Someone has opened a case against me... now what? Amazon or eBay

We have had our share of cases. Most of them unfounded and in our favor anyway. Many of them used improperly.

The first thing is not to panic. There are many times of 'cases' that can open against you. Ill start with Amazon first.

On Amazon someone can open an A-Z Claim or a Chargeback.  A Chargeback is usually when a buyer complains to their credit card company about a charge not being theirs. So its a 'fraudulent'. In the past 3 years we have seen 2 chargebacks on our account. Or rather we have noticed there were 2.  These usually happen in behind the scenes, sometimes they will ask you to provide details to help with the case but since everything is done online you are really protected especially if the item was marked delivered.  Both cases were escalated in our case but they were dealt with by Amazon. We proved they were shipped and received by the buyer and Amazon decided to refund the buyer on their own, we were not held responsible. Unfortunately there are a few dishonest people out there.

An A-Z Claim is when a buyer is disappointed with a product or it was damaged, defective or wrong, or non receipt.  We have had about 3 of these over the years. The most recent was a buyer claiming they did not receive the item. Turned out it was sitting in the post office! They never picked it up or answered the door since it need a signature, Amazon immediately refunded the buyer because the item truly was not delivered, rightfully so. So at that moment I contacted the post office over there and told them to return it to me. Which they did at least I had the product back.

We had one case years ago where they buyer claimed they were over charged shipping. Its one of those where the buyer does not read the listing and selected two day shipping for an item and yells at us telling us it was supposed to be FREE... you know what Im talking about.  Needless to say we won that case but not without getting a nice big fat negative on our rating.  We are starting to call them battle scars lol.

I get a kick out of it when a buyer says they were never informed of the prices! I mean Im actually not a big buyer online but I know that Amazon and eBay show you the prices of the item and shipping MANY times over before you say send payment. Amazon also gives buyers 30 minutes to change the order! So they get an email and they can see the order in front of them!

On eBay buyers can open a case with eBay or Paypal. Most cases with Paypal hold funds on your account until the item is either returned or the buyer escalates the issue and Paypal refund them.  We've seen that happen only a handful of times. When someone opens a case with paypal they never expect that they have to return the item. I ALWAYS  say they have to return the item before we will issue a refund.   We had one were there was a chargeback. I was totally shocked as they buyer ordered a personalized item and we had a complete conversation with this buyer! Not only that they lefts us positive feedback the same day they received it! I had to upload the conversation to paypal and in the end they found in my favor and they dealt with the credit card company.

There are these other 'cases' buyers are opening on eBay. Ive had two in the past month. They work a little differently. The buyer says the item is not described and eBay says we have to 'work it out' perhaps until the buyer is satisfied or closed the case. Not exactly sure what happens on their end.  But what gets me is when they use the wrong thing. Example: The one I got today said the item was not as described, but then it says they want a replacement as its broken. So which is it?  Last one said same thing... but I fixed that. Apparently we shorted an item so we sent them out and they got it. So how does sending one to little mean item not as described?  These cases dont hold funds against us but it still makes me wonder.

What I dont get is why people are so quick to open a 'case' against us when they can just send an email telling what the issue is.

We once had a buyer accuse us of listing the wrong color.  Im like its blue you got blue how is that wrong?  Buyer says the picture is light blue, the item is dark blue, or it may have been the other way around I forget but Im like seriously?  Its not like you got it in red, now thats a wrong color. Disclaimers started becoming a staple in our listings.

Blue moon causing crazy online buyers?

This must be the biggest month for complainers this month.

Off the top of my head its the only thing I can think of that is causing this craziness.

Just got a neutral feedback mark on eBay today because the package was delivered two days beyond the estimated delivery date! Two days? Really? Thats a cause for complaining I am sure. I wanted to reply with - guess you have never been pregnant? And Sorry Im not perfect like you must be!  And - there are no guarantees in life only in death and taxes!  I almost wrote - guess you dont know the definition of estimate and guaranteed delivery.  I want to start a blog to post all about the stupid questions and complaints I get! It would be long lol.  I have not replied yet to their remark, I am waiting to calm down.  I may just put the standard about not having control over the post office and your package was packaged and delivered next business day.  What more can you do right?

Another crazy buyer purchased stencils for glitter tattoos.  We sell a ton of these and majority of them are professional artist that know how to use them.  We never include instructions and we sell them in lots of 5 at a time. Sometimes we get special requests when people dont want to order from multiple lots.  I offer a small discount when they do this since I can just invoice them via paypal and remove eBay from the equation.

So one buyer leaves a neutral saying ' I was under the impression it was more stencils that what had come in'  and I was like what?  The listing says lot of 5 stencils how many more were you expecting?  So I added a new line to ALL the listings saying - Lot of 5 means 5 individual stencils.  Sometimes I feel like I am dealing with infants!

Another buyer purchases stencils on Monday and says they want it for a birthday party that Friday from NY to CA. Well I make sure it was delivered the same day.  And I guess they got it since I didnt get notification that they didnt.  Instead I get an email complaining that the stencils were difficult to use and they wanted replacements or a refund!  Again I was like what?  After a few emails back and forth they seemed to back off.  We dont provide instructions on how to use them.  Nor do we refund for them because you dont know how to use them. Its like buying a piece of meat, cooking it, then asking for a refund because it tasted horrible!  Not happening this isnt a restaurant or a place where you can get something for nothing.  I have not heard back from this buyer but I am betting its not over.

A buyer on another platform (Amazon) placed an order on a Saturday and requested 2nd day air. I shipped the item on Monday and it arrived to them on Tuesday that Thursday I get an email from the buyer indicating that they wanted to return the item because they never placed that order. Here is goes, Im like what?  If you cancelled this order I would not have gotten a request to send it to you.  Not only that you have to 'select' second day air its not an automatic option.  So I let the buyer know they can return the item but shipping costs are not refundable.  The buyer became upset and says to us that they will get all their money back because the order was cancelled. About a week later a package comes in, inside was an item I had never seen before along with a letter from this buyer. Not a nice letter AND the product was not mine, it was a product I dont sell. So I called Amazon asking for guidance cause I can see this case can get out of control.  They told me I cant issue a refund if they dont return the correct item. They also told me that once an order is placed the buyer has 30 minutes to cancel the order. Beyond that they can contact the seller to request a cancellation.  Well we never got that and neither did Amazon so we are in the right so far.  I emailed the buyer saying if they want a refund they need to return the correct item to us and if they want the 'wrong' item back they will have to provide a prepaid label.  Its been a few days and we have not heard anything yet so cross your fingers lol.

Today I get an email from someone asking why they cant buy two of said item? Well turned out there is only ONE in the listing... wow really?  I replied you cant buy two cause the listing is for one.  I tell ya, that blue moon cause some crazies!

Whats with eBay and Amazon siding with buyers in a dispute case

Ok so we have all had our share of buyers filing a claim. On eBay or Amazon someone gets something they are unhappy with or they claim to never have received the item at all and they file a claim.

This is nothing new but they both do the same thing. The total funds get placed on hold awaiting you to fill out your side of the story. I have come to a point where I refuse to issue a refund until the item is returned. We have the right as sellers to request that the item is returned. On both platforms you can request that. Then at least you would get the product back and lose out ONLY on the shipping fees. There are times when the buyer would 'escalate' the claim.

I had someone that basically threatened me and said I better do the right thing or they would leave the worst feedback I had ever received! I reported this person immediately.

So the buyer escalates the claim and they find in favor of the buyer but dont find you responsible! So the money basically comes from where? Not your pocket, should you care? YES!

These are cases that we cant do anything about once a decision is made. But it gives the buyers the impression that they can say what they want, keep the item AND get their money back!

The most recent claim came from a person on my Amazon store. They claimed the package never arrived but the tracking information says it was 'DELIVERED" the day before. Not only did this person go on and on harassing us about UPS this and FedEx that, both services did not have the package, they said it should be in their 'office' and it never showed up. I tried to assist, sometimes the packages are marked delivered and left next door, or tossed, or someone keeps it. Its happens!

Anyway, this buyer went on about their chemo treatments, being tired, needing to sleep and how they didnt not want to 'trifle' with such a small amount. (Total of $9.07) So image my surprise when the 'claim' came thru two days later!

Of course both platforms give you the option to issue a refund when these come thru. I have never just issued a refund. I always fill out 'my side' of the story. In the end they sided with the buyer but did not fault us at the same time. So the $9.07 came from Amazon and not my account. This person keeps the item AND gets a refund.

I once asked eBay about this method of dealing with customers and they said sometimes they do things to appease the buyers. It makes me wonder how many times they go around 'appeasing' the buyers with such small amount. When will they start 'appeasing' the sellers?