Sold an unworn wedding dress on eBay - buyer is claiming its faulty

[sizeofalentil]

I sold a wedding dress I had bought but not worn on eBay. The buyer haggled over the price (made a very low offer) and I just had a feeling she would be difficult.

The dress was unworn but I listed it for less than half of what I paid and I said in the listing that the dress was very dusty and dirty around the bottom especially from being worn to fittings and from a house move. She asked for a photo of the dress (I'd used a stock image) but bought it before I could send it to her.

I stressed in the listing that it would need to be dry cleaned before being worn because it was really grubby.

She is now claiming that the dress has been worn (it hasn't - it still has the tags on it), there are missing buttons on the back (if there was, I hadn't noticed this at any point) and it has black marks on it (again, I hadn't noticed this).

The dress is a bit of an odd fit, so I suspect it didn't fit and she's damaged it to get a refund.

There's not a lot I can do about this, is there? Agh. She's going to leave bad feedback for something I sold to her in good faith.

It's really annoying as I would have accepted a return without this as a good will gesture.

How would you guys reply to her message?

You shouldn't have sent her a stock image....... ALWAYS send exact photos of the item.

Tell her to return it and you will refund her. Nothing else you can do here I'm afraid.

If you relist in, include plenty of photos, detailing any imperfections.

Thanks - yeah, I was really stupid to do that, but I trusted her to not do this.

It's just so frustrating - she didn't have to damage the dress to get a refund. I'll be £40 down for p&P and now won't be able to sell it for as much as I'd hoped. After I gave her a big discount because she said her wedding was in three weeks.

I do hope karma gets her.

I think I'll just donate it to somewhere now. Can't be bothered with the hassle.

First rule of ebay - photos of the real item and close ups of any damage or flaws plus very detailed accurate description. I think it is okay to include a stock photo within your 12 but essential to show the actual item especially if it is not in A1 condition. Sorry OP I think you must refund and move on. If it really will be a loss to have the dress come back just tell buyer to donate to charity. You probably can only sell it if you have it cleaned and repaired and if it is an odd fit it might just be returned again.

I don't think you can be too annoyed with the buyer really - yes they were a bit daft to buy without checking all the issues but really you should not have listed without proper pics and a thorough inspection. Put it down to experience.

Your buyer may be angling for a partial refund. The only response i would give is "I'm really sorry that you are disappointed, please return it for a full refund." She may not want to return it, but if she does then in this case I'd offer to pay her return costs too, because of the stock photos.

Do you think she used it and now wants a refund?

unless she has worn it for her own wedding and now wants her money back. Look her up on Facebook to see if her profile pic is her wearing your dress.

I'd be thinking the same, it's strange that she had such a turnabout. She could be chancing her luck?