My first (and hopefully last) e-bay blunder

[poohbear2]

I received a rather nasty e-mail from a customer who was upset that her product did not come in nicely. I have had really positive feedback on how well my packing was so at first I was a little surprised. She said the product was ruined due to the way she received the item( it was a kids mighty beanz that I sold for .50cents). I was surprised that it would be ruined because these are pretty tough items. She said the writing on the bean was unreadable and I did put in the sell-up that it was a played with bean. I told her that I would refund her money and postage and postage that it would take to return the item. Do you think this is fair? I feel really bad. I guess I will just have to learn from this experience. Any suggestions/comments for my future ebay listings in regard to this situation?

 

[DMRick]

If you sold it for .50, I would not ask her to return it (why have more expense?)..but just refund. That is, unless you think she is not telling the truth, and you think it was in good condition.

 

[anditoo72]

You told her it was played with and only cost fifty cents I would not have her return it and just cut your losses, but if you ask me she was probably going to complain to get it free in the first place. All things considered your feedback is more important than a fifty cent mighty bean. Sorry this happened to you, all my years of e-bay I have only experienced one dishonest person, so to the few that are dishonest there are plenty of honest ones out there.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

You might want to look at her feedback; not only what she has received but what she has written. If it shows a pattern of high neutrals and/or negatives you might contact eBay with a request they assist you by showing the e-mails and asking they look at them with respect to her previous posted feedback.

 

[DMRick]

If it shows a pattern of high neutrals and/or negatives you might contact eBay with a request they assist you by showing the e-mails and asking they look at them with respect to her previous posted feedback.

I'm just wondering what you think eBay would do? They don't care if someone only leaves negative feedback : (

I wouldn't think eBay would have the time to investigate each time somone says an item isn't as they thought..that's what the feedback system is suppose to be for...as flawed as it is.

 

[mtblujeans]

I once sold an item and she insisted it arrived broken. I did not see how it could. It was a foam figure kit with a temp thermometer on it. It was a fun thing for children to glue together and she did not seem upset about it, but emailed me with rude comments. I offered to send her another one, which she jumped at, but I told her I wanted her to pay for additional postage. I never heard another word from her. I just packaged up another one, the very same way, and sent it to her. I figured she probably wanted another one (free, of course) for another child....and I gave it to her. I figured, too, it was not worth the negative feedback. Some of us are bargain hunters, some only feel better if they rip someone off. I agree that you should not put anymore financial burden on yourself for this item. Ebay only requires that you re-imburse for the cost of the item, not the postage (if you are inclined to re-imburse). An unfortunate lesson....

 

[DBC]

Originally posted by anditoo72
You told her it was played with and only cost fifty cents I would not have her return it and just cut your losses, but if you ask me she was probably going to complain to get it free in the first place. All things considered your feedback is more important than a fifty cent mighty bean. Sorry this happened to you, all my years of e-bay I have only experienced one dishonest person, so to the few that are dishonest there are plenty of honest ones out there.

I doubt that someone would lie about a fifty cent Mighty Bean. I dd't think it's really fair to characterize it as probable.

I'd just give her the money back and chaulk it up to the cost of doing business on ebay.

I think you may want to reconsider selling things that cheap in the future though. Too much hassle. I know you can't be sure what something will end up selling for, but you probably have a pretty good idea.

 

[melanieewr]

I had an unusual experience with a "broken" item. The buyer purchased 2 small yellowware bowls for about $15 and I received an email stating the bowl arrived in "oh, about 10 pieces" so of course I said that I would refund the money and I asked if she would mind emailing a photo of the broken bowl. I also asked if the bowl that was shipped with it was damaged. No answer. So I email again about how does she want the money refunded. The next email I receive states that she has glued the pieces together...it is not perfect, but it will be fine. I didn't know what to do at this point, so I just let it be. I gave her positive feedback and she did the same for me. BTW, this buyer had over 200 positive feedbacks, so I was completely confused by the whole situation!

 

[Razor Roman]

I had someone purchase a remote control from me, and they said it didn't work, so I had them send me the remote back, and I would send them another one. I also told them I would test the first one, and if it was truly broken I would refund the cost of shipping the defective one back to me.

The guy emailed me a few days later and said "is this a joke? This one doesn't work either", so I emailed him saying that I tested the original remote he sent me, and it worked fine, and (since I'm a computer tech support kind of person) I said "are you sure you have the right monitor to use this remote? Also, The auction stated batteries not included, did you put in batteries?" I told him if he wanted, to send it back to me, and I would refund his money, and if that one was dead I would refund that shipping cost.

He never wrote back to me and never left feedback. I am assuming he forgot to put batteries in his remote!