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I just spoke with an ebay rep about my first “not as described” ebay return that seems to be a buyer’s remorse issue. I’d like to confirm that what I understood from them on how the ebay website takes me through this process is correct. In other words, I don’t want to click on anything on the website that will force me to pay for return shipping or refund original shipping.
I am very hesitant to select “Accept return” because the description next to this option it says “You (i.e. seller) will pay for return shipping.” But the rep told me to go ahead and click “accept return” anyway, which will take me to a place of providing the buyer with a shipping label, but that I should simply not complete this next step.
Is this correct? Meaning, when I select “Accept return (buyer pays shipping)”, it doesn’t actually mean that I definitely will have to absorb the shipping costs?
thanks
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cool thanks!
Great idea to go through the process with the rep on the phone.I’m glad that I had just recently listened to the old podcast where J&R talked about the “silent” approach of dealing with most customer issues. Otherwise I might have ended up starting a long, emotionally exhausting message war with the buyer. 🙂
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I called eBay this morning and got a neutral feedback removed. It was a 4XL NWT Brooklyn express vest. The buyer gave me a neutral and did not return it. I even included measurements. The rep said it was clearly buyers remorse and subsequently removed the neutral. Thanks to Scavenger Life blog I knew to call!
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Updating to share what happened and lessons learned:
I did accept the return on the website, which did indeed take me to a page where I could create a shipping label for the buyer, which I did not do. After a few days, I got an auto-email from ebay telling me that ebay was still waiting for me to deal with the return, and if I don’t act, they may end up having to charge me for the shipping label themselves. So I called ebay again, and this second rep also agreed that it was a buyer’s remorse issue, and instructed me to email the buyer and tell them that they are responsible for shipping costs to return the item to me. It sounded a bit fishy for me to be the one to tell the buyer this, but I went ahead and did it, and the buyer sent the item back on their own dime. When I received it and wanted to do a refund of original price minus restocking fee, it didn’t seem like the website would let me do that, and I didn’t want to press “refund” only for the wrong thing to happen. There was a little box on the page where it said something like “if you want ebay to step in to help, submit here”, and I really didn’t feel like calling them, so I just entered my concerns into the box and submitted. Turns out this opens a case. The next day I got a message saying that they had closed the case and refunded the buyer the original purchase price and original shipping cost! I called ebay and was forwarded to the appeals department. The rep there was not very helpful, and basically said that the correct thing had happened. So I called back again, and asked to speak to another appeals person. This 2nd person was much more helpful. Although he agreed with the previous guy on the decision that it WAS a “not as described” situation and not “buyer’s remorse,” he refunded me all my money because I had been misled by the two first-line reps who had told me it was buyer’s remorse. So I came out okay on this particular case (as did the buyer), but I better understand how I may not do as well in the future.
Lessons learned:
1) When you want to try to get ebay to change NAD to a different return reason, ask for the Appeals Dept the first time you call. (The 2nd appeals rep told me this). Because the first line rep’s opinion on this doesn’t hold any weight.
2) Do not believe the first line rep when they say that they are making a note in the account of what they told me. Or at least don’t rely on these notes. The appeals reps could not find any notes made by the first line reps of my first two phone calls.
3) If the NAD return details that the buyer enters are not very obviously remorse or fit (which will make it easy to get the return reason changed), consider asking the buyer some clarifying questions, in which they might reveal that they just don’t like the item or that it doesn’t fit. They are not obliged to reply, but if they do, it may help your case in getting the return reason changed by ebay. Of course, it could also hurt.
4) I will never again use the “if you need ebay to step in and help” box on the website in this situation, which opened a case (which one rep stated was against myself). Better to call.
5) There is really almost no way to get around smart buyers with bad intentions (which I don’t think is the case here). Basically, even if it is a fit or remorse issue, they can specify NAD and make up something that sounds plausible, and ebay will side with them. This is frustrating, but since ebay doesn’t have the item in their hands, it’s basically impossible to create a perfectly fair system, so it’s just a matter of knowing that most buyers are honest, and the rest are just a cost of doing business.
If you are curious, the details in this situation said “buttons are weak, fabric is more straw-like than described.” All I had said about the fabric was that it was linen. Re: the buttons, they are extremely sturdy. My request for clarification from the buyer went unanswered.
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I’ve seen multiple people on here describe the same exact scenario over the last year and a half. This system is BS. Ebay should close the NAD claim and create a standard return. THEY should be doing all this work, not you. Ryanne spoke in the podcast about the new returns system ebay is testing in which this will hopefully be resolved.
As with any customer service situation, if what the rep is telling does not add up then ask for a supervisor.
The one thing we can take solace in is that problem buyers are fairly rare in the grand scheme of things.
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Had a NAD return request on Mon. Buyer said the shoe was not a 9M because her feet hung out the back. Said I should have put in the listing that the shoe ran small to size. As if I would know that! Did not respond to her,did not click on anything regarding to her return, but called ebay the next day. Rep could see the pictures showing the size as 9M. Rep opened a case for me, found in my favor, and sent the buyer an email stating she was responsible for return shipping. So now all I have to do is wait to get the shoes back and only refund her the purchase price minus restocking fee. With cases like these I have learned to always contact ebay first.
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had the exact thing happen today. buyer opens INAD case, says color is different than photos (a blue denim jacket, really??). so clearly buyers remorse. called ebay, they opened a case to force the buyer to return with their own shipping label. however the language of the case emails sent to me were such that they ‘closed the case in buyers favor’ which is odd since that’s not really what they did. was that the language you saw in the email too?
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Oh my God… I have been meaning to post about a very similar situation, Ryanne. Long story short… sold True Religion Jeans, new with defects, rear pocket stitches had come out a little. Put this in title, description, photos. etc.
Got a Not as described return. ‘Brought pants to might cleaners and they couldn’t fix them’I called eBay, they said clearly buyers remorse and that I made it very apparent the threads were pulled out. She said okay, the buyer will have to pay return shipping. I was concerned about a defect mostly… she said not to worry.
I get one of those ‘closing case in buyers favor’ emails. Called eBay back… got some weird explanation about this was the first part of the case that closed (??)
When I got the jeans back it didn’t give me any choice to deduct restock fees or original shipping, it was automatically refunded. Called eBay about the defect. No problem. Got another email stating case closed in buyers favor.
Ryanne I listened closely when you spoke about getting defects removed, yeah I thought… but it looks to me I just lost 2 cases, all I managed to do was escalate things… what did I do wrong as far as talking with Ebay about a defect (return postage wasn’t a big deal to me, and I won that, but I lost any ability to charge the restock fee ??)
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LAwoman, based on my recent experience, the way I would deal with your situation is to call ebay and ask to be connected to the Appeals Dept, and then ask them to explain their decision to find in the buyer’s favor, and tell them what the previous ebay rep told you about you not having to refund shipping. In my situation (in case you didn’t have a whole hour available to read the tome I wrote above), the Appeals Dept didn’t change their decision to refund the buyer shipping costs, BUT they did refund me the money as well because they believed me when I said that a previous rep told me it was buyer’s remorse. And your case is much stronger than mine was, perhaps they will change their decision on the return reason as well.
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This same thing happened to me, too. Buyer bought Haloween blow-molds, and magically they became INAD the week after Halloween. I called ebay, they opened a case, closed it in the buyer’s favor, and said I would get an email, but the buyer would have to pay shipping.
Make sure you check your account statement, because ebay charged ME for the shipping. I had to call back, as for appeals, and get it credited to my account. It took going through *5* reps to get the $10 back. When the blow molds came back, I had no option to deduct restocking fee or original shipping. And I now also have a defect on my account.
I honestly haven’t had the energy to call back and appeal again. It took 5 reps to get the first half of the appeal taken care of.
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I am in the new returns program and its amazing. Returns are pretty much processed like normal except on the last window you have multiple extra options. If they choose NAD, the last window gives you the choice to refund original shipping, return shipping, restocking fee. Love it, need it, cant live without it!
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Well, I went round and round with ebay about my stupid Halloween blow molds return, and could not get the defect off my account. They said, yes, it was buyer’s remorse, and yes, the buyer was abusing the system. Because I went through ebay’s resolution center to refund the buyer, the rep told me I was agreeing that the item was NAD, and that in the future I should call ebay first, before refunding the buyer.
(Brief recap: the buyer started a return for INAD, I immediately called ebay and appealed, ebay opened a case on my behalf, and then found in the buyer’s favor. I had to appeal, got the return shipping fee credited back to my account, and then was told to refund the buyer when I received the item, and then call back to appeal THAT part of this nightmare return).
To add insult to injury, the rep said “I hope my information can help you to avoid this situation in the future!” Actually, no. It doesn’t. I have no idea how to avoid this going forward, because I did everything I was instructed to do, and it still came back to bite me.
I really hope ebay figures out a better system than this. Now I’ve got a defect for “closed without seller resolution” on my account for the next year.
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i hate to say it, but you could call again. do you have an anchor store? i find the anchor store reps to be very helpful.
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I just had a return for “color” on a pair of vintage 501 jeans. I called ebay and the rep said that we must ask for pictures for their version of the color that they received. I was told to wait 3 days for the photos and then call back to ebay. What a joke!
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you should call back now and say it’s buyers remorse for color. hopefully you’ll get a better rep. i’ve never heard a rep suggest anything like that, that’s nutty. return for shades of color are buyers remorse. unless you said they were orange and they were actually blue.
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They did it to avoid a return postage fee and my restocking fee. I can probably get the item as not described removed after the return, but what a hassle. Ebay should have clear rules in this situation. I repeatedly asked the rep ebays return policy due to color and she would just say for me to email the buyer and have them send photos.
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like i said, you got a shitty rep. you need to call back and explain the situation again. magic words are ‘buyers remorse because of color’. if they opened an INAD case and claimed color, the rep should close the case. many on this forum have experienced this. it’s literally about calling til you get a rep that knows the rules.
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