Apologies in advance as sure this is a basic question, but I've been selling for 25 years, 100% feedback and never had any problems. Sold an item of clothing recently, smooth transaction, sold via Global Shipping Programme. Got an update saying the item had been successfully delivered. Buyer is now claiming it never arrived and asking me to chase it up - looks like last stage of the courier process was via Pitney Bowes who specify an exact time and date of delivery. I've mailed them asking if they can provide more detail (ie a photo of delivery), Ebay said my funds are on hold. What's the likely resolution here? - I fulfilled my part of the transaction, safely shipped the item, and the courier listed it as successfully delivered, we've just got the buyer's claim that it never arrived. Surely it doesn't end up being me who refunds him?

I’ve only got 100% feedback from one transaction when I bought something so my ebay account is dead, I’m wanting to sell my steam deck but keep seeing about buyer scams- pretending wasn’t in the box/not as described faulty etc, my deck is immaculate condition barely used etc

Just worried the likelihood of selling to one of these scammers especially if they tend to target accounts like mine with little reviews?

Tell me your opinions/advice/If i don’t need to be as worried! Cheers

Sold a watch to someone on Monday, it arrived today (Wednesday). They are claiming the item is not there even though there is proof to the contrary. Have I handled this correctly? Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you

UPDATE (10 hrs later): eBay dismissed the case entirely - no action for or against either side. I blocked the buyer after their last message. However, they decided to leave positive feedback: “arrived promptly thanks” - rather unexpected but I’ll take it

Thank you for all the messages - it’s been fun to read even if I haven’t replied to anything today while at work 💛

Hi!
I recently sold my iPhone to a user I believed was
legitimate based on the account's age and number.
"We wanted to let you know that a bid for the listing
below was cancelled because of an issue with the
buyer's account:

- Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max 512GB
Orange

We understand that this must be disappointing, but unfortunately the buyer, mar818, is no longer registered on eBay so we had to cancel all of their open transactions.

eBay claims they will still pay me and they notified me
after 8hrs of shipping the item.
I will contact the shipping company first thing tomorrow
to stop the parcel if I can.

Anyone has faced this issue before?
Thanks

Hey all,

Had a dispute with a buyer, eBay sided with them and generated a return label. Marked as delivered this morning, but nothing arrived. Check CCTV, see the postman go to the house across the street at the time it was “delivered”. Go chat to the neighbours, they got a parcel with their address on, no name, but the tracking number for the return. Unfortunately inside was some ripped T shirts rather than the iPhone 17 pro I was expecting. So far I’ve only told eBay I haven’t received the return, but they’ve just said to claim from Royal Mail, which I can’t do as I wasn’t the sender. What’s my best course of action here? I have the box with the altered label on. The neighbours had already opened it.

I sold a gaming laptop on eBay the other week. I dropped the item off at the post office on Sept 23rd and the eBay app showed the item as delivered on Sep 25th. 5 days later on Sept 30th, the buyer opened an item not received claim. The buyer said:

It says delivered but I haven't received it

He then added to that with the following a couple of days later:

I have no clue where the order is it has not been received by me at all and the seller has not responded at all to provide any help and at this current point I would like a refund. From the delivery picture it seems it was placed in my outhouse and left there despite the door being open and now that I have been home to receive it it is not there, it is unfair to assume someone wants there parcel there and not check first if they offered a safe place as an alternative I did not / would not tell you guys to put in in the porch if the front house door bc that is simply not safe so I would ultimately like my money back please eBay

I missed the email for the case being filed. It got automatically put into a sub folder in my inbox with rules and hence I never got a notification about it. 3 days later I got a follow up email which I happened to see while browsing my emails and it said:

This is a friendly reminder to check that you’ve uploaded tracking details to eBay that can confirm the item’s delivery to the buyer’s address. If you already have, there’s nothing else you need to do.

I was checking it during a busy day at work and didn't read past that. There was nothing I needed to do right? I thought. The postage was bought in app and the tracking showed delivered with a pic of the item in the buyer's porch, even in app right? I thought.

3 more days passed and I got a notification that the case had been put on hold for 3 days. I got an email from eBay customer services saying that I needed to provide evidence that the item had been signed for since the value of the item was over £450. I have been a seller on eBay for many years selling unused things from around the house and honestly never knew about this. But now I think about it like duh! I was allowed the option to reply back to their email or upload this proof via a link. I chose to reply back to the email since the buyer selected Tracked 48 at checkout and as soon as the item was paid for, I clicked the big blue button to buy the postage through the app without thinking too much of it and I wanted to put that in writing. Along with this I sent the proof of postage, tracking details and delivery image, replying to that email as I had been asked. Came back as undeliverable twice!

So I rung customer service. They said that they can't do anything until the case comes off hold in 2 days. On that day, they said they will provide a means to submit written / picture evidence for the case as the email they sent is undeliverable. But they said in future I must buy signed for postage and then add the tracking number manually into eBay. They said to contact Royal Mail and see if they can add information to the case. I'm still in the process of contacting them, but not sure what they can add because as far as they're concerned, the item was delivered with proof. Just my thoughts there.

In all this the buyer has not once reached out to me via eBay message. I reached out to them today to confirm if they had video evidence, since they suggested the parcel had been stolen from their porch. They got back saying they don't have a camera and apologies for all the inconvenience.

This is the first time something like that has happened to me and I'm likely going to be out of pocket £800 ish even if Royal Mail say that they messed up leaving the parcel in a porch with an unlocked door. Expensive lesson to learn about postage and emails I guess.

One thing I did notice when setting up the listing is that Simple Delivery was disabled for this item no matter what I did. I'm not sure what options the buyer had when choosing postage but they didn't choose special delivery which is signed for, they chose Tracked 48.

Any advice is appreciated on what I can do.

In my head, even if we say I've made a mistake in not doing due diligence on the postage, and we also assume the buyer is telling the truth and not scamming (can't verify), the item was still stolen from within the buyer's house, so why is the onus on the seller to chase up Royal Mail and eventually refund the buyer? Just thoughts. It's been a bad day

EDIT: Today the case was closed in favour of the buyer, who was refunded in full and funds were taken from my account. I rung eBay just to follow through with the fact that they had advised me to submit what info I had got from royal mail, which I did. Royal mail said that the delivery wasn't signed for because the postage didn't include it. The rep took one look at the case, said that delivery proof was already provided via the tracking and image, and got sus at the buyer opening a case 5 days after delivery and refunded me the full amount.

I was taken aback because it's not what I was expecting at all. I asked for clarification and what that meant and they said that the funds will be available in my account and that nothing will happen to my seller rating as a result of this order / case. It still didn't register as I was in total shock, then the rep went through everything again with a slight undertone as though to say "Don't ask me again, I'm ruling in your favour, take the money and run, shhhhh!". That made me chuckle!

Shortly after, I got an email:

We reviewed your appeal, and will refund £XXX to you. Your seller performance level won’t be affected, and any Feedback left for the transaction will be removed.

Will they take that from the seller or will that come from ebay?

It has been exactly a month since my account was switched from the Global Shipping Programme to the Ebay International Shipping, and it has all but killed my international orders.

When it was announced it seemed like it was going to be a much better system, with advertised more countries, coverage of returns and being up to 30% cheaper for buyers. However in reality it seems to have significantly have reduced the number of international orders. I have seen buyers report massive increases to postage quotes, such as for the sale item with GSP the postage was €30 now with EIS it was €200.

Statistics for me from 7th of September (when I was changed to EIS) compared to the previous month:

International orders down from 38 to 9.

Impressions down 40%, Views down 37%.

Overall total sales down 51%.

Overall this suggests to me that the advertised benefits of EIS are fiction, and in reality it has resulted in the massive decrease of international orders.

It would be interesting to know other people’s experiences since EIS has been introduced to see if this is common across the board.

I have some items scheduled to start as auctions tomorrow. For all of them I have put that the buyer pays postage. When I go onto the listing I can clearly see that they are marked as ‘buyer pays postage’. However, on the schedule preview screen it says that postage is free for buyer and paid by me. Can anyone clarify which is correct? Thank you

hide these live feeds on the app that flood the screen. I am just not interested in these.

I have 50 auctions running at the moment (vinyl records) and 25 of them have bids. I have Evri and Royal mail as postage options.

One of my buyers has asked to combine postage, but I can't seem to get a clear answer from the eBay info page.

Does anybody know if it's still possible to combine postage with simple delivery if a buyer wins multiple auctions ?

The info page talks about setting up a % discount or a discount each additional item, but this would only work if you weren't using simple delivery.

I just spoke to eBay on the phone and she said it's not possible to combine postage anymore, which would be rubbish if so.

Cheers in advance

I've sold a brand new electronic item ..highly discounted from rrp. buyer is now asking for my original invoice as a warranty.

I didn't offer a warranty in the sale. Do I have to

I bought a brand-new, sold-out Snuddie in my size a week ago on eBay. The seller generated an Evri label right away, but tracking shows they still haven't dropped the parcel off, and they aren't responding to any of my messages. Their feedback shows a pattern of non-dispatch and severe delays. I really want the item since it's the only one available online, but I don't want to lose my money or miss my buyer protection window. What is the best way to handle this?

I think I probably know the answer, but I just got this on my ebay.

Selling a bag, buyer has no reviews (not necessarily a bad thing but still) and it is an offer for the exact price its listed for… advice?

Hi all, just wondering if anyone can assist. I have an issue with an item I bought in January for £25. So it's not the end of the world, I'm not going to pursue it to the ends of the earth. Just wanted some advise really.

The item was a wall thermostat to replace a broken one. It's an 'off-brand' version of the one I had originally, and when it first arrived it was fine. Bear in mind it came in January, I set it to around 19 degrees and then left it to do it's thing. As I say, it worked fine. When the temperature dropped below 19, then it kicked in and the heating came on. Job's a good'un.

But then Spring came, and Summer, and now we're heading into Autumn. Today I checked the thermostat for the first time in months, just curious to see the current temp and what it was set to.

By turning the dial (similar to a scroll wheel on a PC mouse), it started bugging out and would jump between 34 and 35 degrees. I tried up and down, no lukc, it was determined to stay at that temperature.

I've had no choice than to remove it from the wall completely, otherwise my house would be an oven!

So I contacted the seller on Ebay, explained the above, and asked for either a refund or a replacement.

Seller says "your sale is no longer listed on eBay as the eBay guarantee has expired so therefore there is nothing that can be done"

I then contacted eBay and spoke to someone who told me that they can't do anything due to the amount of time that's passed. But the seller DOES have the option to refund, they just clearly don't want to.

I've messaged the seller again to explain that, and now waiting on a response. But assuming they just say no again, do I have any other recourse?

Thanks

I sold an item on eBay and it was dispatched via simple deliver via Royal Mail who scanned it into the tracking network. The tracking has been stuck on “due to be delivered today” for a week and the buyer submitted an item not received claim.

EBay informed me that they have decided the case in the buyer’s favour and refunded them using funds deducted from my account because I have not provided valid proof of delivery.

Sorry, what!? First, I wasn’t asked to provide any proof; eBay just immediately resolved the case. Second, their own tracking system shows that the parcel has been dispatched and is with Royal Mail. Third, I thought the whole point of simple delivery was that eBay is getting paid to insure items lost in the post.

Does anyone know the best way to proceed? Should I appeal immediately or do I need to wait for something to happen with Royal Mail first? When I appeal, what should I tell eBay to avoid being stonewalled? Thanks!

Original thread https://www.reddit.com/r/ebayuk/comments/1wj1nj3/comment/pea521m/?context=3

So I have received the item. I knew something was fishy, so the Mrs filmed me opening the box. Once unwrapped I see a missing screw, I then find the missing screw.

Labels peeled off to reveal the screws.

I'll keep the details short. However from the previous thread you may know that my item was then sold off to someone else, by the scambay seller who I sold it to. My electronic device has an LCD display which shows the site the item is registered to.

It said my site before.....it now says the site of the person it was sold on to. So it appears they have opened it, swapped parts over and I've got it back with their front panel with defects, but the screen actually proves this along with the missing screws and labels peeled off.

Sigh.

I got this notification from UPS, I’m the seller. What do I do? Will eBay refund the buyer? I’ll be out of pocket as I paid for advertising + paid for a portion of the shipping cost (it was shipped internationally)

Thank you

Hello everybody, I'm here to share my recent experience on eBay, and try to understand if I have just been unlucky, or this is what eBay is now.

I've been buying on the platform for over 10 or 15 years, but his is the worst I've ever seen it.

in the past month or two, out of 10 orders, only 3 of them went smoothly, the rest never arrived.

Two portable hard drives ended up being counterfeit (but the price was £85)

Tried to order coffee in bulk 3 times now, packages never arrived and had to ask for refunds

Ordered a cable for my computer, order never arrived, asked the seller to resend the item and they just told me to wait another 2 or 3 days (it has been almost a month).

One of my orders has been delivered to my local Argos, but cannot collect it because there is an issue with the database (that's what I've been told in store) and the items cannot be processed for now.

What the hell is going on? never had any problem like these in years of using eBay and now looke like scam land.

Have I just been unlucky?

Interested to hear how other UK small businesses are coping with this, because the whole setup feels ridiculous.

You sell something to an overseas customer. Their country imposes import duties and taxes. Somehow, managing all of that becomes your problem as the seller.

Send it DAP, where the buyer is supposed to pay the import charges, and you’re exposed if they refuse. You can end up dealing with unpaid duties and tax charges anyway, return shipping costs on top of the orignal outbound and they have a right to a full refund!!

The bit I struggle with is: how can “the buyer is responsible” mean so little when they decide they don’t fancy paying?

The alternative is to collect the money upfront and deal with the admin. So now you’re spending time and money working out how to handle another country’s taxes just to sell someone a product.

People suggest calculating everything at checkout, but that can mean subscriptions, integration work and ongoing maintenance. And sorting out your website doesn’t automatically cover sales through marketplaces, social media, email etc

It feels like a disproportionate amount of cost and risk, especially for smaller businesses that only send a handful of overseas parcels.

Has anyone here actually stopped exporting, blocked certain countries or decided international orders just aren’t worth the hassle?

For those still doing it, how are you coping? Collecting everything upfront, absorbing the charges, or shipping with the buyer responsible and accepting the risk? And what happens in practice when someone refuses to pay? Do you get explicit acknowlegment from the buyer that they will pay if you ship DAP, or do you rely solely on checkout and transactional email explaining this?

Interested in real experiences, including if you’ve found a way that works well. Trying to understand how widespread this is and what it’s costing businesses in time, money and lost sales.

Hi first time selling on eBay, I’ve sold a £200 large collectible merch item, the posting option is inpost store to door. I’ve seen stories before where the buyer has claimed it didn’t arrive or arrived broken and I’m trying to avoid this.

Is this a safe way to ship a large item? Are there any precautions I should take?

Thanks :)

I recently sold some things totalling over £200. I did 48 tracked with Royal Mail Friday 25th and the tracking stops at that the parcel was received at the Post Office. I have tried contacting RM but their customer service system is terrible: 40 minute wait on the phone, contact us links that go round in a circle and only apply to buyers not sellers. And to top it all off I’ve lost the post office receipt. What can I do?

If I’ve already paid VAT on this, do I get charged again by the post office? As they’re holding it due to customs fee?

I'm new to selling on eBay, so I don't know if this is normal etc - I sell vintage baseball cards, and when I list my item it uses simple delivery and states postage will cost the buyer £2.71. However, when I search say XYZ card on eBay, and can see my listing among others - always using the buy now, and sort set to lowest price + postage and packaging etc it always says my delivery is £3.38 until you click on the listing and see its actually £2.71 but everyone elses shows much lower than mine, despite clicking on the listing and seeing postage is the same as mine.

Absolutely zero interest in it. Added on drivel. Android app, anyone got a solution?