To be sick of Ebay buyers taking the piss?

[FourStoneDown]

I run a small business selling preloved clothing on Ebay. I'm meticulous about the quality of items that I sell, I check things extremely thoroughly, and list very thorough measurements of everything. Most people are delighted with their items and leave me lovely feedback, which is really nice.

However there seems to be a minority of buyers, although that number is increasing, who either invent a flaw with their item when there isn't one, or say that an item doesn't fit them, and then return it to me damaged or worn. One seller has returned a dress today that she said didn't fit her; it was returned inside out as if she'd just taken it off and bundled it up, in carrier bag, with a broken zip and smelling of BO! It'd clearly been worn for a night out then returned to me.

Last week a lady wanted to return a jacket to me, that she had had for over 2 weeks as it didn't fit her. I said it was fine, and she sent a tracked item, but it was an old dirty anorak rather than the jacket she'd bought from me. I escalated to Ebay and they found in favour of the buyer and so I had to refund her £30! She then sent me a message laughing and gloating that she sent me an old piece of tat and got a refund and got to keep the jacket!

And another buyer a few weeks ago decided 3 weeks after receiving a top that the colour didn't suit her so therefore it wasn't as described and started a dispute. She refused to return the item and again Ebay found in her favour and just took the money and refunded her, letting her keep the item!

There have been many other cases recently of returns because something 'doesn't fit' when it has clearly been worn for a night out, then shoved in a bag and returned to me.

AIBU to be pissed off with it all?

She then sent me a message laughing and gloating that she sent me an old piece of tat and got a refund and got to keep the jacket!
Phone Customer Services. We've had 3 buyers kicked off for pulling stunts like that.
I agree with you, theres an increase in the number of problem buyers, and also trolls.

Good idea about UV pens, you could write your postcode on the wash label, and taking photos of serial numbers etc.

If you are selling clothing, could you get hold of one of those tag machines to attach a label somewhere near the front so that it can't be worn, and you wont refund if it has been removed?

Could you take a photo of the item next to a daily paper or TV news, just before posting, to prove it was in good condition on a particular day?

eBay are pretty rubbish at dealing with disputes. Your jacket women is down right fraudulent. If eBay won't resolve this, I would be tempted to give her 14 days to return your cash, then issue a claim at small claims court for your money back. With her email as evidence, I can't see she would win.

She wont be gloating then.

a supposedly UK seller ... turned out to be a Chinese based seller

Again, I'm not really surprised, nor would I expect them to do much

Commission, you see ...

I never use eBay anymore I only use it as a private seller but I've recently sold a lot as I've moved house and got rid of lots of things. I was hoarding

I would say about 10 of the 50 items I sold were to buyers I could tell were just scammers.
Not to mention the people who have multiple accounts and then bid up items they want cheaply so that no one bothers to compete with them.

I had a pram for sale and then 3 buyers bid on it one at a low price and then two others that bid against each other (straight away after low bid) until the price went up to way more than it was worth. But because the pram was then ridiculously overpriced no one else even bothered bidding on it (understandably)
When one of them 'won' they just never contacted me again, the other bidder funnily enough ignored me too when I offered a second chance offer so that the only person left to offer the buggy to had a stupidly low bid.
I only realised when I checked the location for each seller and realised they were all registered to the same post code I reported it to eBay and all the accounts got suspended.

I just don't use eBay anymore I think you can sell vintage on etsy I know more and more people are starting to use that now.
I use gumtree and preloved for everything now.

YANBU, I have experienced the same lately (also a Business Seller selling mostly pre-loved clothing).

Just this morning, I've had to refund a Buyer who allegedly returned an item to me in December. I've received nothing, she has been able to provide no proof of posting or delivery - but eBay have found in her favour anyway.

I'm also perpetually pissed off with potential Buyers sending "I'll give you £5 and collect today" messages. No you won't chap, no you won't. The price is £14.99 .

We don't sell on ebay anymore, Paypal just refund money at the drop of a hat so we use local FB selling sites. People are a lot more genuine I've found, and there are no fees. People collect, look at the item before deciding to pay and they pay you in cash. So simple. Can you look at setting up a FB page for selling through??

gloating message - take her to small claims. And I tell all buyers my items are security id marked - even if they are not.

Madison - I sympathise. I bought an expensive duvet, Parcelforce delivered it to the wrong house (completely wrong and random address, nothing like mine), tried to get it back for me, failed and sent me a letter admitting their fault. Ebay wouldn't accept the letter, as "it had been signed for - maybe ask one of your neighbours if they took it in?" and refused to refund me (and deleted my negative feedback). Fortunately I got the money back through my credit card company, who commented that this seemed to be most of their business these days.

Use shpok, I've heard that's good.

I've started using local facebook sites instead of ebay. You get less for items but no ebay fees, no paypal fees, cash on collection, no packing/trips to post office etc.

Also Preloved.co.uk

Similar here. Refunded as "not as described" and got nothing back. Lost the money and the item. Ebay of no help.
Got conned on packaging too. Sold lovely item but Ebay said quote for packaging was too high. I made 20p profit in the end.
Had buyers just not turn up - several times - and then accuse me of non-delivery.

I don't do it now.

'm also perpetually pissed off with potential Buyers sending "I'll give you £5 and collect today" messages. No you won't chap, no you won't. The price is £14.99 hmm

Yes to this I sold a caravan for £2000 on an eBay classified add.
I must have got about 20 messages with literally 500 or 650 no yellow nothing just a number, so bloody rude! Then I got one man who messaged saying 'coming to pick up caravan today will give you £500 you won't get better offer be there after 6 send address'

I was seething I loved replying the next day when it sold saying sorry pal it's sold full price!

Yellow? I meant message!

I received negitive feedback because Royal Mail took 2 days longer to deliver than the buyer expected. This was mid December and peak Christmas delivery time. In her feedback she did mention how the item was in great condition but was disappointed with the slow delivery. I only sell my daughters outgrown stuff now and this was an immaculate jack wolfskin coat she got for £10 but still moaned it took 7 days (including weekend) rather than 3. It was sent 2nd class signed for which is 3-5 working days so Royal Mail did deliver on time but just on the 5th working day rather than the 3rd of 4th.

There was another time I sold a brand new DKNY dress I had bought on whim but never worn as it didn't really suit me. Buyer claimed it never arrived and after tracing it through tracking service I found out she had signed for it - signature clearly her name, delivered to her address. After I posted the link and a screenshot on the resolution centre she decided to just leave it and not claim a refund but never did admit she was chancing it to get a freebie.

I have an issue with some sellers -- only a few but it is upsetting. When you bid for something in good faith and get it for the initial price and then the seller turns round and says there's a problem and they can't supply the item. In one case the seller alleged that there was a break in and the item was damaged. I was really keen to get it because I was hard up at the time and knew I should be able to fix it (had built from scratch in my time), however, seller then said item was trashed beyond repair, which seemed improbable. Asked eBay to cancel deal and eBay asked me to agree. I didn't and complained but no come back.
Had same experience before as have friends and it's usually when you're the sole bidder so a real "bargain" sellers trying to save money by not having a reserve price so it's their fault if they don't receive what they want. Very unfair on buying who thinks they have been successful especially when item not easy to replicate.

I seem to have rotten luck with buying on eBay - items listed as excellent condition arriving with lots of holes in them (happened about 4 times now). Abusive messages from sellers when I try and sort issues out, and eBay being flipping useless.

Keep the gloating message and report them to the police. What they have done is fraud.

Think eBay is getting worse and worse tbh.

Was bidding on an item the other night, the start price was £20.99 - so I bid £22. I was the only bidder. Someone outbid me at literally the last second. And five minutes later the seller relisted the exact same item for the exact same price.

Had an item listed for free on eBay (& Gumtree) before - someone messaged me saying they wanted it, but I'd have to get on a bus and deliver it to their house.l Don't think so pal.

Oh - and I agree that you should escalate the fraud-coat-woman!!

Facebook buyers never turn up. Well, almost never - one did recently (I thought might as well list child stuff on local selling group) and I was in such shock I got her a cup of tea and persuaded her to buy/take a bunch of other stuff while she was here!

Gumtree is often a good bet for getting rid of stuff (not free as that brings out the idiots who demand you to deliver!) , especially bulky items. CEx are more competitive now and do some online, so I've given some stuff to them (if you take payment in their vouchers, you get a better deal, so if you often buy DVDs or console game stuff, can work well)

I sold a maternity vest for 99p plus postage. Photos were honest representation of condition as in black but a bit faded. Got that fact put in the feedback. What did she expect for 99p!?

Ebay are twats. I complained about fake Chinese sellers and my feedback got removed!

I would never sell on eBay again. I remember a few years ago selling a load of nearly new Happyland toys and the buyer wanted me to send her the stuff but pay in two weeks time. She sent me abusive messages on a daily basis when I refused to send the items until payment. I won't buy off eBay anymore either, I can't be bothered with the hassle it ends up being sometimes.

That's so disgusting - the only times I've ever asked for a refund is when something has been wrong/broken etc but it has been very rare. You need to show ebay this message from her and get your money back - that's so disgusting - some people are such crap!