Item mysteriously broken...

[vjhist85]

I'm fairly new to eBay so after some advice! Sold an item (DVD player) recently. Winning bidder sent me a message afterwards saying he thought it was a recorder, having just realised it wasn't he no longer wanted it. (I had put full description on so was not misleading) he asked me to pass it on to the next bidder. I said no as the next bid was obviously lower. Anyway, fast forward 2 weeks, I get a message saying he has tried it and it doesn't work. Which is interesting as it worked fine when I sent it. He is obviously pulling a fast one, asking for return and refund, but do I have a leg to stand on? Do I just have to suck it up and refund him? I'm concerned that he'll break it before returning it to 'prove his point'. Any advice greatly appreciated!

[Thrustbadger]

If you're new to eBay I'd be tempted to shut your account down and Start again.

[vjhist85]

I'm really green, can you explain why?

[lljkk]

You could keep the money, not refund, but shut down your Ebay account to avoid seller penalties & hassle.

Only way to keep your account is offer full refund upon return. It's one of the hazards of Ebay selling.

[Thrustbadger]

Because otherwise you'll have to refund. eBay will find in his favour. If he paid by PayPal they'll probably take the money back out your account.

[vjhist85]

Might just do that, thanks for advice. Although can they not get PayPal involved?

[vjhist85]

X-post, does cancelling e-bay account get around the PayPal issue?

[lljkk]

Not sure, sorry, you'd have to google.

[Thrustbadger]

I think so. You could always try "disconnecting" your payment card from your PayPal account for a bit.

[vjhist85]

Thank you both for your help. I use PayPal a lot so I think I'll just have to put it down to experience and refund. What a git!

[LilyBossom]

totally incorrect and wrong advice - you can't avoid refunding by shutting down your account!

All you can do is ask them to return for a refund. If ebay refund the buyer and your paypal is then in negative balance then paypal will pursue you for the debt - and from what I have heard their debt collectors don't play nice.

Please ignore the immoral and incorrect advice you have received

And btw the buyer who wanted to cancel the transaction, you could have sent them a cancellation request and got your fees back and relisted the item without the hassle of sending it out. But it could have been broken in transit - how do you know that it hasn't?

[vjhist85]

Lily- I've already said I'm not doing that, but thanks for your input. I didn't cancel and relist because, to be honest, why should I? He bid without reading the description properly. And you're right, I don't KNOW that it didn't get broken in transit. It's just quite convenient- he gets away without refusing to pay, so he looks like the good guy, but he doesn't actually have to have the item, and gets his money back. Lucky for him really considering he didn't want it in the first place.

[nickstmoritz]

It was a bit silly of him to bid but if he asked to cancel and said he had made a mistake I would have cancelled. I don't think any good can come of forcing the sale to go ahead. Just as you are annoyed with him, he is annoyed with you and with ebay that is likely to lead to trouble as is the case. I think you will just have to refund and put it down to experience. There is probably no alternative.

[Thrustbadger]

I know its immoral to advise shutting down the count but he's hardly being moral in the first place is he?

[nickelbabe]

ask him to return it, then refund once it's back in your possession.

once you've ascertained he's a lying fucker, you can list it again.

make him pay return postage though.

[TheFallenNinja]

Has he left feedback yet?

[nickelbabe]

maybe put
"if it prove the DVD is broken I will refund the postage.
It might just be that you couldn't get it to work, so I'll accept the return as a change of mind, will test for a fault and then contact you again to let you know"

[vjhist85]

He's asked me to pay his postage as well. I've said I'll refund once it is returned and I've checked it, but that I'm only refunding and not paying his postage. He hasn't left feedback yet, and we're at about day 12 of 14 so it does look like he decided last minute that the way to get out of it was to claim it doesn't work. But then if I were doing the same thing I'd make sure it wasn't working by the time it got back to me.

[Tryharder]

Agree that you should refund and chalk it to experience.

What you should have done is to allow him to back out of the sale with good grace and then cancelled the sale through eBay and thus got your fees back. You could then have relisted and sold it to someone who genuinely want it. Yes, it's a minor hassle but there you go.

In a game of buyer vs seller on eBay, the buyer will generally always win. You were foolish (sorry) for sending a high value item to someone who didn't really want it.

[vjhist85]

Foolish is a bit harsh! And for the record, it wasn't particularly high value. I guess I just didn't understand eBay etiquette, I assumed that etiquette dictated that if you bid, you buy. If you then change your mind, tough, you can always sell it on. Clearly not. Experience is right.

[TheBakeryQueen]

Vjhist, foolish is not harsh.

But at least you've learnt from the experience.

As a seller it really is the best strategy to have good customer service.

If someone asks to cancel a transaction, just let them & relist. Most buyers would probably just not bother to pay & ignore. It's happened to me twice now.

Even when a buyer is a late payer, ignores messages, rude manners etc etc, I just remain polite & helpful at all times. It's the best way to get good feedback & minimise problems.