Returning stuff ordered on eBay?

[airborne]

eBay is a bloody mine field, amazing service but when you run into issues trying make sense of their rules is neigh impossible.

So I ordered 2 items and one arrived damaged, the other the wrong colour, now the seller says fine I'll do a refund just send them back. Anyone actually done a return before, if I post the thing off how do I know if I'll ever even get a refund, eBay is very opaque in terms of the process?

 

[ichigo]

eBay is a bloody mine field, amazing service but when you run into issues trying make sense of their rules is neigh impossible.

So I ordered 2 items and one arrived damaged, the other the wrong colour, now the seller says fine I'll do a refund just send them back. Anyone actually done a return before, if I post the thing off how do I know if I'll ever even get a refund, eBay is very opaque in terms of the process?

Costs way too much to return the item and they won't refund the return shipping so rather ask for your money back via Paypal or CC.

 

[lived666]

ebay's rules are if an item is defective or wrong the seller (not you) pays the return shipping fee. the seller will fight this tooth and nail, I'm currently in a dispute regarding this. you can lodge a return either on ebay or open a paypal dispute
http://pages.ebay.com/ebay-money-back-guarantee/questions.html

Who pays for return shipping?

It depends on the reason for the return and the seller's return policy. In most cases, sellers designate that the buyer will pay for return shipping and any restocking fees if specified in their return policy. Some sellers offer free return shipping. If the item is damaged or not as described, sellers must cover return shipping costs. When you're responsible for return shipping charges, we'll charge your PayPal account if the item is shipped with an eBay label. For more details, including approximate shipping costs, click here.

 

[airborne]

ebay's rules are if an item is defective or wrong the seller (not you) pays the return shipping fee. the seller will fight this tooth and nail, I'm currently in a dispute regarding this. you can lodge a return either on ebay or open a paypal dispute
http://pages.ebay.com/ebay-money-back-guarantee/questions.html

How much is the value of your item and what is the return shipping cost?
I need to send an item back to Germany, postage will be over half as much as the item cost.

 

[airborne]

I may have perhaps left it too long, this sneaky seller put no shipping estimation so the default is 30 days after shipping to open a dispute if there is no shipping estimation. I know everything takes 6-8 weeks to be delivered so I left it till it arrived and that puts me out of the dispute window. Though the seller has accepted the return request, so maybe if I escalate this to eBay they will find in my favour.

Looked on Paypal now, some transactions have at the bottom of the details that I can open a dispute within a max 180 days, nothing like that at the bottom of the dodgy deal though, why would that be?

Still I'd like to know about the logistics for returning eBay orders for future reference, what's to stop the seller from saying oops nothing arrived too bad no refund and won't the case be closed anyway by the time your returned item reaches them via air-snail-mail so you can't escalate the dispute because the ticket is closed?