eBay f***ers

[utgjon]

Girlfriend's just sold a designer handbag on ebay, never used etc etc.

The woman who's bought it is complaining it's scuffed (it's not) and demanding a 40% refund.

Obviously trying their luck, so what's the best way to handle it?

Anybody with experience of this?

[trickywoo]

As the seller Ebay / Paypal will pull your trousers down.

Get buyer to return it, refund them and start again if you have the stomach for it.

I'll only sell cheap stuff where delivery is involved. Everything else is cash on collection.

[marshalla]

Ask buyer to return it, so you can check the damage and your security markings before refunding.

Do not give discounts after purchase, ever. The "security markings" method gets rid of the opportunists quite effectively.

[supertouring]

Buy needs to return it tracked at their own cost.

If not then there is no way to prove it arrived back.

[MX5_Nutter]

I too would just say to return it for a refund. Helps to take VERY clear photos of everything you sell from all angles to help filter out the fraudsters. Hopefully they won't "accidentally" scuff it when sending it back. Good luck.

[supertouring]

MX5_Nutter said:

I too would just say to return it for a refund. Helps to take VERY clear photos of everything you sell from all angles to help filter out the fraudsters. Hopefully they won't "accidentally" scuff it when sending it back. Good luck.

or send back their own one that was previously scuffed by themselves.

[cirian75]

MX5_Nutter said:

I too would just say to return it for a refund. Helps to take VERY clear photos of everything you sell from all angles to help filter out the fraudsters. Hopefully they won't "accidentally" scuff it when sending it back. Good luck.

I sold a phone on a auction.

I checked the feed back the buyer left for sellers

100% bad.

So I fired up the Nikon and took some very good pics and some HD videos.

Sent him the pics and a link to the vids just before I sent the phone.

He never left me any feedback, so I count that as a win.

[CypSIdders]

utgjon said:

Girlfriend's just sold a designer handbag on ebay, never used etc etc.

The woman who's bought it is complaining it's scuffed (it's not) and demanding a 40% refund.

Obviously trying their luck, so what's the best way to handle it?

Anybody with experience of this?

Yes!

Not sure whether I can name and shame, but my wife had exactly the same problem when selling, exactly the same product.
OP, does the buyers name rhyme with "Floyd-ee-coy-ten"?

[Jasandjules]

Did you take lots of detailed pictures of it before sending?

[soad]

Partial refund requests seem unique to flea-bay? They are otherwise known as extortion...

[toohuge]

soad said:

Partial refund requests seem unique to flea-bay? They are otherwise known as extortion...

I think amazon does partial refunds too - we had something arrive from amazon and it was missing an accessory or something trivial and we were offered (and gladly accepted) a partial refund of circa. 40% if i remember correctly.

[utgjon]

CypSIdders said:

Yes!

Not sure whether I can name and shame, but my wife had exactly the same problem when selling, exactly the same product.
OP, does the buyers name rhyme with "Floyd-ee-coy-ten"?

I'm not sure, but I know they're based in Brighton?


Thanks for all the replies guys. My hands are tied slightly by the fact that her sister has sold it on her behalf... and "doesn't want any bad feedback".

If it was me, I'd be handling it differently.

[wack]

cirian75 said:

I sold a phone on a auction.

I checked the feed back the buyer left for sellers

100% bad.

So I fired up the Nikon and took some very good pics and some HD videos.

Sent him the pics and a link to the vids just before I sent the phone.

He never left me any feedback, so I count that as a win.

Keep the proof of deliver, if he hasn't left feedback he can open a case for an item not received at any point with PayPal

I sold a pair of boots to a guy in Spain , 2 months later I get at message, boots not received, PayPal refunded him including the £15 it cost me to post them to him , I did eventually get them back, they tried to deliver them 5 times in 2 months

[Hoofy]

Only sell on local Facebook groups, meet face-to-face, person gets to check item, hands over cash, win-win.

I only use ebay to buy stuff from businesses.

[Du1point8]

utgjon said:

CypSIdders said:

Yes!

Not sure whether I can name and shame, but my wife had exactly the same problem when selling, exactly the same product.
OP, does the buyers name rhyme with "Floyd-ee-coy-ten"?

I'm not sure, but I know they're based in Brighton?


Thanks for all the replies guys. My hands are tied slightly by the fact that her sister has sold it on her behalf... and "doesn't want any bad feedback".

If it was me, I'd be handling it differently.

Let her sister pay the 40% difference and everyone is happy.

[cirian75]

wack said:

cirian75 said:

I sold a phone on a auction.

I checked the feed back the buyer left for sellers

100% bad.

So I fired up the Nikon and took some very good pics and some HD videos.

Sent him the pics and a link to the vids just before I sent the phone.

He never left me any feedback, so I count that as a win.

Keep the proof of deliver, if he hasn't left feedback he can open a case for an item not received at any point with PayPal

I sold a pair of boots to a guy in Spain , 2 months later I get at message, boots not received, PayPal refunded him including the £15 it cost me to post them to him , I did eventually get them back, they tried to deliver them 5 times in 2 months

It was sent VIA Fedex from work, this was 3 years ago now.

I did some digging on the buyer, he had a shop selling/repairing mobiles in London.

He would buy off eBay, then harass the seller to give a discount so he could increase his profit margin.

[utgjon]

Du1point8 said:

utgjon said:

CypSIdders said:

Yes!

Not sure whether I can name and shame, but my wife had exactly the same problem when selling, exactly the same product.
OP, does the buyers name rhyme with "Floyd-ee-coy-ten"?

I'm not sure, but I know they're based in Brighton?


Thanks for all the replies guys. My hands are tied slightly by the fact that her sister has sold it on her behalf... and "doesn't want any bad feedback".

If it was me, I'd be handling it differently.

Let her sister pay the 40% difference and everyone is happy.

That's what I said... apparently it wasn't helpful.

[julian64]

Hmm need to post a bit of balance about ebay being buyer centered

I bought an item from a seller representing themselves as Uk seller cost £60 inclusive of postage. high positive rating

The item arrives after a month. It was a piece of electrical equipment and arrived not working. no lights, dead as a doornail with a short across the power terminals.

seller didn't reply to anything so I raised a dispute.

seller immediately replied to ebay. Ebay sent me two emails. One to say the seller would refund me if I sent it back to him and the address was in China. And the second email said he couldn't provide a return label but if I sent it back to him he would refund the postage.

Because I didn't trust the seller but did trust ebay. I initially protested about this as the seller had represented himself as a UK seller and was now making me send it back to china for a refund, and two that I'd gone to the post office and the cost of sending it back was £13.

I then got an email back from the seller through ebay agreeing to refund the return postage at £13. Ebay said they would monitor it all if I gave them a tracking number.

I therefore sent it, and it arrived as tracked and delivered ten days later.

A month after that I got back in touch with ebay as nothing had been refunded. Within a day the seller had refunded the £60 but not the postage of £13. The case was closed and I was unable to open it on line for any sort of disagreement that the dispute had been closed. I called ebay customer services who said as the original postage in the advert was free they couldn't refund any postage. When I reminded them they sent two emails to me promising the postage would be refunded the customer services said there was nothing they could do and in future I should ignore any emails from them promising refund of postage.

So if I hadn't paid for tracking back to china I would have lost £60 as ebay said they would not have refunded me. If the seller refuses to provide postage up front ebay supports this. And if the buyer pays postage its down to them even though ebay send you emails suggesting they will enforce the seller to pay the return.

And the cherry on the cake is that the seller retains their high positive status as the dispute was closed the minute the seller made any sort of payment and therefore you can't leave feedback to warn others. Ebay not the slightest interested that the seller is misrepresenting himself as a uk seller.

The learning point about ebay is simply reinforced. Buy and sell stuff as if you were at a car boot sale. £60 is peanuts, but even if I'd added three noughts to the end of that total the reply from ebay would have been the same.

[Adam B]

julian64 said:

I called ebay customer services who said as the original postage in the advert was free they couldn't refund any postage. When I reminded them they sent two emails to me promising the postage would be refunded the customer services said there was nothing they could do and in future I should ignore any emails from them promising refund of postage.

pretty shocking that, I would have escalated to a supervisor who didn't just have a "computer says no" approach

[longshot]

This is ebay for you.
The idea is great but every scrote knows that they can fk you over if they want to.

I bought a hazard warning switch a few days back for my car as the original had died.

When switch arrives and didn't work.
When I compared the 2 switches there was a fundamental flaw in the plastic case moulding which meant it was never going to work.
I had the option of returning it and having to pay £50 for the MOT retest or modifying it myself instead....which I did.

I have no reason to suspect that every other switch he sells has the same problem and because it was only £7 others just write it off.