Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Buyer requests refund on ebay - underhand?

78 replies

AnneShirley18 · 09/06/2022 02:53

I'm not sure why I'm so wound up by this but i can't sleep so here goes.
I sold some clarks shoes on ebay -in excellent condition. UK size 8 ladies.
A potential buyer messaged:could you tell me if these are 41 or 42? I said I dont know. I just know they're a generous UK size 8.
That person won the bid. They asked if I would be so kind as to post them next day as they needed them ASAP. I went out of my way to accommodate.
Cut to today where I get a refund request. ZERO niceties. Straight in with a request because the item was not as described and buyer was disappointed to be misled by inaccurate "generous" description. Shoes do not fit.
I dunno. I just feel really hurt. There is an implication that I've been underhand which I don't appreciate. Buyers have commented in the past that I do myself a disservice by being overly descriptive when my items are great. I'm just a private seller not a business. Anyway she is fixated on the word "generous" in that message we exchanged. It's kind of subjective I suppose (surely she knows that too) but they are. If asking if they are a 41 or 42 I would say that since an 8 equates to 42 in the clarks size guide then they are a 42. Therefore, the more generous of the 2. When I used the word generous I also couldn't have known what the buyer was after when she asked 41 or 42. She could have wanted the smaller or the larger end of the scale. I simply gave a judgement so there could have been no attempt to deceive on my part. Clarks shoes do vary in size. It is a gamble buying them on ebay. I've been caught out before. I never considered it the sellers fault though, I simply sucked it up and resold them.
Basically ebay won't refund if something doesn't fit but they will if it's deemed to be an inaccurate description or pic. I believe she is being underhand so refund is more likely.
What upsets me is, ebay usually sides with buyer. Also what upsets me is that I went out of my way for her and actually if she'd sent me a nice message, we could have come to an agreement.
YABU: you wanted to fob off tiny ill fitting shoes on someone unsuspecting for the princely sum of £7
YANBU: she is being underhand and unreasonable

OP posts:
Savoury · 09/06/2022 03:46

She’s not in Cumbria, is she?

I had the same with trousers - still had the labels on them but didn’t fit her so she wanted a refund despite a “no refunds” policy on the auction. She had the cheek to ask for p&p to be sent so she could return.

It seems eBay always side with the buyer regardless of how unreasonable it is so I refunded and told her to keep the bloody trousers which was probably her plan all along. The worst part was that I was selling my stuff and intended to give the proceeds to a local charity but she wiped out all the profits.

Now I don’t bother as the number of a scammers out there is shocking.

Original poster
AnneShirley18 · 09/06/2022 03:19

@TheLadyofShalott1 Thank you for this. Maybe I'm hormonal. Sometimes people just disappoint me. I'm pretty thick skinned about a lot of things and am in a job where i get my fair share of abuse but for some reason the idea that I would wilfully trick or deceive has really hit a nerve. Who knows? But thank you! I'm wondering from your name if you are an Anne of Green Gables fan. You give off a kindred spirit vibe! 😊

OP posts:
TheLadyofShalott1 · 09/06/2022 03:04

There isn't really much to add to the vote. The buyer is being massively unreasonable. She got the shoes at a great price, and shoes are probably the worst thing to buy without trying them on first, so she should have been well aware that they still might not fit.

I think she is probably a chancer who wanted the shoes for one particular occasion, and always meant to ask for her money back afterwards. Please try to not give it, or her, another thought! 💐