I don't get it

[pythonesk]

I got an email from ebay saying they decided in the customer’s favor and that the case was closed, but I don’t see where they’ve taken the money out of my paypal account.

That’s what I don’t get, but here’s the beginning of the story: I sold a set of 6 margarita glasses and one of them was damaged during shipment. Customer opened a return case, I sent an offer of partial refund and customer never responded. I did tell her that she could either accept or decline the offer but she did neither. About 10 days later she opens a case with paypal and ebay at the same time. And immediately afterwards I got the email from ebay saying case closed. Ok, fine with me because it was priority mail and I have a photo that she sent. But I’m still looking for the money to be taken out of my paypal account and it hasn’t…. and yet the case is closed. WTF, I think ebay is so RANDOM in their actions. What should I do about paypal? It says there is a case open. How can that be if ebay has closed the case. Argh!

[Jay]

First thing we would do is call eBay and Paypal. Have you done this? That’s where the answer lies.

[MyCottage]

I think maybe ebay closed the case to defer to PayPal. So the case is closed but no decision was made. Ball is in PayPal’s court.

But Jay is right, call ebay to be sure of status.

[Gompers]

You have to call ebay or paypal to get to the bottom of return issues usually. These cases are being decided automatically by a computer program and are not being reviewed by a human. That’s why you need to call.

I actually had the exact opposite happen to me before. As the seller I got an ebay email that said “case ### has been decided in your favor” but I never opened any cases. What happened is the buyer opened a “never received item case”.

The funny part is in their own messages to ebay they admitted that they never updated their address in ebay so the item was sent to their old address. This was also a GSP sale so they lost about $18 in shipping costs too. I don’t know if ebay eats it in a case like that, but I didn’t lose any cash.

[ashend57]

When a customer opens a return request, the FIRST thing you MUST do is ACCEPT the return. THEN you can offer a partial refund, etc. If you do not accept the return request, eBay assumes you are denying the return request, even if you respond with a resolution option (as you did). I spoke to a manager at the seller support center in length about a similar incident (after going in circles with the first person I got). He said that He understood the logic behind wanting to resolve the return shipping charges (who pays?) before having to pay them myself, but he added that is not the way eBay handles such situations.

He said to ALWAYS accept the return. That shows eBay you are being a good seller and are officially trying to resolve the issue. He said that if I did not accept a return, eBay would almost always rule in favor of the buyer. He added, once you accept the return, you can try to negotiate with the customer, etc.

If they just send a message to you regarding a problem with the item or a “possible” return, without officially opening a “return request case,” you can negotiate away!

You may have to pay for return shipping (for an INAD case) and then talk to eBay (open a case yourself) to have the shipping charges reversed once you receive the return (if you can show that the item IS as described, etc.).

1. Accept the return.
2. Then, attempt to negotiate with the customer before they ship the return back to you
3. Open a case with eBay to have the return shipping charges reversed, once the item is returned to you

All of this being said – You have a small window of time before eBay will side with the buyer on their return case. You can asked the buyer to send picture(s) of their concerns with the item. This will sometimes filter out those who are really not wanting to return the item, but ARE trying to squeeze some money back out of you. You can (as you did) offer a partial refund etc., BUT you MUST accept the return before the deadline that eBay gives you – whether or not the buyer responds to a negotiation/resolution option.

[pythonesk]

Thanks for everyone’s advice. I did call Paypal today and they said that the ball is in the customer’s court at this point. They said that the case would automagically close after 20 days if the customer doesn’t do anything. I just can’t stomach calling ebay at this point. I know, I know, maybe I’m not cut out for this but the ebay reps are talking out of their butts half the time. Anyway, the ebay case is closed for whatever reason. We’re waiting to hear from usps since it was priority mail and therefore insured…..

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