eBay
Complaint 147518 Details

I advertised an item on EBay auctions as used and none returnable, giving a full true description and posted a close up clear picture of the item. I was happy to see it attracted many bidders and watchers and was happy to see the item sell. The buyer paid for the item by PayPal which turned out to be a nightmare.

I mailed off the item to the buyer who after a few days contacted me and said he wanted to return the item as it was ‘not as described’. Being new to selling on EBay I had not got a clue what he was on about as I had given a true description of the item on EBay. The buyer mentioned a serious fault on the item that was not present when posted and as the conversation progressed the faults became more and more and at one point he said the item was to small and I considered that the real reason he wanted to return the item and was using the ‘item not as described’ facility to return the item. I did not understand this reason as I had sold the item as none returnable, used and as described in the listing.

We agreed to not agree and he opened a case against me where the argument continued until we both agreed to let EBay resolve the issue, me not knowing in 100% of all cases EBay go in favour of the seller. I protested to EBay and spoke to them on the customer care help line on the site; I was advised that I would not need except the return as I had advertised the item as none returnable but when I tried to produce the attached conversation as evidence EBay said they had a technical problem with my membership and this conversation had been deleted by mistake.

It really does get worse; I advertised the sale as a private but had the money from the sale paid into my business account and once cleared I withdrew t to pay some bills; when I logged back into my PayPal account I noticed they had frozen my account and deducted the sale amount leaving my account in the red which freaked me out as I did not know until later research what EBay and PayPal can do as they are one and the same company. I have had to stop my online business as PayPal in my only form of payment excepted and all it was doing was paying of the false debt.

In panic I changed my EBay home address details and tried to change my contact details on PayPal as I have since read all types of horror stories similar to mine. I started to receive more demands from EBay customer care and I asked them questions to try and put my side of the case over to them who never answered or listened to my side of the story and as predicted by others awarded the case to the buyer who openly admitted the item was too small. I was informed yesterday that they would look further into my case but later said I had lost the case as the buyer had not received the item and he had been awarded a full refund including packaging and postage? EBay have changed the refund reason from ‘not as described ‘to item not received when I mailed the item to the buyer and have correspondence from the buyer and a case number to prove my point.

Today I have a demand from EBay that I should pay the full amount owing into my PayPal account along with selling fees. EBay customer care have been very aggressive and are bullying me into giving the item to the buyer along with a full refund, I also received a threatening email saying they will try to invade my private business bank account and take the money form that account to balance my PayPal account.
How can this be fair and legal? I have scoured the net to try and find help but can find none, this leads me to believe this is a common thing and PayPal and EBay are so powerful they are above the law and act without fear of being made accountable for their actions.

I have lost everything including:

My EBay item
My postage fees
The money paid for the item
My business has stopped trading
Stress caused by EBay bullying attitude

I would really appreciate some help in making EBay and PayPal accountable for their policies that persecute and bully the seller. I do not want any other person to go through what they have put me through.