Ebay pay the refund? In what situation would this ever happen?
If a seller wishes to put "no refunds or no returns" in their listing, they should be able to. The buyer is told upfront that this is the sellers policy.It is their option to buy or not to buy.

Herman,

Thanks for the response.

I was asking, not from the perspective of the seller, but from that of the BUYER.

How exactly can allowing the SELLER to suddenly demand return of item as a condition of refunding, without the buyer's consent to agree to that modification of the contract, be considered as a valid modification?

Yup. Thanks for the confirmation.

I'm aware that rescission is the ultimate bailout, and both parties agree to abide by the decision of eBay.

And I'm also aware that the "in most cases" words allows flexibility for eBay to modify the policy, as needed.

From a policy point of view, once a buyer files a case with eBay Buyer Protection, they agree to the terms and conditions of that program, which overrides the seller's stated return policy. Currently the Buyer Protection policies do require the buyer to return the item in most cases.

OK, Herman...

First, if the buyer files a case with eBay Buyer Protection, and the terms of BP then override the seller's return policy, what good is the seller's return policy? All this is doing is causing buyers to open disputes against sellers, so they can modify the terms of the contract they agreed to when buying. The seller can then modify the contract (as explained above) and accept the return - since they'll be forced to issue the refund!

Second, all the "protection policies" actually require is for the buyer to (sometimes) provide a DC number and the refund is processed. In every single instance where I've dealt with this, eBay/PayPal refunded days before the item was even delivered to me. For all eBay knows, the buyer could have provided a DC number for an unrelated item sent to somewhere else, the buyer could have returned a rock, a different item, a destroyed item, or mailed last Sunday's newspaper to some random address in the seller's zip code. All of these things can happen, and have happened, and I am unaware of any seller ever getting their money back after it did happen.

NO.

When the return tracking number states the item is DELIVERED to the Seller's residence is when the refund is given to the Buyer.

NO. EBAY REFUNDS WHEN THEY GET A TRACKING NUMBER!!! That is not "some one else's" case, those are cases I've actually been involved in. When I went to refund $200 on a return, 15 minutes after it was delivered to me, I discovered the refund had already been issued 3 days before.

Herman, as has been pointed out on countless other threads here, what you are SAYING and how things work IN PRACTICE, are not the same.

ted_200 -- The seller return policy is the seller's way to provide coverage for buyer's remorse as well as a less complicated way for handling returns than having to go through a Buyer Protection adjudication. The vast majority of buyers and sellers are honest people -- it would be difficult for anyone to maintain a business if that wasn't the case -- and the regular return policies are built with that in mind.

I make no pretense that there no buyers or no sellers who aren't always fully honest in a transaction, so we give both sides the opportunity to make their case within Buyer Protection. We decide each case based on the information available to us at the time. And if we don't find in someone's favor, they are always eligible to submit an appeal with further evidence and information to help us make it right.

If you were involved in a case where the seller received a rock/different item/destroyed item/last Sunday's paper, were forced to refund the buyer, and then had their appeal denied by eBay, please send me the details. I see hundreds of cases every week, but if we're missing any exceptions in the system, I hope you'll give us the chance to make it right.



llkeith-37 -- thanks for pointing this out. Once a buyer opens a case in eBay Buyer Protection or in PayPay Purchase Protection, we do block them from opening a case on the other program (even if they close the first case). I'm investigating the case you mentioned to find out what happened.

Regarding chargebacks, unfortunately we have no direct control over that process. Filing a chargeback claim does void a buyer's eligibility for Buyer Protection (so even if they have a case currently open, we'll close that case in the seller's favor if we find there's been a chargeback claim filed on that same transaction).

Herman, this explains it all.

http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/refund_policies.php

And that says the consumers have 30 days unless the seller provides information prior to the sale that it is different.

ozzie3

always correct,never wrong, but humble in my greatness

That's most definitely not what's supposed to happen. When we grant a seller's appeal, we'll refund the reimbursement amount back to the payment method the seller has on file.

If you find that particular case, please send it to me (or let the seller know they can contact me directly), and I'll figure out what happened and make sure we take care of it if we make a mistake.

Thank you!