I recently purchased a pen on eBay. It was an international transaction. When the pen arrived I found undisclosed defects and, worse, it was totally inoperable. Noteworthy is the seller is an experienced pen collector. I had corresponded with the seller (via the eBay message system) prior to the sale about some specifics regarding the pen; when the pen arrived it was clear some of his answers were outright lies.
All this was easily documented for eBay with photos and references to his messages to me.
The seller had indicated on his sales post he would not accept any returns but when I requested a return because the pen was "not as described," I was informed by eBay he agreed to accept it back. He pushed back at having to provide me with a pre-paid return label; when eBay told him he had to do so, he then flat out refused to pay for the pen to be insured for its sales price. My position was I would not return it if it was not properly insured & tracked because, by that point, I knew what would happen if it was not insured & tracked........
eBay recommended to me that I request they "step in" so I could formally "open a case. " I did so and eBay wrote to the seller insisting he provide me with a proper return label to include full insurance and tracking. They gave him five days to do so. The seller refused to cooperate with eBay and today I got a notice from eBay that they were fully refunding my purchase cost and I did not have to return the pen.
I am certainly satisfied with this outcome. But, I'm wondering how this all works on the seller's side of things? Does eBay take the money they are refunding me out of the seller's account or does the money come from eBay's coffers as part of their guarantee and the seller keeps what he collected from me?
I can no longer provide negative feedback on this guy and I hate the idea that he is getting off scot free.
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