I have been on the eBay platform for 27 years, as both a Buyer as well as a Seller. I have endured such a terrible experience with eBay over the past 2 months and am unsure what I should now do? In February this year and purchased a new AV receiver and planned to sell by 2.5-year-old receiver to cover some of the extra cost. After debating trying to sell it locally, I decided to list it on eBay, despite the shipping cost I knew would be significant for something that weighed 35 lbs. I listed the item with a $59 shipping fee, but noted the item would be professionally packaged, insured and sent via expedited shipping. When the item was sold, after the buyer paid, I immediately had it packaged, insured and shipped that day, with delivery on the east coast 3 days later. The total amount for packaging, insurance and shipping by Fed Ex was around $269. The day after the item arrived, the buyer submitted a return request indicating it was defective and not as described. When I followed up with him, he said he heard a hum/buzz when it turned on that last for a short while. He immediately referenced me having insurance on it, but when I asked if the box or receiver looked damaged, he said no. The buyer just happened to have a sound meter available and knew the exact frequency of the buzz/hum… 50 HZ, which I thought was suspicious. I also contacted also contacting Marantz technical support for their input on this who said the most frequent cause in audio systems is when multiple components are plugged into different outlets with slightly different ground potentials, creating a loop that picks up electromagnetic noise.
After going back and forth with him for 3 days I contacted eBay Customer Support for assistance. The eBay representative told me this was an obvious case of Buyer's Remorse, and the buyer would have to provide some sort of proof of this issue. The customer service representative said he was changing the case to ask eBay to step in and told me to block the buyer and not communicate with him anymore.
Two weeks went by and I followed up with eBay Customer Support every week or more and was told the same thing, I had nothing to worry about, the case would be closed in my favor but the process had to play out. The middle of March I received a message from eBay that the case was closed in the buyer favor and there was nothing I needed to do. EBay would handle the return and if I had not received it by March 30th, the case would be closed. I called the following day and was told this was a mistake, the case should have been closed in my favor and there was nothing to worry about. I continued to follow-up with eBay Customer Support 2 to 3 times a week afterwards, asking about the status. The receiver was not received by March 30th, yet my funds remained on hold. Every time, I continued to be told I had nothing to worry about, the case would be closed in my favor but the process had to play out. I even asked if there was anything I needed to do but was told no each time. On April 9th, I received a message from eBay Customer Support saying they made a decision regarding this case and decided to issue the buyer a full refund. In addition, they were not requiring the buyer to return the receiver either as they said I had not provided a shipping label to the buyer, despite what the message in March said. None of the 10+ eBay customer service representatives told me this either. To make matters worse, eBay withdrew the $1,134.99 from my bank account without my approval in less that 24 hours after I received the message.
Since this time, I have contacted eBay at least 8 more time voicing my displeasure in how unfair this process was and why there was such a lack of transparency between what the customer service representative were telling me with whatever the resolution team was doing. I even spoke to representatives with the eBay Specialist Team and eBay Specialist Team, both who promised to help me and update me, only to receive no updates or responses.
This is so wrong! What rights does a Seller on eBay actually have? At this point, I'm at a loss what to do.