Have you ever asked for a refund for something you bought on Ebay?

United States
May 21, 2008 5:17pm CST
I've only made a handful of purchases from Ebay, but I love the site. If funds were unlimited and the sky was made of gold, I'm sure I'd be spending all my money there. But, it's not and I'm on a budget. And, that's why every dollar is important. If I were to purchase an item off Ebay and it didn't work as promised, there's no way I could justify keeping it. So, certainly I would ask for a refund. How about you? Would you demand your money back on something you bought from Ebay, if it weren't as expected? Or, just accept the flaws and keep the product, anyway?
4 people like this
11 responses
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
22 May 08
I have asked for my money back a few times for a few things. I hate to but if it doesn;t work or if I never recived it of course I want my money back.
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
22 May 08
excuse me but there was no insurance offered when I purchased this item.
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
22 May 08
Well then I should look up that item and ask for a refuund but that was last year so I am proberly to late. I payed the full price for it that is for sure.
• United States
28 May 08
Well, you have every right to ask for your money back. It's really up to you though, what you do. Sometimes in the past when I've purchased something from a local store, and it wasn't what I've wanted, I've kept it anyway. Especially, if it didn't cost too much. Sometimes just the hassle of asking for a small refund is more than I need to deal with. But, asking for a refund does keep the seller's on their toes. Maybe that's why I don't sell on Ebay, cause I'd have to deal with stuff like this. I would just melt!
@anawar (2404)
• United States
21 May 08
I think all ebay sellers have a return policy. For the most part, an ebay seller is no different from a store retail seller. They want their customers happy. I collect and sell antique bottles on ebay. There's a ton of room for error in those descriptions. So far, the bottles are as expected. Bottles cost some big money, so if they were misrepresented, I would request a refund. (I wouldn't buy anything from any seller unless I approved of their refund policy) ebay is fun.
@anawar (2404)
• United States
22 May 08
I imagine your customers like doing business with you. All your points are valid. In my case, bottles are unique and not so easy to replace with another one. I would feel horrible if I misrepresented a bottle, but I've never had a problem. I would refund their money if I was wrong. I don't know if I would ask for the bottles return. Depending on the circomstances, if I thought the buyer's dissatisfaction was justified, I would pay shipping costs if I wanted the bottle returned. I'll remember your comments next time I'm selling. I wonder how many merchants use the same policy as you do?
@anawar (2404)
• United States
23 May 08
I don't have any bottles for sale right now, but I would love for you to pm the link to me. Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to use it next time I sell.
@signum (544)
• Australia
24 Sep 08
The only time I have ever asked for a refund for something on ebay was when i accidentally paid twice through paypal and requested that one of the payments be refunded as i made a mistake. The seller was fantastic and did the refund quickly and politely for me.
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
24 Sep 08
I have never asked for refund on Ebay but other online stores I did and I got it if I paid by paypal. Other than that I never got a refund or exchange or anything. There was one time I bought a bunch of stuffs from one seller and noticed one item wasn't there. I told her and she refunded me I thought she missed it but apparently the item was out of stock. If the item was flawed I would leave negative feedback even if the seller went mad and left me negative too anyone who read the feedbacks would read the entire story anyway
@steve9737 (918)
• Colombia
24 Sep 08
I don't have eBay on my country but I have bought and sold on a partner web site of eBay, so far more times I have been satisfies with the items I have bought there, but once I lost some money when the seller was a scammer and he didn't send that I bought, and once I asked for a refund because the seller sent me a very old item, well I was buying a second hand computer but the seller put pictures of a good computer and he sent me a computer very old even with dust on it, so I asked to be refund, in the end I accepted to changed it for better one and I have to pay the shipping so It was not nice, I know that seller is use to do that with the hope that people just will keep the product, I will never buy again from that seller. so far that have been the only problems I have had buying online.
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
23 May 08
I actually have 2 things to say about this My first thing is, I did just recently buy something, that ended up being crap. It was this dog collar that was supposed to stop your dog from barking. I thought it was one of the shock kind, but it ended up being some noise one that only plays a noise that the dog can hear, and is supposed to make them stop barking. Well, my dog is dumb, or the collar is stupid. I'm not sure which is worse. LOL Anyway, I bought it from a company in China and he was selling them like mad, and luckily I only bought it for a penny-- and shipping was only $5.00. I think asking for my money back for it would be petty, but I think I'm going to sell it on ebay myself, maybe i'll get a buck for it. I think my dog is just dumb, and maybe the collar really does work. LOL And I've sold a TON of things on ebay-- todya was my first negative experience. this lady bought 2 dreses from me, and she said there is something wrong with them and wants to return them. So now, I have to deal with that. She wants a full refund. I guess I have to honor what she says. She is returning back to me tomorrow. I really didn't see anythign wrong with the dresses when I listed them, so I guess I'll just re-list them when I get them back. That's my recent experiences with returns.
• United States
26 May 08
I just won 2 shirts on ebay and together the total was only !.00 but she charged 11 shipping and there was nothing i could do . sucks sometimes
1 person likes this
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
28 May 08
I guess all and all, it was $12.00 total, so $6.00 bucks a shirt isn't too bad if you look at it like that... but you are right $11.00 for shipping is kinda high. Even if she used a flat rate box (a small one) that would have only been around $8.75 to ship... on those I normally charge around $10.00 to ship as my handling fee.
22 May 08
I have only once had to ask for a refund on an item bought on eBay. My item arrived damaged and when I emailed the seller I included a photograph of the damage and packaging. I received an apology and refund within half an hour.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
28 May 08
My very first purchase from ebay was a camcorder. I received it and it was broken. I emailed the seller and no reply. I reported it to ebay, but still I was not able to get my money back. It was horrible! It took me over a year to buy something else on ebay after that. Since then, I have had only positive experiences with them. I have no idea what I would do if I got another bad purchase.
@gemini_rose (16264)
21 May 08
I have always been pretty lucky on ebay, in that everything I have bought I have been totally happy with. I am pleased about that because I hate asking for refunds and things. If I was not happy with whatever I had bought though I certainly would ask for a refund, I would not keep something that I was not completely happy with.
@judy43 (299)
• United States
28 May 08
I have requested a refund a few times from e bay, I have received my refund, but it takes a while to get
@metschica25 (5399)
• United States
26 May 08
For the most part I have been lucky on ebay . I once got a sample size of perfume when I bought a full size and a shirt 2 sizes to small . I got a refund for the shirt but not the other . For the perfume I lost about 40 and was bummed . If only I would of went to the store and spendt the xtra 10