eBay seller question

[Baseball Fan]

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.

[tazdmb]

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

[Baseball Fan]

Originally Posted by tazdmb

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.

[tazdmb]

Originally Posted by Baseball Fan

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

[ATP]

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

[RelicSports]

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.

[edtiques]

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.