Ask HN: Have you ever experienced eBay refusing to pay you

[ThievingEbay]

I recently sold about $2500 worth of total sales on ebay. After they took their ~$500 fee they have now restricted my account and requested information to confirm my identity, address, and proof of owning the product. Fine, whatever, I send the the requested info (scanned my Drivers License, provided a bill with my name and address on it, and provided all receipts of the products). The items I was selling were the codes for in game items for Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. They have a promotion running where if you buy a meal they give a code for in game items. Since they are not available everywhere in the world I figured I would attempt to sell some and eBay was explicitly told what I was selling with them never saying that was any kind of issue. They are now telling me that unless I can provide an invoice they will not be unlocking my account and will be holding the $2000 that was supposed to be paid out and I will be out approximately $900 that I spent obtaining the codes. It's also worth noting that I've received nothing but positive feedback from all of the people that purchased the codes from me. Is legal action my only way forward as customer service has no interest in helping me.

[qull]

Yup, had to sue them then suddenly my funds were availabe again. Should have just taken them to court anyway in retrospect. I only sbop there as a last resort and will never sell there again after over 45k in sales. They actively hate their sellers from what I can tell.

[AndreLock]

Selling game/item codes is a grey area on eBay. eBay restricts the selling of digital goods to approved sellers, but it is theoretically possible to circumvent this by physically mailing codes to buyers. The problem is that this side hustle seems to frequently result in chargeback/return fraud, wherein buyers purchase codes and then claim they don't work.

I've sold ~$50k worth of items on eBay over the years and have had a mixed record dealing with eBay's customer's service. Unfortunately, eBay tends to side with buyers, leaving sellers prone to various fraudulent schemes by buyers. However, they sometimes will protect sellers. For example, I sold a Panasonic Toughpad that a buyer spuriously claimed wouldn't connect to cellular networks (I tested the tablet beforehand and everything was working properly.) The buyer attempted to extort me by saying he would leave a positive review if I gave him a partial refund and implying he would leave a negative review if I didn't (this is a big no-no on eBay). Given that I had written evidence of this behavior, customer support sided with me and closed the case and removed the negative review the buyer left. Not every situation will have a fortunate outcome like this though.

[ThievingEbay]

Yea, I didn't have any issues with any of my buyers thankfully and was willing to write off any cases where people claimed they didn't receive the code because as you mentioned it's aa grey area. My only issues were with customer service but it has thankfully been resolved now.

[laptop-man]

their refund process is a scam for sellers too. just had someone get a refund (even tho I don't do returns) claiming the item doesn't work.

I tested it and it works fine. never said in the post it was fully tested. buyer even modified the item. ebay just happily gave them their money and forced me to accept the return and refund

[FireBeyond]

I'm 99% a buyer (hundreds of items bought, and three items sold, and never again).

I sold a Mavic 2 Pro drone with 5 batteries. The whole process was a mess. Buyer complained that it didn't come with the CrystalSky tablet in one picture (that was only added after the buyer started bidding was requested BY the buyer, to show Flight Logs, was explicitly disclaimed as being a part of the package, and was not in the receipts I sent the buyer). After that, three weeks later:

"The batteries don't work."

"Any of them?"

"Nope. I want a refund."

Note that two of the batteries were less than 4 months old, still in warranty.

He then stated he wanted a refund of $800. Bear in mind, 5 -brand new- batteries would be $670.

No evidence was shown. I stated I'd like to get the original batteries back, as I'd be able to get them replaced under warranty or possibly repaired and recoup some of my money (I was skeptical there was any issue, but still). He agreed. I asked him to send me an eBay message acknowledging that the partial refund was contingent on him sending me the batteries back and that he accepts me disputing the refund if not.

He does so.

Refund is sent (for about $700, to include his return shipping costs).

Less than an hour later I get a message, "USPS says they won't ship damaged batteries so I will not be returning them".

I then suggest we meet in person to exchange them (I live a few hours away, not convenient, but still, $700...). He umms and ahhs, "How will I be able to prove that I gave them to you in person?". I suggest we do it in a police station (his local PD even welcomes people to use their lobby for CL, etc.). More umms and ahhs. "I need to contact eBay support to see if they recommend this." (eBay has a literal FAQ page describing how they recommend doing in person sales, and refunds, and documenting it, and how they support it). "I never heard back from them so I'm not sure what to do". I point this page out again, and he goes silent.

I open a dispute. No evidence provided for damage/faulty goods. Multiple instances of the buyer trying to show something/anything was problematic with the listing. Not abiding by agreement, refusing/avoiding any method of returning damaged items.

"We have closed your dispute. Based on our review, the buyer is entitled to a partial refund for damage. He is not required to return the damaged items".

So he ended up with a Mavic 2 Pro, with less than 20 hours flight time, 5 batteries, for in the order of $950, all told.

eBay is on the side of least resistance, damage or liability, financial responsibility to eBay, no-one else.

[jdlshore]

Yeah, this one’s on you. Before embarking on a get-rich-quick arbitrage scheme, take some time to enumerate the risks and study policies and regulations.

[jaclaz]

> and I will be out approximately $900 that I spent obtaining the codes

But you did eat US$ 900 worth of Burger King meals?

[ThievingEbay]

I did not, I gave them away because I don't want $900 in burger king meals. I also think this is quite besides the point.

[jaclaz]

It is not entirely besides the point, if you had eaten all that stuff you would probably have health issues by now, since you gave them away you could consider those 900$ as a form of charity.

[CaliforniaKarl]

I strongly recommend reading "I fought the PayPal and I won", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33462658. If you feel you're in the right, you should study the eBay user agreements, figure out your options, and exercise them.

[ThievingEbay]

I'm not sure if it's the fact that I mentioned pursuing legal action in my most recent message but eBay has now reinstated my account. I have no problem with steps being taken to prevent fraud but the absurdity of this situation with no easy way to actually talk to those in charge of the decision made this ridiculously infuriating.

[lesuorac]

?

You made a post an hour ago and within 29 minutes provided an update that it was resolved. How much easier can it get?

[lostgame]

Just because eBay saw it trending on HN and decided to resolve it for good PR doesn’t mean the process was easy.

I guarantee you this is what happened; it literally happens all the time with people here.

[ThievingEbay]

I had been going through the process with ebay for 3-4 days before I finally decided to make this post

[jimmywetnips]

I thought digital codes were against the terms? Years ago I would sell unused humble bundle codes on ebay and it gave me an idea to make a bot to do it full time. I spent half a year making this platform that would compare prices on code wharehouses and then automatically list ones with high margins on ebay. The rules technically said you couldn't do it, but there were thousands of codes selling every day, so I figured maybe it wasn't enforced?

I started making decent sales the first week. But then I would get random chargebacks and even calls from somebody's poor grandma or grandpa asking who I was and if I could refund their ebay account. It became clear that there were thousands and thousands of hacked ebay accounts that were exracting money via codes to then sell on other platforms.

Eventually 90% of the purchases were fraud and I had to shut it down. Not before ebay banned me from the platform.

TL;DR - don't sell codes on ebay, ebay has no control over their rampant hacking problem and that's why they're super stringent on digital sales

[WirelessGigabit]

Send in credit card receipts for all the meals?