Know Your eBay Buyer Protection Window
Why platform rules matter more than you think.
This is a situation I haven’t encountered before, and I think it’s worth sharing.
We purchased a $300 Victor Wembanyama Phoenix White Lazer RC from a seller on eBay. Shortly after the purchase, the seller started messaging us with updates. There was an issue at the post office, then a problem printing the label. He ended up shipping us the card about two weeks late. He felt bad enough about the delays that he offered to throw in a free PSA graded card as an apology, which he said he would ship separately.
When a package arrived with the tracking number associated with our order, it contained a CJ Stroud Prizmatic PSA 10, worth about $60 and no Wembanyama card.
Here’s the problem. On eBay, you have a 3-day window from confirmed delivery to open a return request. If you miss that window, you lose buyer protection on the order. The seller told us to just wait a few more days for the Wembanyama to arrive. If we had done that, we would have been outside the return window and had no recourse through eBay.
Two weeks later, the Wembanyama card still hasn’t arrived, leading me to believe that this was intentional, although I can’t be 100% certain.
Intentional or not, we have to act in a way that keeps us safe from any scams or issues. This highlights the importance of knowing the rules of your buying and selling platforms. Had we not known that the 3-day return window had started when the Stroud card was delivered, we probably never would have gotten a refund.
So this is just a reminder to everyone. eBay is a pretty safe place to buy and sell but be aware that things do happen and to stay cautious.