Buyer Opened Case & Questions About Cases

[RockinPrettyBeats]

(I edited this and took out the buyer's name until I hear a response from buyer.)

Ok, so I wake up to find an Ebay case opened. I'm still groggy and am very confused since I haven't had any complaints from anyone. Well I look at the case and it turns out it's for a beanie baby that I sold a few days ago!

The buyer wrote this in the case that the item is still not received.

Ah yeah, it's probably still not received because it's been like a few days that the package has been in the mail. It literally hasn't even been a week yet.

She even acknowledges the tracking number, so it's not like she doesn't see it.

Here are the order of events:

Bought: 4/27 *Saturday*
Shipped: 4/29 *Monday*
Case Opened: 5/3

Ok a couple questions. I thought Ebay had safeguards for crap like this? How did the buyer immediately open a case? I thought that wasn't allowed?

Also, I thought you HAD to message the seller first. That if you didn't, Ebay would tell you to please contact the seller and try to work it out.

Does this lady somehow know how to get around these things?

[himmie]

Honestly, eBay does not make buyers do anything. They generally side with them too. Which is unfortunate for those of us that sell there.

There is definitely no reason for the buyer to have opened a case. Perhaps it was a mistake? Did they include a message with it?

I know someone here recently opened a case on accident. ()

[NoDivision]

I think that is a feature that they are supposed to be implementing but I don't think it's in effect yet? I'm not sure.

What does your tracking say about the item's progress?

[Stormness_1]

This is why I'm super glad that we get free tracking on normal domestic shipping now... but overseas is such a pain!

[lunar_scythe]

My understanding is, on the first day an item is estimated to be received, you might get a thing from ebay asking if you have received it yet.  If you click NO, it starts you opening a case...

[HawaiianRain]

My guess, she went to ask you a question about the item not being received and it automatically opened a case. I would drop her a note to hold it a hot second and wait.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

My understanding is, on the first day an item is estimated to be received, you might get a thing from ebay asking if you have received it yet.  If you click NO, it starts you opening a case...

Exactly this!  Another member here accidentally opened a case on her seller for telling the Ebay prompt, "No, not yet". 

Did you input the tracking number into Ebay?  Or did you mark it as "shipped"?  I am not as familiar with the seller's tools so I am wondering if that could have something to do with it. 

Regardless, if things go sour, please let us know who the buyer is!  There are reasonable time limits to wait for shipping but this is NOT one of those times!

[kitkatvintage]

My guess, she went to ask you a question about the item not being received and it automatically opened a case. I would drop her a note to hold it a hot second and wait.

This!! This happened to me (as a buyer) recently. I purchased a lot of DVDs 2 weeks ago & the tracking number was entered into the auction, but never scanned by the post office. When I tried to message the seller, it automatically guided it into filing a case. I've never had this happen before, so I'm guessing its a new feature of eBay... for better or worse.

[svleonard]

Honestly, eBay does not make buyers do anything. They generally side with them too. Which is unfortunate for those of us that sell there.

There is definitely no reason for the buyer to have opened a case. Perhaps it was a mistake? Did they include a message with it?

I know someone here recently opened a case on accident. ()

Haha, yeah I accidentally opened a case last week.  I remember clicking on something that said "I haven't received my item yet" thinking that it would simply message the seller, and all of the sudden something popped up that said "You have opened a case"!?!  So, she could have been trying to send you a message asking when it was going to arrive and opened a case by mistake.  Or maybe she misunderstood the shipping method.

[RockinPrettyBeats]

Hey guys!

Well we exchanged some messages and she did intend to open a case. This wasn't a mistake like the other buys who did it on accident.

She was kind of...ah...crabby at first? But it got there on Monday and she closed it and left positive feedback.

In the feedback she apologized for acting hastily. So no damage done. I left positive feedback as well. I was just stressed from this in the beginning as I had shipped it out as fast as humanely possible and thought it was rude. But it's all good now.

But the main reason I was really confused is because I thought you couldn't open a case until you contacted the seller? Now Ebay is messaging people encouraging them to open a case? This is insanity!

That's why I came on here. I saw that other message from that other buyer and have no idea what is going on here. This is very worrying.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

But the main reason I was really confused is because I thought you couldn't open a case until you contacted the seller? Now Ebay is messaging people encouraging them to open a case? This is insanity!

Sadly, yes.  They want it to be more automated.  Unfortunately we all know that the less-than-geniuses somehow find their way onto the 'net when they automate things. 

[RockinPrettyBeats]

They must have done that real hush hush, cause I've heard nothing about it.

They finally fixed the system by telling buyers they had to contact sellers first. But now cases automatically open? I'm surprised I'm not hearing for sellers freak out about this.