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eBay

If you buy or sell items on eBay, you will find tips and advice on this forum.

Advice please, o wise women of MN! An ebay AIBU!

29 replies

Cornucopia · 06/05/2015 10:46

(Caveat: I have NC for this - sorry, but suspect the other party might also be a MNer and don't want to out myself...)

I only sell occasional items on ebay but am very careful with my listings, posts etc.

We recently sold a used childrens micro-scooter on ebay: dh did the photo and listing as I was busy that weekend. He doesn't really do social media etc so it was just one (clear) photo and a very brief listing. I added a little bit of info to the listing, but thought the photo was fine and it was clearly marked as used so left it as it was. Didn't check the scooter: it's not been used for the past year since dd1 outgrew it, but was fine then, and dh had cleaned it up and made sure it was ok before he did the listing.

It's been kept inside, so plenty of scuff marks but no rust etc.

It sold for under £30 (fairly normal); the buyer paid promptly and chose to collect (we were happy to post or allow pickup). She forgot to come the first time, but eventually turned up fairly late Sunday evening. I handed over the scooter on the front step (was in my pjs), had a nice little chat, and asked her to give me nice feedback.

About 2 hours later I got an email via ebay complaining about a crack in the plastic somewhere on the scooter, grumbling about my listing and asking for a discount. I immediately offered a full refund if she can drop the scooter back, or suggested she sent photos: I was horrified as it had been sitting in my living room for weeks and I hadn't spotted anything (I would definitely have noticed a big crack).

Now she's saying it's not so bad, and she can glue it: apparently she's just concerned that if it breaks it might leave a sharp corner her dc might scrape themselves on. What she wants is a discount.

I've asked again for photos and repeated the offer for a full refund. She's made it clear she wants a 'goodwill discount' rather than a refund.

AIBU that my alarm bells are ringing over this? I don't mind knocking a few quid off, but if the damage is really bad then of course no-one would want their child using it; if it's really just a hairline crack somewhere not very important then the item was clearly marked as used for a number of years, and that's the sort of wear and tear you would expect when buying a £90 item for under £30, surely?

What to do next? Thanks :)

OP posts:
Cherryapple1 · 06/05/2015 17:23

don't send her the £6 as a payment, you need to login to paypal and click on her payment, scroll down and then just refund her £6 of it. Then if she does try and scam you it is only for the remaining £24.

Cornucopia · 06/05/2015 17:24

Aha! Now that I can (and will) do.

Thank you!

OP posts:
ragged · 06/05/2015 17:49

I would have done partial refund too, OP. Sounds like it will all be sorted soon.

Cornucopia · 06/05/2015 23:01

Processed the refund and dropped the buyer a note.

She has already written back thanking me for being so reasonable and hopes that I'm happy with the outcome too.

I'm not really, but I am glad that it's been possible to resolve it this quickly, and hugely relieved that she doesn't appear to be a regular ebay con artiste, as I was clearly in a bad position.

Thank you all again for your wise words and general loveliness, and for being so generous with your suggestions and patience for an ebay newbie. I am hugely grateful (and have learnt a lot!) and will be an awful lot more careful next time around.

OP posts:
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