Hello everyone, I want to warn you about eBay seller protection with basic shipping tracking (letter/parcels) and ask whether you’ve had similar experiences. This is about the case where a buyer reports an “item not received” even though the shipment was successfully delivered according to tracking. The background: A shipment was paid for by me on Aug. 11, scanned on Aug. 12, and according to tracking delivered on Aug. 13. Shipping was handled completely through the eBay shipping manager . As is well known, eBay has for some time promised full seller protection for DHL letter shipments with basic tracking (and since 01.08.2026 also for DHL parcels) if shipping was booked through eBay’s own shipping manager and the status says “Successfully delivered.” The reality: a trap for sellers In practice, this protection gives private sellers a false sense of security. As soon as the buyer opens the case and it is escalated to customer service after 4 working days, the following happens: Automatically, the system does immediately give you a positive rating for this transaction (“Order delivered on time and without issues”). Nevertheless, customer service decided the case in favor of the buyer . The absurd reasoning from support: “Since we cannot confirm successful delivery, we are now closing this case and will fully refund the buyer’s purchase price. To continue selling successfully on eBay in the future and benefit from our seller protection, I recommend that you always choose a shipping method with tracking.” The receipt madness: Before that, support had requested additional proof: “the original postal receipt showing the buyer’s delivery address. Please take a photo of the receipt.” I then uploaded the original PDF stamp with matrix code, tracking number, date, recipient and sender address. This document was not accepted . Apparently, support expects a printed DHL branch receipt, like the kind you only get with parcels. The fact that the tracking number is already permanently and automatically linked to the recipient address by the eBay shipping manager (and included in the matrix code) is completely ignored. Shipping to a different address is technically impossible with this label (with this tracking number). The shipment can only have arrived at the buyer’s address. Conclusion: There is NO seller protection with basic tracking for letters and DHL parcels! If the buyer claims not to have received anything despite the shipment status “Successfully Delivered,” the eBay customer service will refund the purchase amount + shipping costs to the buyer. And advise the seller: “To continue selling successfully on eBay in the future and benefit from our seller protection, I recommend that you always choose a shipping method with tracking.” The legal situation in Germany: As a private seller, according to the legal basis, I only have to prove: “sale by shipment between private individuals (§ 447 BGB)”, that I properly sent the item. In a sale from private to private, the transport risk passes to the buyer as soon as the seller hands the item over to the shipping company. If the buyer claims, despite proof of shipment, that nothing arrived, they cannot legally demand either compensation or a refund from a private seller. But, since when has eBay cared about laws!
der_einzig_unwahre_heino