I’m I being fair

[RockPaperCut]

I sold a pair of new shoes and took good photographs in natural light. So the buyer messages me today and says they’re not as described, they’re not the colour she expected, they don’t match her black dress and she wants her money back. In fairness to her, the shoes aren’t a single colour but a snake skin type mottling effect.

I’ve told her to suck it up, politely.

Ok. Thanks for sharing

Whoops ignore my lack of punctuation!

Has the buyer messaged you, or have you received a message saying she’s requested a return, based on the item being not as described? If the latter then telling her to “suck it up” (politely), will make no difference. If you don’t cooperate within 7 days ebay will force you to refund and you will get andefect on your account.

They most likely don't fit and she wants to return them. If you don't accept returns that is the only way she can force you to take them back. If you do accept returns it is so that she doesn't pay the return postage.

Ask her to return them at her own expense and refund if they are in the same condition as sent, otherwise you will either be forced if she opens a case, and if you don't voluntarily refund then, you will get a defect.

Firstly did your listing state you would accept returns? If it did then though will have to.
If not then is there anything in the description that could allow her to genuinely claim "not as described"?
If not then I would, (via the returns process) state that" item exactly as described and as shown in photos"
Otherwise you are going to have to accept return as PP above says.
(I've just had someone try and insist on returning a skirt because it was too long - well that's why I put the actual measurements in the listing and pointed out that out was much longer than usual in the description!)

So the buyer has requested a return, even though my listing said no returns. There is nothing in the listing that would have misrepresented the shoes, clear photos in natural light etc. The difficulty is the shoes are an animal print so not one colour as it were. The photos according to her, show the shoes as black and silver. I spoke to Ebay a few days ago and the person agreed that the photos clearly show the shoes have some gold/brownish tones in the photos. She’s already messaged to say she wants to return them because they are the wrong colour and don’t match her black dress.
So should I just refund and cut my losses? I don’t really want a defect as I’ve had no selling issues in over 1000 sales. And clearly if there was a genuine problem I would just refund her an be done with it.

Thanks all for your help.... I escalated the case and Ebay found in my favour. ☺️

You were lucky OP.

Worth bearing in mind that stating “no returns” in listings is pretty much worthless.

Unfortunately the words “ebay” and “Fair” generally don’t go hand in hand.

I stuck to my guns as a matter of principle. I don’t think there was much luck involved.

And stating no returns is not worthless imo. Not if you painstakingly describe every detail/fault, take accurate photos and measurements, then you should be fine and most decent buyers will simply re-list the item rather than trying to pull a fast one. I mean that’s the risk you take, buying items online without first seeing it. This buyer was being a bit of a CF. She’s had the shoes a month today and not a peep until several days ago.

I’d say there was luck involved, yes. The majority of cases like this would go in the buyers favour. Or maybe they have a track record of opening cases which meant ebay leant in your favour.

“No returns” means no “non fault” returns, but all that usually goes out of the window if the buyer opens a not as described case.

I’m glad you got the outcome you wanted as a lot of buyers take the proverbial, but if a similar situation arose again, I wouldn’t rely on the same outcome.

I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment and I'm so relieved to read about a seller 'winning' when a buyer raises a 'not as described'.

I sold a pair of trousers that had a fault, I clearly listed the fault and included photos of it, buyers just come back to me complaining about the fault, pointed out to them it was mentioned and they then say well they are too small, again I tell them the sizes were listed and a photo of the sizing label was included. I've refused a refund, but I was starting to worry that I would loose out on this, so I'm please to see that sometimes Ebay do go in favour of the seller.