Do I have to give a partial refund?

[chirpchirp]

Hoping for some advice
I listed 9 antique spoons that I inhertied from my father. I knew very little about them apart from two which he had kept the original Ebay descriptions from when he purchased. I included these descriptions in the listing and was honest and said that I knew very little about the rest however people should email me with any questions and I would do my best to answer them. I also put lots of photos. I put them as a buy it now for £70. I knew that my father paid £20 each for two of the spoons and knew I would have trouble listing the rest given that I knew nothing about them so suspected someone was going to get a bargain. This also became apparent when they were purchased within an hour of going up (as well as having several offers emailed to me for less than the £70 I was looking for).

Today I have received an email from the buying saying that one of them isn't silver and is therefore worthless and he would like a partial refund. I have emailed and apologised for this and offered to refund the full amount as well as his postage should he wish to return all nine. He has replied to say that he wants to keep them but wants a £10 partial refund.

Am I allowed to refuse this as long as I offer a full refund? I know that Ebay usually side with the buyer in disputes and don't want any black marks against my name. TIA

Did you look at the hallmarks on the back of the spoons? They will tell you if they are silver or plated.

Did you state that all 9 were silver?

If you did then I think you probably need to refund £10. If you said you weren't sure what they were, etc then its the buyers fault.

yes you are allowed to refuse a partial refund - eBay will never force you to do this.

You are correct in asking them to return them to you for a full refund so don't let the buyer bully you.

Thanks fergoose will stand firm and continue to offer the full refund.

Yes do - I wonder if they really were an absolute bargain and now the buyer is trying to pull a fast one and get more money back?

If they open a dispute then they will have to return to you at their expense for a refund.

I just hope they do return your items, and not some different cheaper ones.

Yeah, I'm thinking that too as I was honest in the listing and said that I knew very little about them. I'm currently offering to refund their postage too however the buyer keeps emailing me demanding that I give him a partial refund and that stating that it is very strange that I am refusing (4th time he's emailed me within a couple of hours). I just keep politely repeating that I am happy to give him a full refund and have provided him with my address to return them to. I have lots of photos of the spoons I sent him. Fingers crossed I'm not starting another thread in a couple of days asking what I should do if a buyer returns cheaps replicas!

I had similar with a diamond ring - stated it was 18 carat gold and it was 14 - genuine mistake. Buyer wanted £50 partial refund - I also offered to give full refund if they returned - but she obviously wanted it.
In the end I did refund it - was sold for £300 - just wanted it over and done with - but with hindsight think the buyer was chancing it

chirpchirp - I think your buyer is being way too pushy! Makes me even more suspicious of him to be honest.

Keep being polite and saying no.

OK so no more emails from him but he has left me a negative feedback so I guess he has decided to keep the spoons. His feedback reads - WARNING !ONE NOT SILVER ! WONT REASON ! DONT BUY FROM ! DOES NOT GIVE REASON ! Which to me doesn't make much sense. I have replied to the feedback stating that a full refund was offered but declined. Is it worth me asking for the feedback to be removed or should I just call it a day and accept that I no longer have 100% feedback . Incidentally I have since had a nose at his feedback and in the last six months he has received 5 negs and 3 neutral ratings so I'm guessing he doesn't really play very well with others.

No they wouldn't remove that feedback as it doesn't break any rules.

Just forget about it an move on - I agree it makes no sense and the capitals and exclamation marks make him look a bit nuts to be honest.

What a chancer! You were right to stand your ground. Have you looked at what feedback he's left for others (you can view it from his feedback page) I bet there is quite a few negs/neuts on there!

Have had a look Imnotaslimjim. He's bought three items in the last week, each buyer has received neg feedback. The only positive feed back he leaves is a simply "good" followed by an entire line of "+" which makes me dislike him more! OK time to move on! Thanks for all the advice.

check his items for sale - has he relisted your items for more money?

No, he doesn't currently have anything up for sale but no doubt they will go up at some point. I did carry on reading the feedback he'd left for others and there were a couple of accusations of feedback extortion. There were a couple of negs he'd left and underneath the seller had replied saying that he had demanded a £5 refund to secure positivie feedback.

make sure you add him to your blocked bidder list.

OK, can you tell me how to do that please.

feedback extortion is a banning offence I think, is that right Fergoose? Sounds like a lunatic.

You did the right thing.
Click on help tab, enter 'block bidder' and it'll give you some hits about managing your buyers.

It'll explain what to do.

pages.ebay.co.uk/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html

Done! Thanks again.

:)