Help needed. Ebay sale and refund question.

[scotgreb]

I fought this windmill a few days ago . . . and lost. Out (5) orders but fortunately only about $150.

Ebay is unable and unwilling to assist with the issue. They also suggested sending a Paypal invoice (I pasted their response below). I responded by informing them that I do not have the buyer's email address -- as this access was eliminated with the the removal of PayPal in favor of managed payments. I further informed them that I cannot even ask for the buyer's email address as email addresses do not make it through their messaging system (although I've tricked it a few times as I'm sure others have too). Ebay has not yet responded to that objection. I explained this to my buyers and requested payment through PayPal -- received no responses; however, I'm not even sure the messages went through given the nature of the information. Might continue trying but the principle of the issue gets me frustrated. Don't need that aggravation.

At any rate, this is a real risk to selling on ebay -- and possibly other platforms I am unfamiliar with.

I will certainly utilize the package intercept in the future -- that is great information.

Scott

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Hello Scott,

Thanks for contacting us. I understand your concern about items lost in the mail and being delivered to the buyer.
In order to avoid this problem in the future, we recommend you:
• Ensure that you are shipping items within the handling time that you’ve stated in the listings.
• Always upload your tracking to eBay. When possible, we’ll use this to automatically give you credit for shipping on time. Also, it helps ensure your buyers aren’t worried about when their purchases will arrive.
• Communicate with your buyer so they know when the item is shipped and what to expect.

Once the buyer agrees to pay you back, since they already got the item, you can still send an invoice to the buyer through PayPal.

Here’s how:

1. Log in to PayPal.
2. Select Request Money.
3. Select Create an invoice
4. Review your information, then enter the buyer’s information and item details.
5. Review the invoice and select Send.

We want to make sure that we fully equipped you to become successful on your venture with us. Here’s what you can do to avoid this in the future. I strongly suggest that you extend a longer shipping time for an anticipated delay in shipping. In addition, please continue to communicate with your buyers to update them on the status of the delivery. This may potentially avoid buyers from opening Item Not Received cases.

Sincerely,

Ren D.
eBay Customer Service


Scott

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