ebay complaint ?

[britfish]

I sold some clothing on ebay and the buyer took awhile to pay but did. Its been 43 days since she paid and now she has filed a claim with ebay stating the item was damaged. It was actually two items and I offered a partial refund if she would refund the "damaged" item but she wants a full refund including shipping and me to pay return shipping.
I'm not sure how ebay will find on this, it sounds like in her favor? Any suggestions on how to handle this? I tried to communicate with her but she is not interested in anything but 100% back.

 

[bdoyledimou]

if you sold an item that was damaged, knew it was damaged, and didn't disclose it was damaged, i would say you were at fault.

 

[britfish]

Oh no, it wasn't damaged when I sold it. I would never sell something damaged. I have several pictures of it and I can't see any damage, however she claims it was damaged when she received it (she just didn't notice it for 43 days because she didn't wear it).

 

[clanmcculloch]

Ebay typically sides with the buyer but makes the buyer pay the return shipping and then refunds the purchase price plus what you charged them for shipping.

 

[bpesch]

You're being scammed. This has become quite common on Ebay. The only way to handle this is to tell the buyer to return it for a full refund. She will be responsible for return shipping costs and will have to get delivery confirmation to prove she sent it back. Most of the time if you tell a scamming buyer to return for a refund, they go away, never to be heard from again.

Ebay is not a seller friendly place any more. Their rules have made it very easy for a buyer to scam and unfortunately it happens all the time. Never give a partial refund. It does nothing but encourage the scams. It sounds like your buyer is trying to bully you into a refund. Stick to "return for a full refund". Tell the buyer very simply, don't get into a long winded back and forth conversation. Keep saying it to her until she either returns your item or gives up.

Ebay gives a buyer 45 days to file a dispute. The fact that the buyer did this on day 43 is telling.

 

[richmond282]

I'm pretty sure ebay will require her to return the item to you before you have to issue her a refund. If she doesn't return it and show proof to them (delivery confirmation), she's out of luck. I think they only time they don't require an item ot be returned if it's something blatantly against their violations (i.e. bootleg DVDs). I would contact ebay and ask.

 

[jcarter29]

I had a similar issue. Buyer claimed the item had stains. It didn't. I took numerous pics before sending it so I had proof. I told the buyer to send me pics of the "damage" and send them item back with delivery confirmation and I would be glad to refund her money. I told her it needed to be shipped and received by me within 10 days. Never heard from her again. I emailed to see when she was sending the item, no response. She didn't attempt to leave feedback either. Really bummed me out because I've had such good luck selling on ebay in the past.
Kim

 

[bdoyledimou]

my bad -- i just made the assumption that since you didn't contest the damage in the OP that you knew it was damaged..

but i would think that after 43 days --- "damaged goods" wouldn't fly ...

 

[clanmcculloch]

my bad -- i just made the assumption that since you didn't contest the damage in the OP that you knew it was damaged..

but i would think that after 43 days --- "damaged goods" wouldn't fly ...

I can assure you, it will fly with ebay. I sold a big lot of Thomas the Train stuff and the buyer got an amazing deal. I made a point of detailing the condition and which pieces had any minor damage in text and pictures. At the 43 day mark (I guess that's the magic number for scammers) the buyer complained of additional damage (the things he listed were clearly visible as NOT being there in my pictures). The damage had to have been from his child playing with it for 1.5 months (I had used a LOT of bubble wrap to ensure no damage in shipping). Ebay sided with the buyer and said that he'd get a refund once he provided the proof of shipping. It didn't matter than his kid had 1.5 months to play with it in the mean time. Lucky for me he never actually intended to ship it back so eventually ebay closed the dispute and released the money back into my paypal account but if he had shipped it back, he would have gotten his money back even if it was totally destroyed by him in that time.

 

[tinkmom2]

I always buy shipping insurance through USPS. If they recieve the item damaged, they have to take the item to the post office and show them in order to file a claim. That way what you send is covered. I have only had one person claim they recieve their item broken and that's what we had to do. The item was covered under insurance and I wasn't out any additional money.