Buyer says item is damaged.

[lotsofcheese]

I sold a baby Item a week or so ago & the buyer has received it. They have emailed to say that the item is damaged & therefore not as described. I'm pretty careful about what I sell, but I guess my only choice is to ask them to send it to me & refund postal charges?

I think so, yes. Just send a polite message and tell them to return the item for a refund. No point in arguing, PayPal will be on their side.

do you have pics of it from before sending?

i would ask them for pictures of the broken bit and see what they say. is there a chance it was broken in transit?

btw as far as i'm aware you do not have to pay return postage on it. they send it back, you refund the original payment

Thanks for your advice, the buyer has said they will email me photos of the damage. It is a soft material so it couldn't be broken in transit.

The buyer is saying it has black marks on it, which it definitely didn't have when I sold it & isn't on the picture from the listing.

I would e-mail back that there were not marks when you posted it and get her to send pictures. Chances are, on eBay, she's trying it on.

eBay will make you refund though if she opens a case but she will have to return tracked at her own cost. Tell her if she returns it you wl refund but she'll have to pay the cost of the return postage herself. It's likely she may just decide to keep it then!

did you write on the package with thick black pen - I had a jacket once which was covered in black ink after the ink leaked through the packagin.

There might be chance that Lily is right if you used black pen and brown paper type wrapping if the item was not sealed in plastic. It has been very wet this week so if the parcel got wet it might have made the pen leak onto the item.

If you tell her that she needs to send by Signed For delivery, but postage not refundable, she may have seconds thoughts. If she is genuine, she will return no matter what.

Thanks again for the advice, I'll do that just now.

I did wonder if it was the pen leaking through the envelope - I used a black permanent marker - although it was a padded envelope.....

I'll let you know how I get on.