Dealing With An eBay Buyer Refund Request

[@kurtcruppenink6143]

Man, that is the kind of situation that would give me heart failure.

[@timothylee3105]

Hmm....cool video, Thanks. I gotta flip through my John Byrne X-Men 108-143 collection.

[@johnbigdaddyross2158]

Thanks for this information Ryan. Great video!

[@AutomaticComics]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@Pewsplosions]

FeeBay is nice and convenient. Until it isn't. Sounds like you happened to land in one of the very few crevices where they actually care about sellers. Good to hear they don't completely suck all the time. :D

[@AutomaticComics]

I said something similar to someone else. Basically this seems like the only instance where they’re actually on the sellers side.

[@jbiz7290]

Classy move by eBay.

[@kestonsoldschoolcomicbooks6842]

I really appreciate your take on e-Bay. Many youtube videos are about rants: rants about e-Bay, rants about CGC, and so forth. I've done a couple. Of course, many of these rants are justified. As you said though....there are many times when a company comes through. And, it's cool that you highlighted this incident. And, glad the money was returned to you!! Hope you have been enjoying this amazing weather in the Commonwealth (except for the snowy Monday of course).

[@AutomaticComics]

Rants get more views for sure 😂, but they deserve credit when it’s due too. Yeah, weather has been great the last couple days.

[@cjdesign5700]

I also like the GSP. I had an early Silver ASM stuck in Tenn...nowhere to be found. Refunded the buyer and me.

[@AutomaticComics]

👍

[@wayneweidman1543]

As a buyer I feel so much safer buying off eBay than most other platforms. I had a horrible experience with trying to return a misrepresented book on Whatnot. Whatnot’s return process is a bit ridiculous.

[@AutomaticComics]

I haven’t bought anything on whatnot so I can’t really speak to their process.

[@internetcompilations]

@@AutomaticComics I bought a 1500$ book on what not, and their team immediately refunded me when the book was delivered not as described

[@jacob_comics]

Good to hear I sell on eBay too.

[@AutomaticComics]

Just remember this is specifically for the global shipping program. Domestic returns you’re screwed as a seller. They will side with the buyer 99% of the time.

[@LongboxLoveAffair]

Bonus! So glad it worked out. If it ever gets out of customs and goes on to the buyer, they double win! I sell exclusively on EBay and had a global shipping issue where it was delivered but lost in that particular country. The seller filed a complaint and eBay resolved it immediately so I wasn’t impacted.

[@AutomaticComics]

Yeah I expect the buyer will eventually get a free $5000 book. I’ve heard from multiple people now about positive experiences they’ve had with the global shipping program with eBay. So good to see it’s consistent.

[@drspidey4739]

Agree the Ebay Global shipping program is great for sellers. Opens up a bigger buyer pool and Ebay got you covered. Have had good sells and similar issues where Ebay took care of it.

[@coydogf23]

Wow, that’s a pretty wild story overall. Did you ever figure out what happened and why the book was caught in customs?

[@AutomaticComics]

It’s still there. So it’s possible (actually probable) it will eventually get through and the person will end up with a free book 😯.

[@AutomaticComics]

The message from customs on DHLs site for tracking isn’t very good. Just says it needs more info. So I don’t know. Since eBay shipped it, I can’t really find anything else out.

[@joenuyen6017]

That’s insane to think about. You get your sale, they get a refund and their item eventually. Soooooo is this why fees are so high w eBay? Just curious what you think

[@AutomaticComics]

I think eBay realizes that this is part of doing business. That you have to take occasional losses to make their customers happy. Also, I honestly don’t think eBay’s fees are all that high. I think they’re reasonable. They are providing the sellers with access to millions of potential buyers. There’s no other platform that does that.

[@billparker442]

Nothing is easy with Ebay, CGC or anything else. Glad it eventually worked out for you.

[@crzdcolombian]

I sell exclusively on ebay. Everyone on Facebook wants to pay 30% off ebay last sold. I am not a fan of making 500 people my instagram followers so I can buy/sell comics online either. Whatnot to me is odd and spending 1-2 hours on video to make less money than ebay for 2% less of a fee doesn't make sense either

[@AutomaticComics]

I was on Facebook for about a week in some comics groups and realized I didn’t want to deal with that toxic environment. I’m sure there are some good people there. But I didn’t like the vibe at all.

[@AutomaticComics]

As for whatnot. I think it’s probably good for moving a high volume of lower price books.

[@collectiblestoastonish]

I love GSP for the reasons Ebay backed you up on this Sale. I've had more issues domestically with potential scammers.

[@sean1hanna]

Glad it worked out for you, but I seem to see a TON of videos and have talked to numerous sellers who always say the same thing, “EBay ALWAYS sides with the buyers” and when they say it they say it in a negative light like the buyers are the ones causing issues every time. I will say I have had some awesome sellers. Not going to lie, I’ve had it to where I’ve bought a $1,400 book, had the seller take over $100 off just because, and then even tell me “if it’s not up to your standards just send it back, no worries”. I’ve also had it to where the seller tells me the book is “!!mint , as close to perfection that you can get!!” and it comes to me with spine tics up and down, bent corners, packaged poorly, etc. out of my EBay history I will say I’ve had more poor sellers than I’ve had poor buyers.

[@AutomaticComics]

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve sold like 750+ items on eBay and I’ve only had bad experiences with buyers maybe 5 times (not including non-payers, that adds probably 10 more). More often my bad experiences are just with eBay and something they do. But every time I had what I’d call a bad buyer they abused the “item not as described” option with the return and lied about the item to force the return. eBay will side with the buyer 99+% of the time with that item not described option. It’s a joke and forces the seller to eat the shipping costs both too and from the seller.

[@sean1hanna]

Yeah, that’s a thing that eBay still hasn’t been able to wrap their head around. For myself I always ask questions. I honestly didn’t start doing that because I was curious, but started doing so because I thought if I ever wanted to return an item I had to prove something. Like if I asked you about spine tics. You tell me “there are none” yet when I receive the book it’s filled with them. I thought to return something I had to have built a case. Wasn’t until 4 months ago did I find out that it wasn’t needed!! If I would have known that then I wouldn’t have been stuck with thousands in books that aren’t even worth half of what I paid!! But in my eyes, when I buy something it’s up to me to ask questions. The seller is always going to post pictures to show the best features but me as a buyer should always ask questions. If I fail to ask a question then the fail lies with me. If I ask a question and am told a lie, it’s on the seller.

[@GammaRayBOOM]

I use global shipping program as well and had similar situation. I sent a statue through GSP and it was received with a tiny break. eBay refunded the buyer the full price and I kept my money also. Buyer basically got the $600 statue for free with a tiny break that was an easy fix so amazing deal on their end 😄

[@AutomaticComics]

Good to hear the experience has been consistent for others as well.

[@michaell7809]

Ryan What are your top 10 must have to keep in your collection for all time ?

[@AutomaticComics]

Honestly there aren’t any books that fall into that category. I’ll never say there’s a book I’ll keep forever. Even if I had a Batman 1 or AF15 I wouldn’t say that.

[@speccollector9740]

The buyer just got a Free $5200 book. The book WILL get to them. I've had items take up to 4 months to pass customs but the buyers were cool and believed me so no action was taken by their part. They weren't $5k books though.

[@AutomaticComics]

I agree. I think they’re likely going to end up with the book for free.

[@mauricedevereaux6573]

Holy cow Ryan, that is so scary! I'm glad it worked out for you but I have to ask, how did you manage to speak to a person twice at E-bay, I have been having trouble reaching a human, when I go through all the hoops on the website. Also what will happen to the book? Will it eventually be sent to the buyer and he can keep it and his money? And to what country was it sent?

[@AutomaticComics]

My guess is the book will eventually get through customs and the buyer will get it for free. As for reaching eBay, I honestly never have a problem reaching a person. It’s a pain getting to the point on the website where you trigger the contact us button that has them call you. But once you do it’s generally pretty quick (at least for me). I don’t know if there are factors they consider like how much you sell/etc to get a person more quickly.

[@mauricedevereaux6573]

@@AutomaticComics Thanks Ryan, for some reason, I could not get to that "Have us call you button" last time I tried to reach E-bay.

[@AutomaticComics]

@@mauricedevereaux6573 it’s not a button like it used to be. Now it opens the little chat window on the right side and if you scroll down in the chat it gives you options for different issues and the bottom one is something like “talk to an agent”. You select that. Then they ask if you want them to call you and it confirms your phone number. And you say yes and then they call you.

[@mauricedevereaux6573]

@@AutomaticComics Thank you Ryan, I had succeeded with the method you describe before, but last time I tried, that option was strangely absent. Might be my mistake or the browser I was using.

[@bronzevillecomics2581]

I’ve sold a few items through global shipping program with no issues. My question is - where is the book and what happens if it surfaces?

[@AutomaticComics]

It’s still in customs. And I believe if it passes through customs eventually, the buyer will get the book for free.

[@stampscapes]

Glad it all worked out

[@AutomaticComics]

Thanks, me too =)

[@maxheals]

ebay screwed me over a sellers refund sent back am item that was opened i was unable to resell it and lost money

[@AutomaticComics]

There are definitely buyers out there that abuse returns like that.

[@jacobbornowsky4013]

Me as a buyer gladly pay a premium for the security eBay provides

[@thecorporatelawgroup7093]

We should form a group to buy from eBay at a deep discount, comic books stuck in customs. :-)

[@AutomaticComics]

I always wonder if “stuck in customs” is a customs agent keeping the item.

[@thecorporatelawgroup7093]

@@AutomaticComics LOL

[@margaretoriley9793]

What about if its not international sale and within your own country so not through global shipping programme?

[@ronaldbourgeois1255]

Why did they hold it for a month.

[@AutomaticComics]

No idea. Customs would have to answer that.

[@Silverspidey18]

So...who owns the book now? Thank you.

[@AutomaticComics]

Customs I guess 🤷‍♂️

[@PapasDino]

@@AutomaticComics Any possibility that the book would be returned to eBay, them "remembering" who sent it to them and give you the book back (along with having to repay them I suppose would be appropriate)?

[@AutomaticComics]

I have no idea what will happen if it passes through customs and gets to the buyer or makes it back to eBay and then they ship it to me (the return address on the customs should actually be eBay, not me). Like if it gets to the buyer, do they charge them? Or let them keep it free or charge? I have no idea.

[@AutomaticComics]

I honestly think the most likely scenario is it eventually gets through customs and the person gets the book for free.

[@PapasDino]

@@AutomaticComics Would be interesting some day to get the "Paul Harvey" rest of the story! BTW, enjoyed seeing you on the roundtable video released last night.

[@Kgoutdoor]

I chose the wrong title for my listing cus eBay suggested it once I typed in what it was and now the customer wants a refund How do I make sure to receive my product? I want my product first before they receive a refund.

[@jwashin4]

Did you ever find out what happened with the book? Did it end up with the buyer or did it get returned to you?

[@AutomaticComics]

It’s still sitting in customs.

[@Kgoutdoor]

I watched half of the video and you didn’t talk about the title of the video at all so I had to click off.