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Just received an email from a buyer:
“Hey there.
Sorry to say but this is how it arrived. Wasn’t packaged well enough. Sorry.”
And attached was a picture of a broken gravy boat I sold him sitting on the person’s counter. That item was sent on Dec 17th and arrived Dec 22nd! Curious that he would only now get around to telling me about this shipping damage…!
I have 30 day hassle-free returns. Doing some quick math today is the 35th day. So I assume I’m in the clear. I know there have been seller/buyer protection extensions due to COVID but they have not increased the return window, only the time the buyer has to return the item once a case is opened, and how quickly sellers act on returns, right?
So since there was no question and there is no return case open, I blocked the buyer, and am giving the silent treatment, agree?
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Your 30 day return policy applies to remorse returns. However, he is claiming an INAD, which would fall under ebay’s Money Back Guarantee. As far as I know, ebay has not extended the time for INAD claims to be made, and the time frame is 30 days. So, the buyer is past the timeline of both your return policy and the ebay MBG timeline.
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So the way I understand it is that if you have returns on, any return request is approved automatically. If you have returns off, buyers can still request but you have the option to deny. Same thing after 30 days – they open a “request”, which you can deny.
It would be silly of ebay to not remove a retalatory feedback since you only stuck to your posted policies.
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I would reply stating your return policy. I had something similar happen before and buyer opened a chargeback INAD case (without buyer returning item). I did everything right (send item within specified time, as described, etc) and lost the chargeback case. While I don’t know exactly the reason, I assumed it is because I did not reply to buyer when they contacted us. I could very well be wrong on this though.
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Follow up. Buyer today opened a case requesting refund saying he only is now getting around to opening packages after a long trip and found this broken (possible, but not my problem).
First I’m surprised he can even open a return after the 30-day window! That is stupid, eBay! But one of the options given to me was just to close the return, which I did and I stated my policy clearly (per @joe’s) suggestion in the message box to the buyer.
That closed the case without issue and I immediately got negative feedback from the buyer. I just submitted the feedback removal form ( which is here: https://www.ebay.com/help/seller-help/feedback I bookmarked it for future use ) and we will see if eBay agrees that this was a form of retaliatory negative feedback. (I mean had the guy emailed me immediately after it arrived broken I would have of course refunded and that would have been that. Waiting 36 days is suspicious and out of the policy).
This thread I hope is a cautionary tale to sellers to be careful you don’t give a return outside your return window (unless you want to) because eBay unfortunately makes it easy for buyers to try and “fool” you into giving them one.
What I would like eBay to do instead is if someone tried to return, it would say “This item had 30-day hassle free returns {or whatever your policy is}, but you are past the date to return this item. If you need to reach out to the seller feel free to do so here” and have them message us. Then it would be in the system (and if I wanted to be nice I could be) but I’m not obligated to waste my time like I am on this today.
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@mickdog: Sorry to hear this. Hope eBay removes the negative for you. I think they should.
I was gonna reply here and remind you that buyer has 45 days after sale date to post feedback, But I figured you are not a newbie and already knew that.
Perhaps you could have given some kind of sympathetic and stalling reply to play out the clock on the feedback window.
Also there may be some info in buyer’s message(s) that give a reason for eBay to remove the negative. Examples are: 1) any threats about bad feedback or reviews, 2) any indication that a 3rd party besides USPS had possession of the item before they opened it, such as a neighbor holding mail or any possiblity of a freight forwarder, etc.
Look for any indication that they are not in the US.
If nothing yet in writing, you can always try messaging them so they have opportunity to disclose something that would help your case for feedback removal.
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All good advice for future use, thanks @Timo. Once they opened the case, I couldn’t stall until the 45 days (would have been a few days short). Maybe I should have sent some messages before to stall, I guess I didn’t figure a neg feedback would stick and I would have to do that.
I do wonder what would have happened if I didn’t respond at all to the refund request. Maybe after my time period ended, eBay would have automatically closed it, and like @zach says below that might lock the sale from feedback. I didn’t want to take the chance that somehow eBay would have approved the return outside of the 30-days though but I could try this next time (if there is one) and see. Or maybe someone on the forum has and will comment.
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I had a similar situation with something outside the return window, and eBay would not remove the negative feedback. I hope that is not the case here. The rep told me that in the future, call eBay and have them close out the case rather than just declining the return. That will block the buyer from leaving feedback.
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Well they didn’t remove the feedback, just got the message. So that sucks. I had a good run (1 1/2 years of 100% feedback)
Closing it out by a rep probably would have worked @zach, I of course like the newer automated tools and am trying to use them but in this case, probably should have called a human.
Now wondering if I reply to his negative with something like:
“Buyer wanted refund well after my 30-Day Free Returns period claiming damage”
Seems factual, and highlights that I do have free returns.
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Don’t reply to the feedback just yet. You should call eBay first. If you reply it gives eBay agents another excuse to not remove. The sooner the better on this. Another agent may be more sympathetic after you explain everything. Maybe you can get it taken off. You can also call more than one time if you don’t like the first results. I would reply to it after all that.
As to your reply, find out how long the window for you to do so is open and then wait until it is lower on your first feedback page (25 entries). Because your reply makes the entry stand out even larger. I think buyer can also reply to your reply, so be careful there.
You can contact your other buyer’s asking for positive feedbacks and make several small purchases to push the Red Bullseye down the feedback page faster.
If you cannot get rid of it, wear it as a badge. In this case, perhaps bad buyers may see that they cannot bully you into refunds. Something like your “Buyer wanted refund well after my 30-Day Free Returns period claiming damage” says that.
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