to be sick of eBay buyers taking me for a ride

[excitedmumtobe87]

I've been selling a lot on eBay to raise money for new baby. I'm so poor because I've only just gone back from maternity leave from baby one so have been selling everything that is nailed down to fund extra stuff that didn't last from first time (bought a lot secondhand first time and some stuff broke)

Anyway, I am barely making anything because people kick up such a fuss even over 99p items. It is ridiculous. They expect postage to be free and it to come yesterday and it to be in mint condition and looking worth a million dollars.

The latest is a vintage felt 50s skirt. I listed it as used and said this is a used felt skirt please see photos for condition. There were 10 photos showing every little detail and clearly showing some light bobbling as can be expected for a vintage used felt skirt.

Seller send me an inflammatory rude aggressive message demanding a full refund and to be able to keep the skirt because I didn't write USED OLD VINTAGE FELT SKIRT IS OF COURSE BOBBLED BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR IT TO BE ANYTHING ELSE in big letters just in case she was too lazy to look at the photos I took time reading and expects used to be mint. I never said it was in perfect condition or anything.

I offered an 80% refund but she says that isn't enough.

When I asked if she could return it for a full refund she said yes but I must pay for it to be sent tracked. It's huge and heavy and already cost neartly £4 in postage. She said it makes more sense for her to keep it and have a full refund.

I suspect her type will leave bad feedback whatever I do. I also suspect she's trying it on because she's spotted an oppotunity to get away with it. it bwas as described and pictured. I haven't misled anyone so why is she being such a bully?

I'm so fed up and tired. I'm never selling anything again. Too many chancers.

PS I'm a buyer as well as a seller and have bought 'new' baby clothes that turned out to be used, first press Beatles records that turned out to be fifth issue, badly scratched records, a toy that nearly choked my child. I could go on!

So I have sympathy with buyers!

But every time I politely deal with the seller and sort it out. I've never demanded that they pay for my return because I just consider it a risk of buying cheap on eBay. I've never ever been rude. One seller became rude once but I stayed polite and asked him to leave me alone.

I think people who come straight in rude demanding the world are usually the liars. Has anyone else found that?

I've overly, prematurely refunded many buyers who were nice because I have empathy as a buyer as well as a seller. Manners cost nothing.

eBay is a nightmare for this. Don't let her keep it and have her money back. Get onto myhermes.com and they will courier for you for less than £4. Highlighting it as a dispute with eBay can help but on the flip side sometimes they'll refund unreasonable buyers without them returning the item. To be honest I can't really be bothered with eBay anymore.

Try selling on facebook local selling pages. Much easier, no fees, buyers collect and pay cash no farting around as everything is sold as seen

she should be registered as a business then - both with ebay and HMRC. She can't refuse refunds anyway, so her auction terms are nonsense. Make sure you add her to your blocked bidder list.

Thanks for the info Pinkelephanty and itiswhatitiswhatitis - I'll check out myHermes and Facebook. Once baby two has done with all the baby stuff I want to sell cot, pram etc for a bit of money and to make space and FB could be a good one. At least then I know someone local is getting a bargain too. I'll find out if there's a local group.

Lavender that's a really good point! I can't find her registered as a shop or a ltd company or anything like that. Maybe I should report her ;) She's probably lying anyway. She's got form. Have blocked her now - great tip.

As an aside, the fact that you have seen what she's been selling herself highlights and important thing for eBay sellers,

Never buy and sell from the same account

Set up one account for buying, one for selling. Why? Well, next time you have issue with a seller and do genuinely have a problem, if you find yourself in the position that you need to leave poor feedback they can then win one of your auctions and return the favour. Yes, eBay will most likely remove it, but its hassle you don't really need.

Added to this, if you buy something from an eBayer for say £5 such as a vintage skirt and get a bargain, to then relist it yourself under the same account is a bit daft because potential buyers only need to check your feedback and there they can see you only paid £5 for the skirt you are now asking £10 for.

when I sold as a business I only sold the only things i bought on that account were for the business bubble wrap boxes labels parcel tape, I had a separate account for selling personal stuff like DD's old clothes and things we wanted to buy it also made keeping accounts much easier only got messed up twice when DH went and bought car parts with my business account argggggggggggghhhhhhhh

genuine parcel loss with royal mail is less than 1% so if you sell lots you would expect 1 in 100 parcels to go missing and about 5-7 in 100 to take longer than 3 working days for second class (93-95% delivered within 3 days or less)

These are the exact words she writes on her own listings. After giving me abuse, rude messages, bullying and insults because she didn't like a 60-year old felt skirt looking a bit bobbled (looks very good to me and everyone who has ever complimented me when I wear it). Even though I had provided many, many honest photos. The bit about expecting some wear she might not have mentioned in her descriptions and you must loook at the photos carefully makes me laugh.

What a hypocrite.

The cheek of some people.

"Please note: I do not offer refunds or returns. All sales are final. Please read descriptions and examine photos carefully. I am an honest seller and take the time to write an accurate description - including any flaws that I see - and take representative photos to the best of my ability. I am happy to answer any questions you may have or provide more photos on request - please just ask before you bid. Sizes given are approximate, so please ask for specific measurements if you are unsure.

Some of my items are vintage - at the very least 20 years old. A few are much older. Thus, you can usually expect signs of wear in addition to any specific flaws I have noted. Again, please examine the listing carefully and ask all questions before bidding. Ages of items are estimates to the best of my knowledge."

And very good point Lokidokey. I'm leaving ebay as a seller but if I do return I'll set up a new account.

I'm going to let it go now.

Thanks for that postage stat TeacupDrama! Really useful.

It does seem weird to me that suddenly 6% are suddenly going AWOL. All when sent to people with dubious feedback, but what can I do? Frustrating.

I used to sell handmade jewellery on Etsy and most of my items were sent abroad - out of over 100 sales not one ever went missing! I've never had anything go missing on eBay before this round of sales either. It seems to have got worse in the last year

I ebay a lot and have done for years, some people do just take the piss, as long as you listed item fairly saying it was used and in used condition then you have done nothing wrong! And if she does leave bad feedback you will be able to get this removed by eBay!

She is just trying it on, if she wanted refund she would be happy to return the item, it's prob just not her size or something stupid that's why she is kicking up a fuss

I've had loads of issues lately (selling stuff off to raise funds to pay my debts).

1. someone who took over a week to pay. They paid the day I was going on holiday. I always send tracked by courier but couldn't get there before my flight so just went to a post office. I didn't send it tracked (stupidly) and it apparently never arrived. A chancer I think who realised it wasn't tracked.

2. someone who bid for an item and I heard nothing from for a week and they emailed to say they hadn't paid as they'd had loads of days out and couldn't pay for another week. I replied politely that I needed the money and got a shirty 'not my problem' response.

3. someone who bid on an item and as soon as they won emailed to say they bid by accident (is that even possible?). I suspect they had got into a bidding way and spent too much. I am in an ongoing dispute as I have set up a cancel the transaction so I can claim back the fees but they are not responding.

4. someone who told me the item never arrived and gave me loads of abuse. The courier I use has labels that look like the item hasn't been tracked. I logged in and could see the signature. I informed the buyer - the response I got was that I'd sent to the wrong address and that there must be someone there with the exact same name.

I've given up with it now.

Afterthought - you should have opened unpaid item cases for them after 48 hours - no point waiting for over a week for someone to pay. And if a buyer ignores a cancellation request you will get your fees back after 7 days.

I came unstuck with the unpaid item thing - I signed up to automatic unpaid item cases which should have opened the case within 3 days - I'm not sure what happened as it wouldn't let me open a case due to the automatic thing, but she still didn't pay. I have now switched the automatic thing off.