BUYER SAYS ITEM DOESN'T WORK....

[frangipan]

I have sold my first item on ebay and it was in working order when used by me. The buyer says the item doesn't work and that they will try a new battery in it today but that if it doesn't work they would expect a full refund.
That in itself is fine, however, should i only refund once i have recieved the returned item and clarifyed that it doesn't work and am i expected to refund her return postage also?

thanks in anticipation, this is a first for me :-o

i would ask her to return it so you can give it a good looking over yourself. don't refund until it is fully established that it was faulty before it left your house the first time. they may be just trying it on to see what you will give them back.

You say it was in good working order when you sold it, so its rather strange that it doesnt work now, if it was well packed etc.

thankyou forevercleaning! I will send an email back explaining that. If I do refund , who pays for which postage????

i would not refund their postage personally. Have you had a good read of their feedback just to check this is not the sort of thing they have done before.

If the item doesn't work I think you should refund all of her postage costs. Why should she be out of pocket if you sold her a faulty item?

i think i have to determine that the item is faulty first, i didn't knowingly sell a faulty item, it worked when we used it! it may have been damaged in the post, or maybe she hasn't fitted the battery correctly?? i don't know at the moment. I will wait for their reply, i would never sell anyone a faulty item, this is the first time i have sold on ebay...but thanks for your post geepers.

this is why i prefer to sell at boot sales.

the item GOES AWAY and so does the person who buys it.

liking your theory there expatinscotland, i think this may be the way to go in future, i haven't heard anything back yet and they emailed at 1.30, i'm sure if there were still problems they'd have contacted asap.

yes, and with boot sales, you also get the cash.

and then LEAVE.

i got ripped off by a buyer last year who didn't like the item and so said it wasn't as described. bollocks!

then went to paypal.

where i challenged her and got my money back.

i don't sell stuff to run a business or shop, but to make extra money. it's too much of a PITA to do that on Ebay these days.

The buyer has emailed me to say that it is now working and was apologetic! still put me off though....

good news fran. glad it worked out ok, but you can see where the problem lies with all of this.

You were accused of sending a faulty item, which you knew damn well you didnt, and then Geepers says you should be refunding the postage as well!

This is just the sort of thing that puts me off ebay, but pleased to know yours worked out.

thanks for all you help, i won't be using ebay to sell again i don't think! I may stick to expats carboot suggestions in future...xx