purchased 12/1 for a 12/8 arrival ... around that time I noticed there's no update from the seller and no tracking # entered

Asked for a tracking # 3-4 days ago. Says it might be "in the office."

No response, asked for a refund last night.

He'll honor the refund, asks that I use his return label (which of course I do not have yet) when it arrives.

Meanwhile, eBay won't step in until the 18th, which I'm OK with, but now the seller's in a similarly weird spot if the thing actually DOES arrive AND I've received a refund.

Correspondence has been amicable and generally prompt, but only when I engage first. That irks me, because I take that as a red flag, buyer protections or not.

And yeah this person appears to be relatively new to selling on the site.

It doesn't matter what the seller says... don't let it worry you and don't worry about needing to believe what he says. If the item doesn't arrive by the assigned date, file a claim. There is no need to discuss it with the seller. He will get the message that you opened a case. He doesn't have to 'honor' the return.

Selling on ebay is easy - all you have to do is read the instructions. If they don't - it's THEIR problem. If they shipped without a tracking number then they are just asking for trouble.

Most scammers are give nice communication until it all stops, but most sellers will give nice communication too. Ignore the communication and just follow the ebay guidelines.

eBay is definitely a buyers market.

Last month I bought two items on eBay. The first was KN95 masks. They were promptly shipped on Nov. 22 via USPS and hadn’t arrived by the 8th. I let the seller know my $22 order had not arrived. The seller offered a $5 discount. I declined his offer and explained that I just was giving the seller an update in case it hadn’t arrived within 30 days. It arrived a few days ago.

The second item was five 4-packs of white Ace tape I use to avoid blisters from my shoes when exercising. I received five single rolls of tape. I sent the seller a photo of the package, the tape and the packing slip. He said I could keep the tape and he fully refunded the total auction price.

I left positive feedback for both sellers.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

So the seller already issued you a refund?

If so, then it's on you to return to the item on your good will if you receive (since the seller provided a label).

eBay won't care if you do or don't if you've already received a refund.

If you haven't received a refund yet, then just wait until the 18th and open a case if you haven't received the item by then. You'll get the refund eventually, either from the seller, or eBay.

A while back, I bought an item with no photos from a new seller. I should have known better, but I gave it a whirl. It ended up being a much older item than described. Admittedly, the item lends itself to confusion: Arlo Pro cameras, since there was Arlo Pro, Arlo Pro 2, Arlo Pro 3 and those all come in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 packs. So, if you have an Arlo Pro selling in a 2 or 3 pack, you have to be very specific with the titling and description to avoid confusion. In this case, the SKU # in the item specifics matched what I was looking for, but what I received wasn't even an Arlo Pro camera, it was the original Arlo camera. It took a lot of convincing to get the seller to understand the issue at which point she wanted me to just resell it for her (but I wasn't about to deal with that) and eventually I got a refund (or she just got tired of it all and just issued the refund). Then she wanted me to send it back, so I asked for a pre-paid label, which she didn't want to provide (and I got a sob story to go with it).

I asked eBay what I should do and they didn't really care since I already had the refund. So, I was essentially free to keep the item (though I didn't want it). I just stuck it in a corner until weeks/months later when the seller finally sent me a pre-paid return label.

Ebay has recently improved the return formatting for sellers now warning them NOT to refund until the item is returned - once the refund is submitted, the case is CLOSED. I've had sellers worried about bad feedback rush to issue a refund before the item is shipped for return, but when they do that the case is closed and I no longer have access to the label they paid for.

Refunded this morning.

So even if it arrives today he wants me to wait for his return label. If he mails that as well (instead of providing a printable version) that’ll be weird.

The automated eBay process seems OK/fair but still open to misinterpretation. After I’d received his note about the refund and return label I thought, “No, I’m not going to wait and see if you send me a return label before getting my money back!?”

And then I thought, OK, I’d still have eBay’s resolution help if needed but have to wait for it, so I’ll accept his note of negotiation.

And THEN the message comes up saying, if you accept the seller’s negotiation the matter is closed AND you can’t reopen it. Obviously I could not do that.

So I declined his message but included a positive message saying I’d wait for his label and return the item if it ever shows up.

Which still bugs me ... if this gets legit lost in the mail he’ll think I stole it and neither of us will be able to prove anything.

Quote
deckeda
Refunded this morning.

So even if it arrives today he wants me to wait for his return label. If he mails that as well (instead of providing a printable version) that’ll be weird.

The automated eBay process seems OK/fair but still open to misinterpretation. After I’d received his note about the refund and return label I thought, “No, I’m not going to wait and see if you send me a return label before getting my money back!?”

And then I thought, OK, I’d still have eBay’s resolution help if needed but have to wait for it, so I’ll accept his note of negotiation.

And THEN the message comes up saying, if you accept the seller’s negotiation the matter is closed AND you can’t reopen it. Obviously I could not do that.

So I declined his message but included a positive message saying I’d wait for his label and return the item if it ever shows up.

Which still bugs me ... if this gets legit lost in the mail he’ll think I stole it and neither of us will be able to prove anything.

Stop worrying about this... if he had done his side of the deal properly (by shipping and sending you the tracking info) all would be well. If it got lost in the mail, it's HIS responsibility to have the package insured - not yours.

Ebay makes this SO EASY. Right from my ebay page I print up shipping labels at a steep discount - the data is sent to the buyer automatically. Everyone is happy. I've shipped at least 3000 packages through ebay over 20 years (most usps) and every one of them arrived. One was damaged and UPS paid a claim and one took 31 days to arrive during the anthrax scare in 2001.