Sorry to hear.

It happens all the time....

People dont read, buyers remorse, anything and everything.....click a button get something free.

I even had one state, " is the negative feedback worth the $5.00 I want back?..."
(I had an Ebay supervisor send him an email that threats of negative feedback are against policy)

I have usually come out OK, but as Ebay hears the public, and they only hear the complaints,
They have hammered sellers, who either absorb this or leave....

Very Sad...but as I see it consumers rule today, and want everything fast, perfect, and the lowest price on the planet, and the best quality!

Almost impossible to sell things with many in competition, and actually make any money.

Not a clue. I tried searching and the term didn't come up in either common parlance or associated with art. What the heck was this guy looking for?

Sucks that this happened, and with fleabay's policies slanted with the buyer, it seems to happen all the time

I'd certainly give fleabay an earful about this.

Yep, when I think prints, I think paper, though the weight and quality of the paper can vary depending upon if you pick up a $5 poster at walmart or a nice print in an art shop. It's still paper. Unless he was hoping for a glossy 8x10 or something?

I would think fleabay would have an issue with seeing a case opened before delivery was made, and it should've been ruled in your favor. I'd get on the horn with them and point that out.

Worked for my friends wife who got scammed into mailing an xbox to Africa.
(No joke) She believed that Kyle CONner (name they actually used) was sending an Xbox to his son in law Miliqu Noriboo (I'm sure I butchered the spelling) in South Africa.
End of the day see got her Xbox back.

Sorry to hear that.

eBay and PayPal are really the worst. There's so many ways to screw the seller, and there's almost nothing you can do to protect yourself. I've been fortunate enough to not deal with this sort of crap before, but I refuse to sell any big ticket items on eBay because of this.

Sorry to hear that, but not surprised. After reading about all the changes on ebay/paypal here and elsewhere yesterday I'm pulling back and reconsidering what I'll be selling on there. The package intercept is a very interesting twist and I hope it works.

To the OP: nothing new here, besides it happened to you.

The facts are the facts and they have been the facts for years: Ebay sucks, PP sucks, they act as biased judge, biased jury, and executioner. They do not care about sellers, at all. They make conscious business decisions to fire good customers like you (and me), who have been lining their pockets for 17 years, with thousands of transactions, and perfect feedback. Their "logic" in doing so would make a six year old proud, as in your case. A buyer can leave you bad feedback, but you can't make a peep about a buyer. When your money is gone, it's gone, and PP will never give it back. They see sellers as lying vultures, and buyers as innocent victims.

And the new Ebay policies make it worse. Your guy would have 90 days to return that print, and you have to refund ALL his money, including shipping, and you pay for the return shipping.

BUT>>>having said all that, you still have 12 items listed for sale on Ebay.

And that's the problem. So long as sellers keep coming back for more, it will never get better.

I used to sell all the time, but with all the fees, and rules that were put in place by them they now favor the scammers and idiots that don't know what they are buying, I only buy things on ebay now.

even though the odds are stacked against sellers on ebay (I've gone through what you're going through more than once), here's some food for thought.

ebay/paypal puts a hold on the funds from the original transaction (ending auction price plus shipping), however if the buyer does not return the item to you in a stated number of days (they have to send it back with tracking information), ebay/paypal will find in your favor.

if they send back the item and it's damaged, you can provide information (along with photos), which basically opens a case against them which usually will result in your favor.

this will save you the $27 to intercept the parcel

Or, if he swaps it with another item, damaged item, or just sends back and empty package...

I tend to record the opening of returned items for just this reason. it protects me

To the OP, I, like you had been a seller on ebay since the very early days...sold everything from 16mm film prints to arcade items to classic Mustang parts. When I dumped them, I had WELL over 15000 transactions and multiple accounts. The early days (1995-2005) were great-it was so fun buying, selling and making new contacts. Sure, there were some glitches here & there but nothing that could not be worked out within a few emails. NEVER got stung.
Then ebay decided to get greedy. Very greedy. My seller's fee's skyrocketed and continued even more so as time went on. One day, I just up & quit. The best part is I've been able to keep my contacts and I sell directly to them now.
Ebay will get what they deserve-it'll take some time, but it will happen.

Did they accept payment for the service?

I stopped selling on eBay at least five years ago, what a shit business. Held my money from multiple sales because the buyers never left me feedback. Five buyers at a total of 850.00. I had to contact each buyer and ask them to please leave positive feedback they received the item and were satisfied. That took two weeks, then I waited another week and still my money was frozen.i called paypal again and asked the agent why? He told me he would look into it, three days later my money was freed.
NEVER AGAIN, not that it matters to them. They will make money without you or me or anybody else thar doesn't want to use eBay.

Well, now *possibly* the onus will be on USPS if they did indeed deliver it and the deal goes sour... you paid for a service that they accepted your money for...they didn't follow up so you should be ok..hopefully. Please let us know how you make out & best of luck on this!

Paypal + eBay = a match made in hell for sellers. I sold on eBay for years and for the most part it was a fun hobby. After eBay bought Paypal, it was an option to use for payment. Then they made Paypal mandatory. I was ok with the listing & final value fees but then a Paypal transactional fee
. . . . well that's triple dipping into my funds. eBay also bends over backward to kiss the ass of the buyer's at the seller's expense even when it runs against eBay's rules. Another eBay scam was their safe harbor program . . . . pay a few bucks and have your negative feedback removed . . . what a concept, wash away all your eBay feedback sins and another revenue source. This opened the floodgates for scammers. Glad to be gone from eBay and NEVER had to use Paypal .

Ebay/Paypal froze the funds on the sale of a watch that I sold for FIVE DOLLARS. The claim was a "problem with the buyer's bank"

ME: "Well, that's not my problem it's your problem release the five dollars."

PAYPAL: "No."

ME: "The buyer received the item, is happy and left positive feedback release the five dollars"

PAYPAL: "No"

(I contacted the buyer who rolled her eyes. She got in on the fun)

BUYER: "$5 was verified moved from my bank to the seller. I received the item and am happy. Release the five dollars to the seller"

PAYPAL: "No"

BUYER: "You guys are a bunch of assholes"

ME: "You guys are a bunch of assholes"

PAYPAL: "Please don't use sharp language"

Summary: The money was never released. They basically stole it. Not basically they DID steal it. The buyer was so nice that in the mail two weeks later I got $5 in cash with a post it note that said "Paypal is run by a bunch of assholes "

They have gotten so bad its a joke. I had a few cases against me years ago, but I provided tracking info that it was delivered. buyer had to provide tracking info he returned it and money was not released until then. You know, the sensible way. Now its so dumb

Wait, so he originally paid in paypal and got a refund, and now that he has the print and your money he wants to pay you with a check instead?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but I don't think you are going to get your print or your money. Notify eBay immediately in the dispute that the buyer is keeping the item. Hopefully they will unfreeze your funds.

Any updates?

Oh, I LOVE a good happy ending!

Hehe...

So - what is a hard print?

I'd imagine something that is printed on plaster or some sort of un-rollable material.

It sure as hell doesn't seem to be a term that a 69 y/o man would be using......

I have had this same thing happen on several occasions. The buyer calls ebay about a question and ebay is just ALL to eager to file a dispute and the buyer doesn't even realize they are doing this.

Keep in mind with ebay and paypals business plan, every and anytime a dispute is open they start making money on your hijacked money. This then definitely gets the sellers attention (if even blindsided) and once you talk to the buyer, the seller can close the dispute and is always apologetic.

I have even been told once by a buyer that ebay wouldn't close the dispute so quickly and was told to wait a day or two.

How is eBay making money on the dispute process? A few weeks worth of interest on the $100 (or whatever) that's at stake in the dispute? At today's interest rates there's no way that'd cover even the cost of employee time (minimal as it may be) in handling the dispute. I think eBay and PayPal are biased toward buyers because they're trying to make buyers feel safe using eBay, not because they're somehow profiting from disputed transactions.

Try thousands (maybe millions) of dollars every evening just sitting in a huge collection of disputed accounts earning .001%. Just look at how many days they hold money on transfers and refunds, 3 days, when it only takes a 1 night update for the banks. They make interest on that money for 2 extra days, guaranteed!!

Sure they're are biased towards the buyers to give them that warm fuzzy feeling. That is the only reason they hijack the sellers money. And they know the MAJORITY of sellers will stay with them. Until the tide turns, then they will realize that the sellers are the ones that pay their paychecks!!

I largely agree with your second paragraph (except for the part about the tide turning, that hasn't happened with credit cards and it's hard to see why it would with PayPal).

But back to your first paragraph. Yep, interest on many millions of dollars for even a few days could be substantial. But when you have hundreds of humans that draw pay checks working on the thousands of challenged transactions that it takes to create that pool of millions, there's no profit in it for Paypal. I cannot imagine that it doesn't end up costing them money.

And I would agree with you if they didn't do disputes so arbitrarily and leave them open for so long. Their system is setup in a way to take as much time to resolve as possible.

They also do it without the buyer even knowing what they have done! I have had it happen to me many times now and the buyer can't apologize enough!!