Postal damage

[BigBird69]

I sent an item to Australia by international signed for. Today I received an abusive message saying "item not as described" basically it was severely water damaged. He sent photos, including the copy of the invoice I included, totally wrecked. When I sent it, it was exactly as listed.. I sent it signed for! He signed for it. He wants his money back. What would you do?

Fill in a claim form from the Post Office and submit the pictures with it as evidence.

I've done that but because it was to Australia, it takes 90 days to get an answer. The buyer thinks I should pay him in the meantime but then I'm out of pocket. The item genuinely was in good order when it left me and he did sign for it the other end.

well you can't expect the buyer to wait 90 days - would you be happy waiting that long if you were them?

Just refund now and claim for the loss - there is no other way around it really. Sending signed for makes no difference in a case like this. And regardless of how it was when you sent it the item is clearly damaged and you need to give them back their money now.

Is the actual item damaged or just the box?

With all due respect, a parcel containing clothing that got wet could be washed and kept.

I am always wary of people who send rude messages unprompted as they clearly trying it on. Do you think the buyer dunked the packaging in water in order to get a free item?

In the end, it doesn't matter if the parcel is wet if the item itself is still ok.

I would tell him to return the damaged item to you after which you will refund.

I would refund buyer immediately and claim damage from RM as you have evidence. You cannot prove buyer has wet the item so don't try that. If you want the item back that is fine but you will have to pay the return cost as the item was damaged. That is the way it works. If you refuse a refund buyer will open a case and you will have to refund plus you will get a defect and a neg.

I think we have all had a sale that has gone awry and it's best to put it down to experience and sort out via claim / fees back etc as best you can. If you sent insured tracked etc it shuld be ok via RM claim.

So to sort it out tell buyer you will refund but could he accept a cancellation request so you can get your fvf back. To avoid a defect it is best to send the cancellation request BEFORE refunding then you can refund - do it this way round. As long as you have requested cancellation and chosen appropriate reason then you can do the refund - buyer can accept cancellation or it will be auto accepted after 7 days as long as they have not refused it and you will get fees back.

It's a shame they were rude but try and ignore that and be professional. Was your item sent in waterproof packing?
Hopefully RM will be prompt in refunding for damage.

I seem to recall that if a seller sends a cancellation request some reasons attract a defect in the seller's account while others don't. Is that right?

Yes it is. I had a long discussion with ebay CS about which way round to cancel with no defect say if a buyer changes mind and returns an item that is fine & as described. I can't recall the actual list of options but no defect for change of mind BUT YOU HAVE TO REQUEST CANCELLATION BEFORE REFUNDING & CHOOSE OPTION OF CHANGE OF MIND or defect. Such a pain! Anyway I thought buyer had to agree cancellation before refund given but it seems that as long as you have put in the request with correct reason you can refund before they accept (this is because Ebay rather unhelpfully puts a message up to the buyer to say "don't agree to cancel before receiving refund" and this has led to lots of sellers ending up with defects for refunding first before cancellation request.

I am sure you would be able to choose something like item damaged in post without it being a defect. Definite defect for not having the item to send I think and defects for any SNAD cases or 3 stars or lower.

I thought buyers were always told to only accept a cancellation request after they have been refunded.

Yes that's right and that is what caused the defects problem - A seller has to REQUEST a cancellation BEFORE refunding and choose the correct reason. Then refund, then have cancellation accepted or let it time out to receive fees back. If it's a change of mind then imo it is rude of buyers to ignore the request but fees do come back once it has timed out (think it's 7 days). What a seller should not do is refund first then do cancellation request - this is the advice given to me by ebay CS.

Well, I've been in touch with eBay for advice. Interestingly they have advised that I ask the buyer to open a case. They were very helpful and said that in situations like this where I have made "every reasonable effort" to have the item delivered in good condition (ie sound packaging/signed for post) eBay would consider the case "neutral" and pick up the tab! Obviously this remains to be seen. Personally I think my buyer has left the item on a wet surface (it is an antique book) as the pages are now stuck together and the colour has run as first he said I should have packaged it in a "zip lock plastic bag" and then he tried to say it must have been wet when I posted it, but he sent me a picture of my soggy invoice?! Anyway, I haven't heard anything more from him despite asking him to open a case ..... We will see!