Any Ebay experts out there? Advice appreciated - how to salvage the best from this situation

[Acacia123]

Son decided to sell laptop to raise funds for university.

Listed it starting at £270 last Thursday evening, with buy it now £399. Within an hour, laptop purchased using buy it now and paid for immediately.

On Saturday seller messaged to say they had accidentally bought and paid for two laptops and they wanted to cancel transaction. I replied saying afraid.we had already posted.

Surprise, surprise...they have now messaged to say item not as described and they want their money back.

1. Item was described as 5 years old with cosmetic damage but working well. This is absolutely accurate, in fact it really was in very good condition.

1. We charged £16 postage whereas it actually cost us £26, but we were happy to pay this.

How do I minimise our loss here? If I refund then I guess we get fees back but lose massively on postage. Alternatively I have her message saying she had changed her mind, so is it worth fighting?

Would appreciate any advice. Feel very aggrieved, we seriously don't have excess money to throw away and.in my mind she is trying it on. Alternatively, might be safer to just refund?

I would just ignore her

Sounds like she's trying it on. Only consider fighting it if she takes it further and either opens a case against you or messages you again.

Update: she's opened a case :-( I have messaged her saying I will refund purchase price if she retracts the 'not as described' and replaces it with 'buyer changed mind which I consider to be fairer (I need her to do this or I will be liable for her.postage costs...it's outrageous). I've been reading the forums and 99% of the time ebay side with the buyer if they claim the item is not as described. From what I read, selling high value items is incredibly risky, biased towards buyer...and I will not be doing it again.

What REALLY upsets me is that money is v tight, my son worked an entire summer holiday cleaning a petrol station forecourt to buy himself this laptop and he was sad to be selling it, but had very little option.

This woman has a significant internet presence so I can see she has travelled all over, lots of university study abroad (Italy, USA) and she is in effect ripping my poor son off. He will be down by £50 on both sets of postage :-(

Forward all her messages on to ebay and let them sort it out. .

Been in the exact same situation sadly and we ended up without the item and the postage - Ebay sided with the buyer and they were refunded in full including the postage. They were supposed to send the item back recorded delivery but surprise surprise, it got "lost" in the post as they supposedly sent it normal mail. We were around £500 out of pocket for it and got nowhere with Ebay or the Police. It's an easy scam and don't forget you will also be charged for selling it ............ we now only use local FB selling sites and collection/payment in person.

Hi Jane....I was under the impression that they send item back and then I have six days to refund...is that not the case? Did ebay automatically refund even though they had no proof of the return? This is appalling but I worry it might be the direction I am heading....

Paypal automatically refunded the money, it was taken from our registered card and as the case closed with the refund, we were unable to chase the sending back of the item. We are now trying to make a claim via our home insurance but it's been a hard lesson learned. You may be more fortunate as the person has obviously changed their mind in your case, we were just "had" pure and simple. If they have a high number of good feedback, you should be OK.

Actually had a bit of a development and am feeling more optimistic. I persuaded buyer to cancel the 'not as described' and she has 30 seconds ago sent tracking details for laptop being returned so (fingers crossed) things are looking more positive. If she was going to pull a fast one then she would never have cancelled the process because once cancelled it cannot be reinstated, so we now have upper hand. If it is returned in one piece then I have achieved best case scenario ie fees returned (because I can say 'buyer changed mind') and she pays postage and I return purchase moneys. I have been beside myself all weekend - you must be absolutely gutted. No one can afford to lose that much money. Life would be so much more enjoyable if you could simply trust people.

Just to clarify, with 'item not as described' then ebay/paypal have control of the money and will refund arbitrarily (as in your case) but by getting her to cancel this so we can replace with 'buyer changed mind' we regained control of the account/money. It took a lot of persuading to get her to do this....

I would check that she sends back the correct laptop

Good point. Do you think delivery man would allow me to open parcel before signing for it (unlikely I think)...she could simply send an empty box....

Sorry totally misses point of thread - a 5 year old laptop selling for £399. Are you sure it was you that was being had? (Obviously I hope you are not conned but gosh my it support guys all tell me a 5 year laptop has no value).

Yes and no - we listed bidding to start at a realistic £270. Would have been very happy with £320. We were very surprised with £399

Some delivery drivers will do and act as a witness - sign if item is wrong - I had this problem nice Hermes driver acted as a witness and signed that it wasn't as described - box of salt so sane weight as item I had sold. Signature didn't hold any weight with eBay but did when I told naught buyer I would take them to small claims court and use signature / drivers word as evidence

That's really interesting Joan. It's a Hermes tracking number that she has sent and the Hermes delivery lady is really nice so I might try that....so you actually had someone send you salt instead of proper item?!

That's really interesting Joan. It's a Hermes tracking number that she has sent and the Hermes delivery lady is really nice so I might try that....so you actually had someone send you salt instead of proper item?!