I know that eBay stands on the side of buyers, but I still got surprised with the case I met recently.

I sell my goods on eBay and ship them by regular lettermail. They are goods for severally dollars each. It’s impossible to ship the items with a tracking number with such low price.

One day, I met a buyer. This buyer gave me a trap from the very beginning and she -I guess it’s she- said she got amused. She said she didn’t want that item. I said ok. Later on, she said she liked it and made payment. I shipped the item to her at once as a regular letter mail and informed her.

Soon, she asked the tracking number. I told her it’s regular lettermail. Then, she asked again and said she didn’t received the item. I told her no tracking number. Then she opened a case asking a full refund.

I escalated the case to eBay. I told eBay the story and let eBay  to make a final decision. Almost in a moment, I received the response from eBay. They issued a full refund to the buyer. The reason is: I couldn’t provide tracking information.

It’s a regular letter mail. How to track it? In addition, I made the clear statement in the description of the item: I can’t take the responsible for the loss or damage of the item.

The case is over. It’s not much money. But I’m thinking leaving eBay. In addition, its fee is so high.

For the sellers, if you meet such a buyer, I think it’s better you just keep your item and let eBay give him/her a full refund. At least, you still have your item, even though you lose some commission fees.

Added on Oct. 28

EBay sent me an invoice and asked me to pay it. I thought that eBay issued a refund from my PayPal directly. It’s not. EBay threatened if I didn’t pay it, my priority of selling account may be removed or restricted.  I paid it but eBay didn’t return the commission fees (e.g. final fee, shipping fee) I paid to eBay about this item.