Rejecting a frivolous return request

[Jpen]

Hello,

I sold some running shoes on eBay - the buyer now wants to return them because they are "grey".

I don't accept returns on eBay. The item wasn't advertised as "black" it was advertised as Electric Red/Carrier Grey which is the official colour scheme.

The buyer wants to return and have me pay for the return postage and has opened a return request with the reason "Item not as described" and the message:

"in pictures these look very dark grey close to black. but In person are grey. not what I ordered"

and he uploaded an image to support his claim. There is no option for me to reject this claim, am I likely to win this case if I fight it?

Image on the left is from the buyer as proof that my "item is not as described". Image on the right is the image from my listing.

Cases are settled by web bots not humans and they don't always get it right.
Contact Customer Services, explain the problem and ask them if you have to accept the return, if you get lucky they'll sort it out on the spot. If not they'll advise you to accept the return to keep the customer happy.
You can report the buyer for misusing the returns system but that doesn't seem to do anything.
Its also a good idea to put a caveat in your listing info that colours may appear different due to differences in monitors.

Unbelievable that you would have to pay for the postage because the buyer bought something that was exactly what he paid for but not what he hoped it might be, despite the clear pictures and colour description.

Is the left pic the one he uploaded? If so they look literally the same. Madness.

Sorry totally failed to see your last paragraph!

Thanks for the advice, Thelnebriati.

I gave eBay a call and while the representative agreed with me the only thing she could advise was accepting the return request then reporting the buyer to try and claim back the return postage from the eBay subsidy fund(?).

I'll give it a go but won't hold my breathe.

I did push back and asked why I had to accept the return, the listing said I don't accept returns, it's clearly listed as grey so it's as described etc etc... And she even saw the photo I attached here. Apparently she couldn't do anything else.

Quite frustrating having to pay postage twice and still having the item because of a ridiculously fussy buyer. (IMO they just changed their mind and abused the system to get a return)

I thought all item returns had to be decided and sellers had the option to challenge the claim.

Why are you forced to accept?

The buyer is an absolute cretin.

AFAIK there is no way for the seller to reclaim the cost of postage when you report the buyer; the only people who can access that fund are customer services! Their training seems to be very hit and miss.

I sold a purple regatta jacket. She returned it because it wasn’t the colour of a Cadbury’s wrapper. I think it didn’t fit her but took the return and haven’t sold on eBay since I was so irritated by the whole thing.

I sold in vinted a bracelet stated as brown
she wanted to return it (after saying everything was ok) cuz it wasn’t black and she wanted it black. I politely told her to fuck off.
hope eBay is helpful op

EBay is a nightmare for returns/refund requests. I once sold an Xbox one for DH and the customer claimed it wasn’t what expected, wanted refund but was being so so difficult about sending it back. EBay automatically refunded her and I was left with no item and no money. After a long few weeks and lots of hours on the phone I got it resolved. But she still got her refund and got to keep the Xbox. EBay refunded me out of their pocket. Tread carefully and as a pp suggests stick with speaking to actual people at eBay and not chat bots. Good luck!

Report the buyer for misusing the return system too. An ebay customer rep told me a while ago that they do penalise reported buyers but only if a number of sellers report that same account (he didn't say how many). But my thinking is, if this buyer has done it to you, they've most likely done it or will do it to other sellers. If all "wronged" sellers report it, then that buyer's account will reach the numbers needed for ebay to penalise it.