Received wrong plants, refund refused, and eBay case expired before I could discover the issue nee

[ontarioco_71]

Hello everyone,
I need some help and guidance regarding a difficult situation on eBay.
I purchased two rose plants. The listing showed specific premium varieties, but what I received were completely different and very cheap common roses not what was advertised.
The main problem is this:
You cannot immediately know what type of rose you received.
Plants need time to grow and bloom, and only then you can see if the seller sent the correct variety or not.
Because of that, the eBay return window closed before I had the chance to realize that the plants were not the correct type.
By the time the plants grew enough for me to identify them, the “Return” or “Open a Case” option was already gone.
When I contacted the seller, they refused to solve the issue and offered only a partial refund, even though the items are clearly not as described.
I contacted eBay support several times (phone and chat), but I haven’t received any real help. Right now I feel stuck between a dishonest seller and a system that doesn’t allow me to open a case because the problem became visible only after time passed.
Has anyone experienced something similar?
Is there any way to escalate a case like this when the return window expired before the issue could be discovered?
I have full proof, photos and screenshots showing that the plants I received are not the same as what was advertised.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[marnotom!]

eBay is very sticky about that window of time for filing through the Money Back Guarantee, so I don't think you're going to be able to convince anybody at customer service that an exception should be made in your case.  Your only recourse at this point is to try to take this up with your payment source.  Credit card issuers usually have a broader time window for filing claims for online purchases for merchandise not as described, but if the time period we're looking at is more than three months (some financial institutions may allow up to six), you may be out of luck there, too.  Call the number on the back of your credit card to get the ball rolling on this.  The phone menu options you may get would include "disputing a charge," which is what you'd be doing.

If you didn't pay with a reversable payment method like a credit card, please let us know and we'll see if there are any other suggestions we can come up with.

[mrdutch1001]

As someone who has been involved with horticulture for the past 40 years, I find it sad that so many folks purchase plant materials online sight unseen from sources other than a reputable garden centre or nursery. "most" garden centres and nurseries have replacement policies/credit policy for specified timeframes for unforseen circumstances. If the seller offered a partial refund and you refused, there is little eBay can do for you at this point. About the only recourse at this point in time would be from within your payment source, such as a credit card chargeback if the applicable time frame is still available.

[ontarioco_71]

Thank you for your reply.
I understand your point, but my situation is different from a typical horticulture issue.
This is not a case of plants dying or a customer changing their mind.
The seller sent completely different and much cheaper plant varieties than what was advertised.

With bare-root roses, it is impossible to identify the variety at the time of delivery.
They only reveal their true identity the following growing season, which in my case was June 2025.
I contacted the seller immediately when the roses bloomed and the problem became visible.

The seller has been delaying responses for months, refusing a proper refund.
This is not a standard horticultural problem — this is misrepresentation.
A partial refund is not acceptable when the product is not what I paid for.

I agree that my only option now is a chargeback through my payment source, and I will proceed with that.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.

[ontarioco_71]

Thank you for your reply.
I’m actually on the phone right now with the fraud department of my payment provider.
Let’s see what they say.
I appreciate your help.

[reallynicestamps]

While eBay is strict about deadlines, most credit cards have longer deadlines.

A claims period of 120 to 180 days is not unusual.

Amex had a full year at one point (another reason why many merchants refused to take the card.)

It is possible you may be able to open a chargeback with your card.

This option is not available with debit cards or e-transfers, so it is important to ONLY use credit cards for online shopping. 

[ontarioco_71]

I just received the final response from my credit card’s fraud department.
They contacted eBay directly, and eBay refused to assist in any way.
So the bank told me they cannot do a chargeback.

At this point, the money is not the issue anymore.
I can live without $200.
What I cannot understand is how this kind of loophole is allowed to exist on a platform as big as eBay.

Let me break this down very clearly:**
• A seller can upload a beautiful photo of a rare, expensive plant.
• The buyer pays a premium price.
• The seller then goes into their backyard, grabs a random cheap plant, ships it, and says “here you go.”
• The buyer plants it, waits for the natural growing cycle.
• The plant blooms the following season and reveals the scam it is NOT the advertised variety.
• The buyer contacts the seller.
• The seller delays, avoids, refuses.
• eBay checks the calendar and says “too late, not our problem.”
• And the seller gets away with everything.

If this is the reality, then eBay has accidentally created the perfect scam model.
A scam that can be repeated endlessly and legally, as long as the product is something that reveals its true identity only after time.

Roses, bulbs, seeds, tubers, trees all of these require time to reveal whether they are genuine or not.
Using time as a shield, a dishonest seller can cheat buyers with complete protection from consequences.

This is not just a simple “return window” issue
this is a structural flaw in the system that allows deception to hide behind biology and time.

I don’t care about the $200 anymore.
But I do care about the fact that a dishonest seller was protected NOT by honesty, not by evidence, not by policy…
but simply by the calendar.

How can a marketplace function long-term when trust can be bypassed so easily?
I truly hope eBay takes a serious look at this, because right now, the message it sends is:
“Scams are fine as long as they take more than a season to reveal.”

This should not be acceptable on any platform.

[mrdutch1001]

You have no way of knowing the seller's intentions/non-intentions/knowledge/lack of knowledge/honest mistake/deliberate or negligence... so guessing as to the seller's motives and/or ranting about how this is  eBay's fault, serves no purpose...buyers also have to take some responsibility for the choices they make....

[john_koenig99]

I think that eBay is very permissive when it comes to people knowingly selling fraudulent products (and getting away with it).

I've commented in other threads about how I have submitted reports of listings with very obvious fake/fradulent items (particularly in the area of expertise of the items I buy and sell here - vintage wearable/portable electronics). These reports never go anywhere. They are all instantly dismissed by AI bots. 

Having said that, I would never buy products (living plants or seeds) which cannot be verified for authenticity fairly quickly. The loophole for fraud, in this case, is very obvoious. A greenhouse would be the place to shop for such items.