eBay issue

[TheGoldenGhouls]

I have a problem with an item I purchased on eBay and am hoping someone here has had a similar experience and can advise.

I bought a soft toy advertised as a Build a bear for my daughter. The photos were clearly a Build a bear. It arrived yesterday and I instantly knew it was wrong as the package was far too small to be a Build a bear. It’s clearly a fake item, the size and quality are way off and there’s no label on the foot.

I contacted the seller who offered a 20% refund. I countered with 50%, partly due to the fact that I want to deal with it quickly and partly because my daughter likes it. The seller has agreed however asked me to cancel the case with eBay as they cannot offer a partial refund when the case is in progress.

I’m reluctant to do this as I would imagine I’d have no recourse if they then don’t refund.

Does anyone know the process here? I’m happy to return it for a full refund if necessary as it’s terrible quality, for some reason my daughter likes it.

when a case is referred to eBay, it's up to them to decide the verdict. if you have settled with the seller and made sure it's binding, then cancel the complaint.

@rainbowunicorn22How do I ensure it’s binding?

That's the problem and why I let eBay get on with it. if that person lied about his product, there is no telling if he will refund you

Are you sure they can’t issue a partial refund? I’ve got a current issue with an item I bought and the seller has offered a derisory 1p refund!

Don't cancel the case. He absolutely can refund you half, he's trying to get you to close it and then you won't have any comeback.

An eBay seller can issue a partial refund if they want. Get them to do it and then you can cancel the case. I believe, if they give you a 50% refund now, eBay will know automatically (and reimburse 50% of the fees to the seller). If you later tried to claim 100% of the money paid (not saying you're doing this), eBay will already know what was reimbursed and could refund the difference accordingly.

You need to contact eBay customer services, if the seller has wrongly advertised their product you're entitled to a full refund and eBay will facilitate this. If the seller refuses he will receive sanctions on his account. You will lose your protections if you deal only with the seller.

Thanks everyone. I’ve sent the seller a message to say that I’ll close the case after they’ve refunded 50%. If not, I’ll let eBay deal with it.

Why would you not want all your money back?

My daughter wants to keep it. I’d prefer to send it back for a full refund but I’m willing to meet half way which the seller agreed to.

Sellers can offer partial refunds, they just don't want to get barred from eBay because they constantly sell shonky items I'm guessing. I would let eBay decide, they will always find in the buyers favour and you may get a full refund and not have to return the item anyway

I'm wondering if this is the same seller I had problems with.

I ordered an anti-allergy mattress protector and pillow protectors for my very allergic ds off to uni.
Two non anti-allergy mattress protectors, one still in packaging for someone else including their address arrived.
I emailed them, assuming a mistake, offered to post the other one on, and the wrong one back, if they sent the right ones.
They offered 20% off. At this point I looked at the POSITIVE feedback and saw this was a frequently done thing. Wrong thing arrived and 20% off offered. At this point warning bells started ringing, and I suspected they are offering a far greater stock than they have and hoping people can't be bothered to send it back.
So I said no, gave them a day and when they didn't reply, opened a return. They issued a return for the cheaper (pillow) protectors and not for the other. When I queried, they initially sent an email telling me to open a return. When I replied with evidence that I had, they told me to send both in the same package.
I refused because then I had no evidence that I'd returned them both.
They refused to issue a return.

So I went to eBay. Ebay customer service is great. I went on the chat, said what the issue was then asked for a phone call. They say "you will be waiting approximately X (x<10) minutes for an agent." And it was accurate too!

The agent noted this, and told me to post them both back, then send the tracking number to them, so they could note that they were both going back together.
Call #2 to eBay to give them this number. They assure me that it's noted.

I see that the tracking has delivered packages back and, as expected, seller has refunded the smaller amount but not the bigger.

So call #3 from eBay. They can see from all the backwards and forwards what's happened, and put the refund down for the other package. I also suggest they might like to investigate this seller, as they're clearly doing this a lot.

Refund issued within the hour.

Result: Seller 0: eBay 1.

Couldn't fault the customer service. I left negative feed back for the seller for the first time since I started with eBay, which, as they told me was over 20 years with them.

So warning: check the positive feedback on sellers, not just the negative ones. And do leave negative feedback.

What a drama @MargaretThursdayGlad you got your money back in the end.

Thanks for the advice everyone. The seller sent through a partial refund which I’ve accepted. I get the feeling they were planning on having me close the case and then ignoring me.

I’ll be more vigilant with positive reviews as well as negative in the future. Thanks everyone.