Two things decide it, in order: the reason for the return, and the return policy on the original listing. A case for “item not as described” is on the seller, always, under eBay's Money Back Guarantee. A change-of-mind return follows whatever the listing said, which resolves to either free returns (seller pays) or buyer pays. eBay's own policy pages, read 2026-08-11, use those exact words.
The dispute reason is what pulls the return into either the SNAD lane or the remorse lane. That single choice sets the postage.
The Money Back Guarantee splits every return into one of two categories, and it does so before the item is packed. Get this call wrong and the wrong party ends up with the label.
| Return reason | Who eBay says pays | Verbatim clause |
|---|---|---|
| Items that do not match the listing | Seller | “The seller is responsible for the cost of return shipping.” The seller must provide a return shipping label or another return method that is acceptable to the buyer. |
| Remorse or change-of-mind returns | Per the seller's return policy in the listing | “Free returns” or “buyer pays.” Buyers who pay their own shipping “assume responsibility for return shipping, including the cost,” and the amount is not refunded. |
The buyer chooses the reason when opening the return; the seller does not. That is why the SNAD versus remorse choice is where eBay disputes actually get decided, and why a listing with a return policy that the seller has not read is a liability.
Each lane has its own mechanics for who arranges the label, when the money moves, and what a seller can and cannot do about it.
The seller uploads a return label or arranges another method the buyer accepts. The most common in-app path is an eBay Labels return, which draws the postage from the seller's payout in the background. Denying a valid SNAD return is what triggers eBay's step-in and the seller-side defect.
The seller is on the hook for the label because the listing said so. Free returns is a store-wide promise; you cannot switch it off for the returns you did not expect.
The buyer arranges and pays the return label, and eBay does not refund the postage. Sellers may accept partial refunds instead of a physical return; the buyer has to agree, and eBay's system records it.
Restocking fees are permitted on some categories under a buyer-pays remorse return, but never on a SNAD return. The Money Back Guarantee blocks any deduction from the refund when the buyer's stated reason falls into the not-as-described bucket, even when the seller believes the item was correctly represented.
A concrete number keeps the argument honest. A three-pound shoebox back from Atlanta to Newark is the workhorse return on eBay for clothing and small electronics, and our general who-pays page priced that exact parcel live on 2026-07-28 across four services; the table there is worth reading before deciding whether free returns is a promise the store can afford. On heavier home-goods returns the difference between Ground Saver and Priority Mail can be three times the label, so the choice of service the seller offers matters as much as the choice of who pays.
eBay Labels is priced off eBay's negotiated rates rather than the seller's own account. Bought outside eBay Labels for a return, the same parcel will usually price higher, so the practical answer to “which label do I buy” is almost always the in-app one — but only after the label ownership is settled by the two-lane rule above.
A SNAD return the seller declines to accept can be escalated to eBay by the buyer. When eBay steps in, the case is closed in the buyer's favour, the buyer keeps the item in many outcomes, and the seller receives a service metric hit that follows the account for months. That is a worse outcome than paying a $12 label. The Money Back Guarantee is not written to be gamed by either side; sellers who ship the correct item, describe it plainly and photograph it before shipment mostly stay out of these cases.
A buyer who is unhappy with a remorse return outcome does have one more door: their credit card issuer. A chargeback outside eBay's flow bypasses the seller protections in the Money Back Guarantee, and it is why sellers keep tracking, delivery photographs and message threads on hand for at least the guarantee window.
eBay revises its policy wording without notice and treats certain categories separately (vehicles, real estate, some services). Treat the quotes above as what eBay published on the date each page was read, and check the current wording before quoting a policy to a buyer.
The seller. eBay's Money Back Guarantee treats items that do not match the listing as the seller's cost, and the seller must provide a return shipping label or another method the buyer accepts.
Whoever the listing said. eBay defers to the seller's published return policy: a free-returns listing means the seller pays, and a buyer-pays return policy means the buyer pays the label with no refund on the postage.
The label. Free returns binds the seller to cover the return regardless of reason, so the shipping cost falls back on the seller even for a remorse return.
Only in specific escalated cases, such as when a seller fails to respond and eBay steps in. In the everyday Money Back Guarantee flow, either the buyer or the seller pays, decided by reason and listing policy.