Craigslist - do you give refunds?

[TupperMom7]

Here just this morning I was praising Craigslist and saying how we had sold some items on there, how smooth everything has gone, etc. and now I have a problem.

My 10 year old son sold his electric scooter on Craigslist. My older son listed it for him and handled all communication. The people, a dad and two kids, came and picked it up last night. It was working fine when it left here. My son had been riding it in the driveway, a final spin so to speak.

We told them that it would have to charge overnight to be fully charged. They emailed my older son today saying that they charged it overnight and it's not working. Now they mentioned that they had a scooter already but something broke on it. I am wondering if they broke something on this one and now want their money back. I know it hasn't been a lot of time since they just picked it up last night - in fact, even if they charged it last night it might not be fully charged.

I had thought maybe I would ask them to bring the scooter back and we would take a look at it and see if perhaps they pushed the wrong button, had it in "on" position or something when it was charging. Maybe offer to charge it at our house overnight and if it didn't work, we'd refund their money. Or do you think we should just refund the money?

 

[dawson5]

Personally I would wonder if they used it for parts. When they picked it up, did they test it? It worked in their possession at your home?

 

[Dictator]

No way. Don't refund the $. You don't know if they did anything to it. once it left your hosue, its out of your hands.

 

[allyphoe]

No refunds. Add me to the list of people who think they used it for parts, and would return it missing the bits they wanted.

 

[TupperMom7]

Do you think I should offer to charge it at my house or something? I feel bad because he said it was his daughter's money. He kept asking her if she was sure that she wanted it. I think he asked her like a dozen times. She didn't want to try it while they were here.

 

[5forDiz]

I wouldn't refund money. They saw it working fine at your house and obviously had no issue with it,paid, took it and left ? then that's it, done deal. You have no way of knowing what they did once they left with it nor should it be your concern. I have to say ita with what other posters here are saying about them possibly stripping parts from it. It happens. In fact it just happened to my son selling a non-working Xbox 360 on ebay which he specifically and clearly noted was not working & would be of benefit just for parts....he sold it with various working cables included too; long story short the buyer gets full refund from Pay Pal upon complaining to them that this is a "broken Xbox" and guess what? when the buyer returns it to my son it is missing the cables which were worth the amount of $ my son sold it for. Nice right ? The buyer gets a full refund and strips what they need. My son literally had to spend 2 hours on the phone with Pay Pal to get them to agree to go back to the buyer and ask why he didn't return everything.....and my son had to provide the box & label that the buyer shipped xbox back in
( luckily he did not throw this away )....from what we understand they can determine from weight on package my son shipped compared to weight on package buyer shipped back that these parts are missing. This buyer is unscrupulous ( for lack of better word ) and although this is a huge headache for my son he is pursuing it; he sells and buys alot on ebay and has great rating and he did not misrepresent this xbox in any way, if the buyer didn't want it then that would have been fine & he would have had no issue with the buyer getting a refund but the buyer decided he was going to take what he wanted & still get a full refund ! Hopefully that will be reversed or he will do the right thing and return the cables.

 

[jaminmd]

Wasn't there just a thread on here last week or so about people who expect refunds from garage sales if what they purchase doesn't work? This is practically the same thing.

Therefore, if it were you, what would you want done?

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I would never ask for a refund on craigslist and I would never give one. Same for yard and garage sales. If it doesn't work that is the risk you take with buying used and trying to save some money. I don't give returns on ebay either.

I personally would think they either aren't doing something right or are trying to return to you their "broken" one and get a free scooter.

 

[kaleighmariesmom]

did you say "as is condititon" If it was me I would have let it go and not have asked for a refund.. their story sounds fishy!!

 

[TupperMom7]

Wasn't there just a thread on here last week or so about people who expect refunds from garage sales if what they purchase doesn't work? This is practically the same thing.

Therefore, if it were you, what would you want done?

If it was me, I would have tried the scooter out before I bought it - or had my kids try it out that is.

At this point, I know the scooter was working when it left here as my son tried it out this past weekend, and they are saying it is not working. So I will have to ask my son about how to charge it, what buttons are supposed to be where and if the charger lights up at all, that kind of thing and email them back with the information. If they charge it again and it still does not work, I'm not sure what I will do. If we take it back, my son is out $50 and a scooter.

 

[pixiewings71]

Ya, this is fishy, they have a broken scooter already and are buying another one? Who's to say they won't bring back their old broken one and keep the working you sold them? Honestly, I don't think I'd give them anything back.

 

[Tinkerjane]

We bought an electric scooter a few weeks ago at a garage sale. The couple and the son insisted it worked great and that we just had to charge it overnight. We charged it, tried it, it didn't work. It's now our problem. I wouldn't think of going back and knocking on their door to ask for our money back.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I wouldn't buy a scooter I hadn't tried at a garage sale or craigslist. In fact, we have two electric scooters in the garage right now and I have no idea if they work. Easier to put them in the trash.

 

[NYCDiane]

Sounds to me like they either used your son's old scooter for parts or are switching the scooters out (your good one for their bad one).

I would tell them no refunds. It was working when they bought it from you.

In the future, I would make a "NO REFUNDS" policy on anything sold on ebay or Craigs List.

 

[dakcp2001]

No refunds,

YOU KNOW it worked when you sold it. DOn't let them guilt you into a refund for something that worked fine when it left your house. YOU KNOW it worked and if it doesn't now, it is something THEY did to break it.

They either used it for parts, or broke it the same way they broke theier first one. Apologize and tell them the MONEY HAS ALREADY BEEN SPENT.

 

[kathyell]

Sounds like they could be completely honest, or...

The father could have coached the daughter to keep saying she wanted the scooter but that she didn't want to try it before buying it, and he was, the entire time, intending to either use your scooter for parts to repair their scooter or to switch the two out and return their broken one to you and pass it off as the one you sold them. They could have been searching Craiglist for the same model as theirs and they could have "decided not to buy it" (especially as the daughter could have been coached to either insist that she wanted it or perhaps "change her mind" depending on what her dad was acting like) once they were there if it looked like yours had easily-identifiable markings on it so that you would know if they tried to return their old one to you. (Say, if there were stickers or a tell-tale scratch on it.)

I have to be honest. It smells like SCAM to me, especially as it was working when they came to pick it up. I'm sorry.

Oh, and I wouldn't offer to let them bring it back over to your house for any reason. Once he's there face to face with you, he can lean on you and pull on your heartstrings and get you to give him a refund even if you are determined before he comes over that you won't. What, is the electricity different at your house so that it will work if you charge it there but it doesn't work after they've tried to charge it at their house?

 

[mjhd]

I agree with the majority - no refunds. That is why I use a separate email and meet almost all CL people at a public place. I know I advertise my items in exact detail so there should never be a reason for a refund. Once a transaction is over and they are satisfied on the spot, I don't have a reason to see/hear from them again. OP, do NOT refund the money. This will either be a tough lesson for dad/daughter or you missing a $50 bullet.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

I would never ask for a refund on craigslist and I would never give one. Same for yard and garage sales. If it doesn't work that is the risk you take with buying used and trying to save some money. I don't give returns on ebay either.

I personally would think they either aren't doing something right or are trying to return to you their "broken" one and get a free scooter.

Really? I have been buying from yard sales for years and I agree for the most part but when it comes to certain items I expect the seller to be telling me the truth and if I paid good money for something I expect it to work.

I have been looking at camera's on craigslist and this has made me think twice about it. I would not expect to drop $200 plus on a camera and be told it works and get it home and find out it didn't. I would expect my money back.

All that said it does depend on the circumstances, in this case the buyers saw this scooter working and now says it doesn't. A case could be made that the charger is not working and it will not charge(giving them the benefit of the doubt) or they could have done what everyone thinks they did and strip parts from it they need or even bring back their scooter and try passing it off as the one they bought.

Not sure what I would do in this situation but next time I would make sure I marked the screws or something so you can tell if the item had been tampered with. Even mark the item somewhere so you know whether or not it is even your item.

This is a difficult call.

Good Luck I feel bad for you being in this situation.

 

[metime]

No refund! I have sold and bought things off craigs list. If you know it was working than it is their issue. You sold him a working scooter and what ever happened after that is none of your concern.

He can get it fixed and post it on craigs list himself to get most of his money back.

You didn't sell him one of those lame extended warranties!

As for marking screws a thin coat of colored nail polish works well. My dad did this when he went to get his oil changed because he suspected they weren't actually doing it, and he was right.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Really? I have been buying from yard sales for years and I agree for the most part but when it comes to certain items I expect the seller to be telling me the truth and if I paid good money for something I expect it to work.

Yup really. If something isn't in really good condition or it doesn't work at all I wouldn't sell it anyway. I wouldn't sell anything I wouldn't want to buy and no one wants to be scammed. I don't take returns because there is too much room for fraud.

I've been burned at a yard sale a few times and that was the risk I took. From craigslist I won't buy if I don't see it turned on and working or all the parts aren't there at pick up though.