[78-L] What you need to know about eBay - Was "Returning broken records"

[Benno Häupl]

.
eBay's official policy is as follows. Very similar for "item not received". 

- You have to contact the seller first, if you get an item "significantly not as described" ("SNAD", i.e. broken) 
  At this point, from the various options to contact the seller I always select "This is not about an item", because 
  otherwise the eBay system will either open an official "case" or at least put a "bad mark" on the seller's account. 
  Or I contact the seller via a question about another item which is then active. 
 
- If the seller does not refund the sum paid (item plus postage), then you can always "open a case" and demand 
   the full refund.  The seller then has 7 days to reply. After this period - whatever the seller may reply -, you can 
  "escalate the case" for review and decision by eBay.  At this point you will get your full refund from eBay who will 
  charge the seller's credit card for said amount. These "cases not amicably solved" will stick to the seller's account 
  forever and may harm him in the long run (= temporary suspension, or once and for all) 

- When eBay reviews your official case opened, they read what's been said by the two parties. So, be aware that you 
  are also communicating with eBay when you write to the seller . This is why you should mention to the seller (in the 
  case opened!) that the item is broken in pieces and cannot be used anymore for its purpose. It is only good to be 
  thrown away. Hopefully, the eBay customer support agent will understand and will not ask you to send the record back. 

- Usually, you have to send the item back because you are made whole, so the merchandise belongs to the seller again. 
  HOWEVER - when a seller says in his item description, or more precisely when he has opted for "no returns accepted", 
  then eBay will NOT have you send back the damaged merchandise, because "the seller does not accept returns" (= does
  not want it back), but he must pay back all money nonetheless.  

- You can also chose to open a "case" with PayPal instead, but you SHOULD NEVER do both, because this will put a bad mark 
  on your eBay buying account!  PayPal - according to what I hear - is much less likely to aks you to return the broten 78. 

Benno 
.