Complaint Review: eBay

I sold a TomTom GPS on ebay with clear pictures of the device and it's accessories. I also clearly stated that the battery did not hold charge and needed replacing if the buyer wanted to operate it without it being plugged in to the car charger. Everything went fine at first I shipped it to the buyer jj140342 and he received it. After few days I gave him positive feedback expecting to get it myself too because I sold the unit very cheaply since the battery wasn't in good condition anymore. Right after I gave my feedback things took a turn to worse.

The buyer suddenly started complaining that the battery doesn't hold charge and it has wrong traffic antenna. Didn't the buyer read the listing at all?? I explained to the buyer that the traffic antenna is the original one that came with the GPS when I bought it new from TomTom and explained that the antenna was to be connected to the micro-USB plug and the charger was to be connected to the micro-USB slot on the antenna. Buyer didn't believe and demanded me to send him a new one which would have costed almost as much as he paid for the whole package.

I offered to refund the purchase price if he returned the package to me but he demanded full price including shipping. Since I refused to do that because I had clear no returns policy and the item was as described in the listing. So he filed a buyer protection case and claimed the item was not as described. I immediately escalated it to ebay customer service and explained that I had described the condition of the battery and that the traffic antenna was correct. I even added some links to show that the antenna was what should be on that unit. Still ebay sided with the buyer and gave him full refund. The buyer also gave me negative review claiming I was a scammer. I've had only positive reviews and everyone has been happy with what they have bought from me except this guy.

When the unit finally arrived it was missing a manual and charger which the buyer eventually mailed me. One I inspected everything I noticed that it had a installation poster with the exact same traffic antenna and showed the installation procedure just as I had told the buyer. I scanned it and sent to the buyer to show he was wrong and demanded that he retract his feedback and close the case. He didn't respond at all so I reopened the case and demanded ebay to reverse their decision based on the new evidence I provided. They didn't even after they took additional time to "investigate". Since they had already paid the buyer they didn't want to get stuck being wrong so they stuck me with the expenses. I lost shipping cost and paypal fees. 

Since I wasn't happy with their decision I filed a case with BBB and asked them to refund me the shipping and paypal fees which totalled only about $15. Not much but it is the systematic siding with buyers no matter if they are wrong or not that gets me. I'm not the only one to complain of similar situation where the buyer abuses the system and makes unsubstantiated claims. It wasn't a surprise at all when the BBB claim turned out to be a bust.  Ben Parker from the eBay's office of the President responded to the claim and sited their policies that it's solely at their discretion and once they have made a decision they won't change it.

I understand their business need to side with buyers because if buyers aren't confident to buy their will go out of business but still they should prevent buyer miss use of the system. 

I will gladly join any class action suite against eBay and urge other sellers to complain loudly here and take the time to file a claim at BBB.