Ebay Seller Help!!!

J

jenz87

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Im an ebay seller and sold a pair of Toggi Boots.
Ive received quite rude emails stating that the boots are damaged and labeled as the wrong size?!!!

I think its rubbish and that they just dont fit, so i asked to see pictures of the boots before i accept a return.

However they say that they have packaged and want their money back asap and are sending them back and no pictures.

Because of the snow ive receievd quite a few bad feedbacks and ebay are breathing down my neck, so i darent upset this customer, but i think they are being really unfair!!

(my auction states that i dont accept returns for boots that dont fit!)

Is there anything i can do??
 
You have to accept her returning them, and you will have to refund her, but don't refund her until you have received them - you are within your rights to do this. If she opens a case in paypal they will tell her to return them & she will have to do so using a trackable method, then she can be refunded.
 
Are you a business or private? if a business distance selling regs means the buyer can return the item for any reason within 7 days of receipt.


But even as a private seller ebay seem to come down on the side of the buyer, I mean now days you cant even give a buyer bad feedback!

Personally id just say to them return them, make sure they are as you sent them out and the refund them and be done with it

Just make sure you get them back first, my friend was forced to refund for a gold bracelet the buyer sent back some tat not the item he bought and basically emailed her says 'nerr nerr'
 
As above plus do tell her you will need to check the security marks when you receive them back.
Did you use and actual photo of these boots in the listing?

Wrong size is a sticky one but damaged -when did they get to her?
Did she inform you immediately & keep the packaging so you could claim on Royal mail?
 
Im a private seller so not bound by distance selling laws, and my auction clearly states no returns for boots that dont fit.
She is saying that the boots leather is different colours on each boot, its something i highly doubt!! I didnt use a a picture of the boots as i didnt open the box to look at them. They could be "different coloured" but i doubt it. This is why i wanted to see pictures, however they say the boots are already re packaged. (surely it would take 2 mins to un wrap and take a picture).

To behonest i will just refund her, but she is being so rude and unreasonable, i think she will rate me badly anyway even if i do what she wants!!

I try so hard and dispatch as soon as possible, but this doesnt seem good enough for some people!! and im apparently able to control the royal mail during the xmas postage rush and postal delays from the snow. So im on a warning for "dispatch times" on ebay as it is, and im desperate not to have another buyer have a go, as it might tip it over the edge!!

I really am trying but people are so unreasonable and ebay just sides with the buyer immediately without even seeing the facts!!

:(
 
You could call her bluff and say you've security marked them with a UV pen, once you've verified they are the same boots then you will refund.
 
Hi Jenz

I'm a seller on Ebay as well - albeit on a very small scale.

With regards to your current situation, accept the return and give her the value of the boots back - not P+P (unless your description was way out)

As for your negative feedback - I applied to have it removed and Ebay did. They are actually pretty reasonable.

Hope this helps
 
jenz87 said:
I didnt use a a picture of the boots as i didnt open the box to look at them. They could be "different coloured" but i doubt it. This is why i wanted to see pictures, however they say the boots are already re packaged. (surely it would take 2 mins to un wrap and take a picture).

:(
Click to expand...

Difficult if you didnt check I suppose. I would just take them back and in future I would also take pics of the actual item.
 
if you stated no returns on your advert then you are covered. its not really your problem. But if you sell shoes/boots, it might be worth revisiting your returns policy as not every size 6 boots fits me....
 
i've bought boots from shops before and when i get home i find they are either different sizes, 2 left/right boots, different shading or even a different style to the other one so in all fairness unless you inspected them before selling then you can't really dispute her claims.

i would give her the money back (minus P+P) but would ask her to send them via tracking and preferably you refund after you recieve the boots.
 
pavlovscat said:
You have to accept her returning them
Click to expand...

No you don't!

You have no obligation to accept returns and refunds unless you are a business seller.

I had a similar instance - the seller claimed the item was wrong measurement and damaged, and becuase I;m nice I said return my item and I will refund, she refused that offer and said she wanted refund only. This went on for months and eventually the item came back to me, which was nothing short of a miracle, but only once she had sent me messages such as I know where you live and I'm going to hunt you down... daft cow sent these through ebay message system which - doh! - they can read!

Interesting, the item managed to both repair and re-size itself on the journey back to me!


An honest opinion from someone with over 1000 sales on ebay including 100% feedback, is I know how important the latter is to sellers. I would just stick you ground, refuse to give in, and set up a new ebay log in, do lots of buying on that to boost feedback and then you can sell on that with more self confidence. The minority ruin it for the majority!!
 
fleabittengrey said:
No you don't!

You have no obligation to accept returns and refunds unless you are a business seller.
Click to expand...

Maybe not legally, but assuming it was paid for by paypal, the buyer will have 'paypal protection' (or whatever it's called) on their side. They open a case saying the item is not as described, raise a claim and then paypal will tell them to return the item by trackable means & once it is returned they will get their refund.

I have been on both sides of this system and it is not always fair and is also unfortunately open to fraud, but it is good to be aware of how it works.

There is a lot of help and advice to be had on the ebay community forums:
http://community.ebay.co.uk/category/Discussion-Boards/3
 
I buy a lot from ebay and I know with weather my items will arrive a whole lot later than a few days, refund monies as you will only get a headache otherwise.
 
pavlovscat said:
You have to accept her returning them, and you will have to refund her, but don't refund her until you have received them - you are within your rights to do this. If she opens a case in paypal they will tell her to return them & she will have to do so using a trackable method, then she can be refunded.
Click to expand...

Re PayPal getting involved. As a buyer who has genuinely received something mis-described and had no joy with the seller (didn't answer emails), when I tried to open a dispute with PP it was automatically closed. Their message stating that they didn't get involved in disputes over mis-description. I think they only actually do something in the case of non-delivery. That said, the PP dispute process has changed for eBay items. EBay deal with the dispute side. Maybe things have improved.

Wait for the boots to come back. Double check. Just incase you made an unintentional error. If you haven't and/or the buyer doesn't return them back in the condition you sent them out or sends a different pair, and hasn't used Recorded Delivery to return them, you could just say they've not been received back. Proof of posting is not proof of delivery. But I suppose it depends on how much the boots were. If she paid a lot for the boots or the mistake was yours, I'd just swallow it and refund her.

If she used Recorded Delivery to sent back different boots or your boots in poor conditon, I'd be on the phone to eBay's helpline to complain and see what recorse you have.
 
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i ordered something on ebay and they didn't turn up, i contacted the seller but got no answer, i gave them 1 week (after last contact) to send the item out but they didn't respond so i contacted paypal and they told me to take it up with ebay. i did that and it took about 3 weeks to finally get my money back and the case was closed.
 
in this day and age i'm not sure why people bother listing on ebay without photos. As a buyer, it means buying unseen, and as a seller you can describe it perfectly but the image the buyer conjures up could be completely different to the actual item.

I never buy things on ebay without photo's, as 'good' condition to me could be completely different to the 'good' condition of a buyers POV.

I sold a mobile which i'd bought then never used on ebay; unbeknown to me my sister found it and had started using it without telling me. So i sold it as NIB, only to get negative feedback as it had text messages stored on it and obviously wasnt new. I ended up giving the buyer a 1/3rd discount, he revised my feedback and all was sort of ok. Taught me the lesson of always checking an item thoroughly before selling it.

You say with regard to her taking photos something along the lines of 'it wouldnt take 2 mins to unpackage it and photograph it'. Surely the same goes for you when you were selling it? Just because its new in the box from a shop or whatever, doesnt mean its in mint condition. by the sounds of it, one could have been left on display, the other in the box, causing the discolouring.

Sorry that you're having a rough time with ebay, i know its not nice as i've been there myself. Accept the return, refund (minus your postage costs) and move on.
 
I did have someone ask me for a refund for a pair of Jimmy Choos. Now I had stated that the laces had been repaired (by Jimmy Choo) on the ad but when she got them I got a lot of unpleasantness - poor repair, obviously a local bootmaker. Simples, send them back says I, if you are not happy. I know they were repaired by JC as I took them myself personally to the shop! Funnily enough she shut up then..think she was actually just angling to get some money back after the deal was closed.
 
Although I understand this is frustrating a bit of forethought wouldn't have gone amiss.

I aways send an email upon receipt of payment to my buyers and thank them for payment and say as soon as I have shipped I will send a confirmation email. If there was any chance of delayed delivery due to adverse weather conditions I would of added soemthing to the listing explaining this and also send an email apologising but delivery may be held up etc. (This proof on your email account would also help if anyone left bad feedback because of delivery if they had been warned)

I ordered a few things form ebay also over the bad weather period and the company in question sent me a lovely email explaining about the weather and kept constantly in touch when they had managed to get it shipped. Yes the delivery was delayed but I gave that company superb feedback because their customer service was excellent and their communication second to none (God bless you Pre-equestrian :D )

The advice on here saying if you get bad feedback just close it down and open another one is a bit worrying and not fair to unassuming buyers (and I agree there are cases for genuine new accounts but I am sure it is not the majority). Sure some buyers can be pain and some sellers can be a pain and a genuine ebayer could be sullied by it but if you have done nothing wrong, all comms are good then it should be able to be sorted.

I would if I were you make sure your communication with the buyers are excellent and that you check the item before selling to avoid any more unpeasant situations. :)
 
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