Refund without return: Buyer keeps the goods, seller is pursued by debt collection | Members help members

junge1706 · 2026-04-18T02:47:43.471000Z

I sold a high-quality item on eBay. The buyer opened a return — but never sent the item back.No return shipment. No tracking number. No response to messages. I never got the item back.Even so, eBay decided to refund the buyer the full purchase price. ➡️ Refund without return.My evidence that the buyer kept the item was not reviewed objectively. Instead: references to deadlines, system processes, “system-related limitations.” The actual facts didn’t matter.The low point came after that: Even though the buyer kept both the item and the money, debt collection proceedings were initiated against me in order to recover the amount again.The result:Buyer keeps the itemBuyer keeps the moneySeller is supposed to payIn my view, this approach shows a massive problem with eBay’s return system: Once an automated decision has been made, facts apparently no longer count.I’m sharing this here as a warning to other sellers. Anyone selling high-value items should know: “Return before refund” is apparently not guaranteed.

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Refund without return: Buyer keeps the goods, seller is pursued by debt collection | Members help members | eBay Germany