Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Online Auctions, eBay Craigslist Petroliana Ebay's fees and the rights only a buyer has.

Here is my story.
I sell an item on ebay for $787.78 and when he pays with paypal I only get $764.63. He doesn't request or buy or pay for any insurance and the item gets lost.. He requests a refund from Ebay and they give him back $787.78 and take that amount back out of my Paypal account, now Im out the item plus $23.15 (paypal fee ).Ebay charges me 9% to sell the item ( $70.90 )which they will not refund because they gave the refund back to the buyer instead of me giving it back voluntarily. Now I'm out the item ($787.78) plus ( $23.15 )plus ($70.90 ).The buyer has no responsiblity in requesting or buying insurance and why should he buy insurance Ebay will pay for it if it's lost anyway..The case is closed and if the item is delivered at a later date and I'm sure it will be, the buyer gets the refund and the item... This all sounds like a one sided sale to me. I have proof that I mailed it and a tracking number... The post office has issued me a check for $115.00 for the insurance that goes wth it including shipping costs..
What do you guys think about this situation, I'm sure someone has had the same experience as this.

When you refund a paypal payment, paypal refunds your original fee. Log into your paypal account and go into the details tab for that transaction and it should show it there.

As far as the rest, sounds about normal for a seller on ebay. It really sucks.

It's a funny thing about some buyers,,,, most of them must have never run a business before..They expect the item to get there in record time, they don't like to pay very much for shipping charges let alone pay for packaging ( material & labour), they want it sent the cheapest way and ultra fast... From now on with my selling it will not be shipped without insurance and the customer WILL pay ( unless he takes 100% responsiblity for loss or damage) and it will have a tracking number,,, one of the reasons some don't want insurance is to keep the value down for shipping costs. Now we aren't even talking about the feedback system Ebay has now... thats really a one sided deal,, it's all about the buyer,,, no regard for the seller..

I have always felt Ins. should be paid for by seller. It is their responsibility for the item to be packed to insure item is received in condition as sent.
When you order a car/boat etc & it comes from the factory, IF it is damaged in transporting it is the responsibility of the shipper & transporter to get the item to buyer as sold, new & undamaged. Buyers responsibility doesn't start till it has been delivered. Ebay is like the car salesman, neither have anything to do with transporting the item & should be paid for their time.
If you sell a used car & don't take the buyer to DMV or a Notary Service to do transfer of title, buyer takes car & before he can transfer the title gets in an accident. You can still be held liable unless you can prove you Dated & Timed the title.

NEVER MIND, It isn't worth explaining anymore

#1 rule...Always pay insurance and especially on an Expensive item even if buyer is cheap and refuses!

After having to file a claim once with the post office(took 6 months!) I ALWAYS ship ups!

*Wes if you have collectibles insurance it might cover your loss here! just a thought...

Hope things work out for you...

Wes, Sorry to hear about the shipping troubles! I'm in agreement with you and thanks for sharing it.

Next time I sell something with significant value on ebay I will have a clear note that says the buyer pays insurance and paypal fees, if THEY choose to use paypal. I try to avoid paypal as much as possible... when will people learn to use interac transfers?? haha. And a note that if they decline insurance then I'm not repsonsible.

The car dealer analogy only works because the price of the car factors in insurance and getting it to the buyer without a scratch on it. I got the whole story from a friend of mine who works at a dealership. One in so many cars gets damaged during shipping and needs to be reported, repaired, etc by the dealership, but its all factored into the fees. You don't get the option of saying... "dont charge me to insure the new car when you ship it Mr. automaker." Only to have the car not arrive and then have all your money returned to you by the bank. You are paying for insurance with a new car.

Regardless of who physically or directly purchases the insurance... the "buyer" pays for it.

Hi guys. Even if you put a note in your listing that if they don't buy the insurance you are responsible...ebay may not agree and refund the money through paypal. My suggestion would be to say that insurance is required. Period. Or just roll it into the listing of the cost of the shipping if you can. It can be a real hassle. Good luck.

I've learned through many dealings on Ebay. A seller is in charge of the auction, you need to include insurance in your fees, whether the buyer wants it or not, they're not running the show, period. As for making them pay Paypal fees, doen't work, ebay will cancel your auction for stating that. It is slanted to the buyer, which is good most of the time.
I'm surprised that Paypal refunded the guys money though if you have a tracking #, that's usually enough to slow them down a little, hope things work out.

...in that case, I'm pretty sure you'd get your money - your tracking number would allow you to prove the item was delivered after your case was closed...

I state in my auctions..." all items over 100 bucks will have insurance and tracking, it will be added at invoice time"
I have never had any problem... BUT nothing has ever been damaged or lost.

Wesm Sorry to hear about your misfortune. If the item is >$50 bucks shipping and insurance is a must with me. Without it there is absoloutly no proof/protection for the buyer to determine if he received it or not. In your case he may very well have received it, and knows full well that there is no tracking from your end..so he claims he didn't recieve it and he gets the item for free! Keep an eye on him to see if he is brazen enough to re-sell it at a later date on eBay.

wes, check his feed back. If he has done this before, it will show.

EBay sucks as this same thing happened to me except I have collectors insurance and always ship UPS so I have a valid tracking #.... Anyway when my package was lost by UPS.... "UPS" paid the 1st $100 and collectors insurance paid the rest! Now onto eBay suck part....I emailed the buyer and explained to him that he would ether eventually get his package or refund but instead he files a dispute saying I never shipped him the package... even with proof of an UPS tracking # with his address...so eBay promptly takes $500 out of my checking account until it was resolved which took UPS 3 weeks to investigate and they another 3 weeks for the insurance company to pay the rest.

It's been awhile since I've sold on eBay and one of the reasons is their unfair treatment towards the sellers, the one's that actually pay put money into eBay’s value. It scares me how easy it would be for a buyer to pay by paypal (almost required now) and claim damage on an item and get refunded the cost, only to send back a different damaged item.

I suppose there always will be thieves on either end.

But as for shipping, I agree with Dick. When I cash the buyers check or it's in my paypal account the item is now theirs and it is my responsibility to make sure the item 1) gets to them, and 2) gets to them undamaged (to the best of my ability). I do however make the buyer pay for the insurance. I've never had a customer complain about that.

My problem again is that even when it's in MY paypal account it's not really mine as paypal apparently can take it out any time they want.