Lost $1050 on eBay Due to 'the Buyer Did Not Recognise The Transaction' on eBay, eBay Refunded The Buyer, What My Options?

Aerith-Waifu on 27/06/2021 - 19:29
Last edited 28/06/2021 - 22:08

Hi, I recently sold a second hand high valued item on eBay worth more than $1000, after sending the item in registered post, after the buyer received the item, they opened a case on eBay saying: 'the Buyer Did Not Recognise The Transaction' and opened a dispute. eBay asked me to upload a tracking which I did again after loading it in the original transaction page.

Not long after, I got an email from ebay saying:

''Payment dispute details

Status: Closed

The payment institution has decided to side with the buyer. eBay refunded the buyer for the dispute amount and deducted the funds from you. The dispute fee of $22 was charged.

When I asked ebay why I lost the case as I uploaded the tracking number on eBay. eBay said the decision is in the hands of the Buyers Payment Institution.

I then asked for an appeal on eBay Live Chat, the lady said the case is NOW on appeal and I should be given an answer within 72 hours. A few days later then when I asked again how is the case going, eBay's Live Chat agent said there was no appeal on the case and she can help me to open an appeal…..WTF!

To give you a more understanding on how everything unfolded, this is what's happening:

  1. Sold an item on ebay, buyer paid
  2. send two email through eBay system indicating when the item will be sent and once sent tracking will be uploaded (No reply as this happens a lot so I didn't think too much)
  3. Sent the item using Australian Post Registered mail with Signature on delivery
  4. Item received 2 days after as we are in the same city
  5. 1 day after the item is received, the buyer opened a dispute on eBay saying Transaction not recognised
  6. Contacted eBay and uploaded the tracking to dispute the transaction to prove I have sent the item out (Allow me to explain this: The tracking online by Austpost will only show the delivery suburb not the name of the person who signed for the parcel or the full address it was sent to even with signature on delivery)
  7. eBay sent me an email 3 days later indicating 'The payment institution has decided to side with the buyer. eBay refunded the buyer for the dispute amount and deducted the funds from you. The dispute fee of $22 was charged' So I lost more than $1000+ on this whole transaction
  8. Spoken to eBay live chat and was promised an appeal will be lodged on my behave and not too worry, everything will sort itself out within 72 hours
  9. After 72 hours I contacted eBay Live Chat again and they said it appears to be no appeals on their system, which mean the case is still closed and I lost my money. WFT! After spoken to them again and again they keep direct to eBay links which doesnt help me at all to get the money back.

eBay is pretty much at a dead end here…….

The buyer is in the same city as mine, what are my options here?

Give the buyer a ring and ask to have the item back since now they have been refunded? Sent the buyer a Letter of Demand asking to have the item returned? Go to the small claims tribunal directly against the buyer?

Many thanks

Financial

Related Stores

eBay Australia
eBay Australia
Marketplace

Comments

    • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 16:56

      From what I heard about the online fb ebay, they are as hopeless as the rest of the online chat.

  • spoonmugen on 01/07/2021 - 09:55

    what did you sell?

    normally high value items i'd go insurance with auspost or pickup only….

    • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 16:55

      Insurance would not cover this.

  • benjaminv on 01/07/2021 - 09:59

    Great lesson learned. Thanks for sharing OP.

  • AssociatedMND @ eBay Australia on 01/07/2021 - 10:37

    Submit your situation through to the ombudsman / tribunal I reckon. You have an Australian post signed confirmation. You have the details on eBay. If the ombudsman fails to do their job,
    you have their address in the same city! If that was me and no one would help, I would collect the money in person!

    • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 16:53

      I got my item back so there is no need, but in future, Ombudsman route can be an option, do you take eBay Australia to the Ombudsman? How would the submission goes? A link will be most helpful. This one? https://www.ombudsman.wa.gov.au/

  • MiscOzB on 01/07/2021 - 15:15

    Hey OP, do you have the phone number for eBay? I couldn't find a number anywhere and thought we could only live chat them these days. TIA.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 16:50

      You can get them to call you instead and take it up further when you have the option of either going through livechat or call me back, use the call me back option as live chats are not much help unless you want to keep reading their guildlines

      • MiscOzB on 01/07/2021 - 17:26

        Ah so you need to have the option for it (by having an open case or something)? Because I don't see any option to call them here.

        • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 22:56

          Search eBay Chat in google chrome, and you should be able to see a number of search result, make sure its the genuine one and scroll to the bottom to see the options

          • MiscOzB on 02/07/2021 - 02:01

            @Aerith-Waifu: Nah it still doesn't show a number. But it's fine, someone posted the number here which I'll be trying soon.

  • popsiee on 01/07/2021 - 15:43

    My latest Ebay scammer is someone who returned immediately saying it was a mistake buy . Tracking states it was returned to me by Aust Post even though I have not received it and in the same suburb . I assume it was sent to anyone in the suburb . I checked tracking with Aust Post today and they said it was an express medium letter used for the return that can hold 500g but no way could hold 1.66 KG of what the items weighed . Ebay said I have another 10days for the AP investigation to be completed . This a $600 Ebay item currently in my disputes .

    • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 16:54

      Whats the net weight of the item? You need to find a link online indicating the net weight of the item as otherwsie they can just say you stuffed it with rocks (they can still say stuffed it with rocks but they didnt complaint about the item when it was received, so you should have some winning edge there). If I were you I find the net weight of that item and submit to ebay asap so they know the item sent back is not the same as the item you sent.

      • anastasiastarz on 07/07/2021 - 15:51

        Funny you say rocks, there's an episode of Superstore on that.

  • subywagon on 01/07/2021 - 17:49
    +1

    These are the kind of stories that have stopped me from bothering to sell anything on eBay.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 01/07/2021 - 17:53

      I sell mainly low value items, high value items not so much.

  • gorge on 03/07/2021 - 11:23

    You say a solution might be to upload his signature to ebay as evidence but I wonder what happens if on delivery he signs with a signature different to the one his financial institution has.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 03/07/2021 - 22:33

      This is the worrying part, I can just do a scribble and no one will know. I think if something like this does happen, you are more likely to be losing than winning.

      • wayne7190 on 13/07/2021 - 20:37

        As you said Auspost already confirm the person who signed for the package is the same as the buyer. They can draw a pikachu if they like, it shouldn't matter.

  • NateW on 11/09/2021 - 19:56

    Thanks so much for the advice. But seemed like I read this so late in the game now…I had almost identical situation even with roughly same price but didn't request signature confirmation. Now the buyer has claimed back the money with his/her FI and eBay is saying I owe them the money + the 12% transactions fee they took out in the first place…at the moment I have not put sufficient amount in my associated account but really worried if that would turned out to be a case from eBay against me…it just doesn't make sense to me as why would I owe money to eBay? owing for supplied the item but never able to get them back? spent the whole day with live chat & calls with eBay wouldn't help (But get me to know how many offices they have…)

  • daveob23 on 21/02/2023 - 20:47

    I have in the past received an item that I purchased and they sent me the incorrect item. It was not worth more than I paid for but I did not return the item as I didn’t think it was an issue. The seller lodged a theft by mail case against me and the police called me to resolve it. Not an issue because as I said it was worth slightly less than what I paid for and I ended up getting the item I paid for after the whole process. My point is if this person has stolen from you then you can do the same thing. I would lodge a theft by mail case against them.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join