I don't see in your ads for the HP machine any mention of a restock fee.

I dont think its fair to charge one when there is no mention of the possibility in your ad.

I would have ate the loss and reworded future listings.

If you make it policy to charge a restock fee and you get a neg for it, you likely will have to take the neg. In other words, eBay will allow buyers to neg you if they don't like your policies, even if it was disclosed before they purchased the item, even if your actions are fair. Feedback is an (sic) open forum.

There is nothing to say to eBay customer support, they wont help you. It's more likely your customer can use eBay to force a 100% return from you.

I would not send a computer back to a guy who cant figure out how to use it.

The Restocking Fee is listed on the Shipping and Payments tab under Return Policy. If ebay allowes customers to ignore the return policies listed by me, why letting us use it at all? I know I risk the neg would probably refunded completly, but the customer not only wants 100% of the cost refunded, he also demands the return shipping both ways. which alone is around $60.

Yesterday when this had started I spoke with Ebay Seller Support rep and she carefully looked at the listing and recommended me to refund the PC cost minus restocking fee ASAP and she assured me that if case is escalated to the resolution team, I have good chances of winning. I did as she said only subtracted 20% instead of 25%.

OK, so the customer opened a case. Here is his explanation (verbatim):

"I bought this HP PC as new, when I receive, I connected it to my monitor, nothing was display on the screen. I disconnected it and connected my hold computer to the same monitor with the same cable it worked. I tried the new PC over and over again, it still didn't work. I called HP customer service,They tried to help me out, they make me do everything, it never worked. they wanted to charge me over $100.00 to fix it. Then, I contact the seller, He wanted me to deal with HP customer service. I said No, HP is going to charge me to fix the PC, so I got to sent it back to you so you can ship me back another PC. The seller said : he can not ship me back another one, he can only refund me the full amount + shipping. I returned the PC to him. Now he told me that the PC was working good; he's going to send it back to me, I have to pay the shipping cost or refund me the money and deduct 20% from the amount. This is not right.I want my full refund of $XXX.XX because the PC didn't work. I could not keep it with me. I receive an email from paypal today that he refund me $XXX.XX, I want my full refund."

So what would be a good thing to say to Ebay Seller resolution team to win this case? The PC is working, I can easily produce a picture of it connected to a regular moitor and displaying the picture.

Also I would explain in the Paypal claim as well as to the customer that you had a new sealed mint item that is now used because of their error. 

Having the buyer deal with HP means nothing to Ebay. You sold the computer to the buyer... not HP. You are solely responsible for the transaction.

If the buyer files SNAD... they will receive whatever amount you withheld of their original payment. Restocking fees do not apply to Ebay Buyer Protection claims. If the buyer filed a claim leaving some sort of "buyer remorse" explanation, then your restocking fee may prevail... but it will not for SNAD.

An Ebay rep's "assurance" that you'll win this case also means nothing. Chances are good the rep was just trying to get you off the phone telling you whatever you wanted to hear.

If your buyer called Ebay and talked to the same rep and explained their side of the story... I'll guarantee you that rep would "assure" them of winning a full refund just to get them off the phone.

You're better off just going ahead and refunding the entire payment now.

So I am feeling the case will be going to the seller support, but I don't care at this point.

Especially  after he directly accused me of lying: "Just be honest man, you opened the PC, you fixed it and you charge me the restocking fee"

HI, I wish you all the luck in the world...you are going to need it with eBay Resolation center. I just went through something I thought that I never would as a seller on eBay. I state very clearly in the Item descreption my policy of 20% restocking fee. My buyer has learned I believe how to beat the system.She opened a claim "Not as discribed with missing parts and pieces" I am selling airbrush kits that do not include the air compressor. I state this fact in BOLD RED LETTERS in the description & state 3 different places about my restocking fee which will be deducted from their refund. She placed a Buy-it-now on 4-6 and the case was just closed in her favor 4-21 and I will not get the ebay fee credit for 7 more days. I spoke to eBay all throughout this claim. I was told that hands down this buyer just had buyer remorse and that I would get my restocking fee. But, when it was exclated to eBay to make a decidition they closed the case in the buyers favor. I called right away and asked why. The eBay rep. looked over the case and stated that the person that made the decision made a mistake, in their decision in the favor of the buyer. He then offered me the restocking fee amount as a appeal adjustment. I told him I appreciated that, but I was more concerned in the buyer getting away with this fraudulent claim. He stated that there was nothing at all that could be done because the case had been closed. We as sellers can not leave negative feedback for bad buyers and now they can lie and use the return/restocking fee system to steal from the sellers as well. Sorry for such a long statement, I am still upset about the unjust actions on eBays part not protect their sellers. They will not even contact that buyer and tell them they made a mistake. So she will be doing this again, I'm sure....

You have a buyer who claims the item is not working.  And you even verified that he called

HP customer support so evidently there was some problem.  You state that when you received the item back it worked. 

Buyer says doesn't work

Seller says works

How is Ebay going to know for sure who is telling the truth.

I know that if I received the item and it didn't work and you refunded my money less your "fees" I to would of been upset and opened up a case against you.  Your buyer must of had some type of problem with the item or he never would of called.  I would be surprised if Ebay rules in your favor.

It is definitely a difficult predicament.  on the one hand you feel you are right in what are requiring because your listing specifies it.  While in the other you have an irate client that feels "entitled" to a full refund without restocking fees. 

Whenever we receive a client that wants to return an item, we quickly switch to loss-prevention mode.  We ask very nicely why they have decided to return the item, and if there is anything we can do to help in letting them keep it.  Such as providing our own support (we'd have avoided HP altogether).

When we hear that there was a problem with the item (regardless to user fault or our own fault), our loss-prevention switches over to customer service.  I strongly recommend that you not get into a "I'm right vs "I'm right" disputes.  It is what causes cases, negative feedback and other "hurtful" actions to come into existence.

In this case, we would have advised the client to send the unit back for a full refund.  No questions asked.  If you consider the long hours on the phone with eBay, waiting for cases to be decided upon, money being held by Paypal and negative feedback causing your rating to drop several points...by this time, you've probably already lost more $ than the 20% and return shipping.

On the other hand, if the client would have said "I didn't need it" or something along the lines of a choice outside of the product itself, then our loss prevention allows us to fully control the sale and require a restocking fee and return shipping.  This doesn't always go well with people so we use the opportunity to DO SOMETHING to lessening the buyer's out of pocket expense.  Obviously, we incurred one and we make it clear (in a nice way) to the buyer.  We may say something like, "I understand.  No problem.  What we can do is waive the return shipping (approximately $30) and only charge the restocking fee of $35.  We are willing to pay for shipping for you, but do need to ensure we apply a restocking fee".  In most cases, client's agree.  In the worst case scenario (those really "self-entitled-to-be-thought-of-as-kings", we may push ourselves to the point of a full refund but only under strict circumstances (such as client being within 45 days to claim and 60 days to feedback. 

This is just a brief idea, of course we factor in dozens of variables into how we deal with certain clients.

2 cents.