understand this.

Next the rep tells me that they will have to issue a return label to the buyer (charged to me) and that I have to wait for the item to be shipped back, and then I have to call ebay again to tell them the item is ok, and then they will waive the shipping costs charged to me.

I ask why I have to do that when its obvious the buyer is flat out lying, as they already messaged prior to the return, and ebay rep just gives the usual canned answer which doesn’t really mean anything.

Multiple calls to ebay CS, same answers.

And this isn’t the only time I’ve had this problem with ebay since they’ve started this new auto-return thing.

It seems pretty clear that ebay is heading towards all sellers paying return shipping, regardless of reason…

I think the reason they making me have the item sent back is because they are wanting buyers to be able to return for free, even when they are lying about NAD because they plan on going this direction for all buyers/returns…

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by JamesC.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by JamesC.

We had similar issues recently and I think the consensus is that the False-INAD item gets returned and you just refund the cost of the item. The buyer would have to then dispute not getting a full refund. At that point, you hope eBay sees the INAD reasoning is incorrect.

But the problem is that I’m still being charged for the return shipping label to have the item sent back..

So far, ebay reps have said that if I call back it will be waived (not in those exact words, very hard to get them to say anything clearly) …. but still, very annoying on top of having to spend extra time calling ebay back again.

Maybe I’ll check those out.

I just really hope that ebay is not moving towards required free returns on all sellers, like it seems like they are.

Ebay isn’t Amazon… Amazon listings don’t include item specifics, actual photos, etc. It makes some sense for returns to be easier on Amazon because you’re buying blindly a lot of the time, if its a used item. Free returns on Ebay though just seems ridiculous to me, as a small dude trying to make a living.

Based on a lot of similar experiences, I can tell you that there is no point trying to get ebay to change the return reason, or try to get them to not charge you for the shipping label. There is simply no way for them to do this, and fighting it is a recipe for insanity. The only solution that I have found to work is to wait until you have received the item back AND then go into your most recent invoice transactions to find out how much they charged you for the label. Then go into paypal and do a partial refund of the original transaction, not including original shipping and subtracting out the cost of the return label. Then email the buyer explaining to them how and why you calculated the refund amount. Then, if the buyer doesn’t fight it, wait a few weeks and the return auto-closes. Then call ebay to get your FVF refunded. Sounds complicated, but it’s actually MUCH easier than calling ebay trying to fight a return reason.

Also, if there were a way to not accept the return, I wouldn’t advise doing that anyway. ebay does not like it if buyers don’t accept returns. period.

I have had plenty of good experiences talking to ebay customer service regarding bad returns, and having either the return closed in my favor or fees refunded. As long as I had a legitimate case against what the buyer was saying, it was never a problem.

Its only become a problem for me since they started auto approving returns.

The reason I believe they are trying to roll out site-wide free returns is that I think they are probably allowing these buyers to return for free despite the fact they are abusing the system, and they will refund me afterward because they don’t want to anger the buyer by closing the return like they used to do. In other words, they are satisfying both the buyer, and me as the seller, without taking a side… and eventually, it will probably just be the buyer who they satisfy and the seller will have to eat it, like at Amazon.