Ebay listing with no return policy - "Item not as described" as a recourse?
 

I have always stayed away from autograph listings on Ebay that do not offer a return policy. However, I have been curious if the "Item not as described" complaint is an option for requesting a refund if you should find out after you have the item in hand that the autograph is not authentic. According to Ebay's policies, a buyer has 45 days from payment to open a case for an item in question. This is enough time to have an item examined by a reputable authenticator.

Has anyone had to pursue this option, or thought about it? Has anyone had any luck in such a situation? Thoughts, opinion, stories?

Ebay / PayPal sides with the buyer in most cases....regardless.

Speaking as a seller, if a buyer wants to get their money back for an eBay transaction, they will. It doesn't matter what the seller's return policy is, and I'm really not sure why eBay even allows sellers to state a Return Policy, because I've never seen a case where it had any bearing on eBay's decision to force a refund.

If your reason is as you laid out, you will certainly be able to file an Item Received Is Not As Described complaint and get your money back (though I would hope that you would contact the seller and try to work out a refund man-to-man before having eBay force the issue).

From my experience, a buyer can also force a refund if:
1) They say something is fake, citing evidence that is clearly disproven in the 1st photo
2) They live in another country and don't think delivery should take more than a week
3) Their buddy (not a reputable authenticator) isn't sure about the autograph
4) They find a better deal on the same item elsewhere
5) They didn't read the description or look at the photos
6) _______________ (Fill in your own non-reason here. It really doesn't matter what reason they give, as eBay's cure-all solution is to give the buyer their money back, including original shipping costs, upon return of the item to the seller.)

my advice is to get your opinions on the autograph FIRST so no one has to go through that headache. just because you can get an authenticator to say no good, does not mean it is no good, and as a seller i can relate to others sellers frustration to selling a real autograph only to have a buyer claim it is no good and produce a rejection letter from a TPA that does not know what they are doing.

as a seller, we always hope buyers will get an opinion before they bid, that way if they find a tpa that doesnt know what they are doing, and rejects the autograph, that buyer will not bid, which is fine, but it doesnt screw up a transaction that has already taken place, and the seller has to go through the long ritual of getting the autograph back, sending out a refund, relisting it etc.

Ebay has a "customer is always right" policy with an unconditional return policy despite the seller's own terms. Both buyers and sellers need to be aware of this. In the case of autographs, this should be the gold standard anyway. I don't know of any reputable dealers who wouldn't take a return if the customer was truly unhappy.

I read a post on another board that stated, Ebay was contacted and every seller must provide a return policy even if it states no returns. This poster went on to say that even if someone has buyers remorse that per Ebay is still a recourse for a return.

As for the non authentic autograph, I would say that is definitely something that could and should be returned to seller

As stated above, Ebay sides with the buyers in nearly every case.

By posting your item for sale you have agreed to eBay's terms and conditions which allow for returns. You can't not offer a return just like you can't say that you only accept money orders or a check.

Exactly, just bend over, pull your pants down and hit the 'submit listing' button.

:)

i dont offer returns, period, i know the autographs i list are real, so thats that, ebay isn't going to force me to return anything. if some buyer doesnt like it, he can research it beforehand with whomever he chooses.

i give a lifetime guarantee on all autographs i sell, but on my terms, not psa or jsa's, and this guarantee is from me for life, not through ebay.

Interesting. So on what grounds could a buyer return to you?

You really don't have a choice because you have to use PayPal for eBay and they will just take your money, even if they have to go into your bank account.

You don't get to make the rules if you want to sell on EBay. That said, no one forces you to sell on EBay. If you choose ebay, just remember that it is their playground and their rules.

The one way around the paypal rule is to sell on ebay/Germany or some of the other foreign sites. There are quite a few sellers on that site that do not accept paypal. However, due to the banking and privacy laws in Europe it is fairly easy and safe to do direct bank transfers. I have sold quite a bit on Ebay/Germany and I am not fluent in German. Using Babylon translation I was able to make minimal descriptions that only had minor syntax problems which I got corrected by a friend in Switzerland. Also, a majority of the users are multilingual so you could list in English and still sell. I received quite a few Euros and US dollars in the mail along with postal money orders. For those who wonder how would you navigate the site so that you can sell in the first place? Turbo lister allows you to do the listing in English and you can then pick the site to list it on ebay/UK, ebay/Germany etc. The German site is especially good for boxing, golf, Grand Prix auto, football (soccer) and Olympic autographs but not as much for U.S. big four sports stuff.