eBay seller question
 

Hey everybody.

I recently sold an autographed baseball insert card on eBay. It arrived at the buyer's house on Feb. 5 and positive feedback was left a short time later. Almost three weeks later, 17 days to be exact, he requested a refund because he said he noticed surface scratches while he was preparing to send it in for grading.

I'm fairly new to selling things on eBay, but from what I can gather, there is no protection for me, correct? If it's within 30 days, I have to refund the money?

My question is, how are you ever comfortable after making a sale that they aren't going to come back at you? I figured a positive feedback and 17 days would be a great indication that there was no issues.

Can somebody come back three years later and ask for a refund, or is there a time limitation?

Thanks for any possible insight/help.

Depends on your return policy that you listed when you originally sold it. Some sellers sell items with No returns. However, I believe PayPal allows all buyers 45 days to file a claim and, as a seller, it is tough to win, not impossible, but tough. Good luck

Thanks for the info. I have "no returns" listed, but assume that never meant much and that I will have to refund the money even though as I told the buyer, I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that it out of my possession for 17 days. Although I'm sure he is a fine upstanding person, I have no idea what he did with the card during that time.

I was more concerned that I could be long done selling on eBay, and five years from now when I have nothing in my Pay Pal account I could still be required to give a refund by eBay. It sounds like from your post that after 45 days, I don't have to worry about that.

No, 45 day limit and I would even fight the return. Just my 2 cents

I think the period might be up to 180 days now if it was paid via paypal.

I concur with Jeff...after a period of time ebay will tell you to go through Paypal, and paypal has a 6 month protection period if the buyer uses paypal. I am dealing with an issue now on a stamped autograph instead of a truly signed autograph as listed and this is how it was explained to me.

As a seller,ebay offers very,very little protection for you.I would definitely fight the refund though.If it was an autograph that was found to be fake,that's one thing. After 17 days,he wants to return it for "surface scratches"? That sounds kind of fishy to me.That could have happened during the time he had the card.

Yes, that's the thing. I have no way of knowing if he dropped the card, etc. He indicated he didn't think 17 days was that long, and I countered that I thought 17 days and positive feedback made it seem like there were no problems on his end.

He submitted a return claim and I responded with my side and opinions. Still assuming he will win.

This six-month Pay Pay info scares me.

If I have a problem with a buyer who wants to return something for no valid reason or they suddenly change their mind after 2 weeks and it seems kind of shady,I'll block them from buying or bidding on any more of my items.Unless it's something that's my fault or it's damaged,then I'll try to make it right immediately.
My thinking is if they did something once,they'll probably try to do it again.I rather not take that chance.The aggravation isn't worth the money.

Best of luck!! Hope you win !! Let us know.

Ebay/Paypal rules are the rules on the matter, and there's no point if fighting them, but, obviously, the positive feedback works in your favor.

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

:)

eBay sided with him. Obviously, that was expected.

Just hope I get the card returned in a quicker fashion than it took him to determine he didn't like it.

It used to be ebay would not enforce returns on items where positive feedback has been left by the buyer. Not sure if that is still the case.

Ebay has really gotten out of hand. I recently sold some vintage cards on Ebay for ONE PENNY and the buyer wanted free shipping. Coupled with all the negatives aspects (6 months to return, high fees, etc), is the reason I am unloading my stuff on Net54.

Sorry to hear that.But,it wasn't unexpected.When it comes to selling on ebay,they don't protect you at all.
If the card looks worse than when you sent it out,I would contact ebay about it again and let them know he damaged it.Maybe they'll change their mind if that's the case.

That's unbelievable and pretty sad they'd even ask for free shipping.

Yes, I was pretty much warned by everyone that it's very unlikely to win those cases, so I was already prepared.

I'm hoping it doesn't look any worse -- of course I didin't see any problems to begin with -- as I don't want the headaches. I just want it to be over with.

It was a $950 sale, so I'm a bit disappointed it happened. I would have been way more understanding had he not given positive feedback and had he let me know about any issues within three to five days after getting it. The combo of positive feedback and 17 days was a bit frustrating, especially after he tried to claim 17 days isn't long at all (maybe others agree with him and I'm off on that one).

I guess I'm more worried about long-term effects for me on this. It makes me very uncomfortable that somebody can still ask for their money back six months later. I just don't know how to prepare for that. I assume those woudn't happen very often, but still, makes me wonder about getting off this eBay thing.

Lol. Great post! ONE PENNY
Yeah Ebay used to be great a long long time ago. Their fees coupled with paypal fees are way way too much. Its like they are partners with my stuff! lol.

No, the buyer is a jerk off and it's a valuable lesson in just never clicking into the FU-bay website for any reason in the first place. PERIOD

For those of us who are not selling multiple copies of the exact same item;i.e-listing has 'quantity available' field, ebay is just going to get worse and worse. If you can sell your unique items here or another forum, you are much better off. I am trying to move away from ebay, and if I could get my ebay price less seller fees I would sell everything here. But that's not happening and never has.

If you look at ebay's updates each time they do them - everything is geared toward their becoming a huge department store, as opposed to an antique/junk store as they originated. I see it as an opportunity for someone with enough resources to basically start an online perpetually-running antique auction house to replace the functions that Net54 folks and similar ilk require.

That's funny. We were brain storming the same idea yesterday, how FU-Bay would be easy to knock off and compete against. This is the direction that the world is turning. I just think small potatoes as an entrepreneur, while I watch these companies I work for sell for a billion.

I'm sure someone will take them on in the future? Is Amazon and e-bay the only platforms out there for everyday items you would find at a store? For Autographs, is e-bay the only place to go? I have no idea. I just know that E-bay is very painful to try and sell stuff with-out getting a neurotic imbecile from time to time. I have a s*** Ton of photos and balls that I could never sell so I just keep them for the grand kids to divvy up and sell at some point. You know the little crumb crunching ingrates will have zero interest in any of it.:D

So the case has now been closed and the buyer has received his money back. Does anyone know how I go about getting the eBay fees credited back to me? I normally wouldn't care, but in this case it's $95.

I believe the fees should automatically be credited back to your account during the billing period. If not, you'll have to call the Philippines and talk to some powerless imbecile that will apologize to you but won't be able to fix it...as always happens when you are connected to E-bay, Philippines. You are 1 in a million to talk to an American about your problem. It is next to impossible. Just another reason to hate that effin company.

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