Problem With Ebay Buyer... Help Plz..

ACID

hi been having a problem with ebay recently
a guy bought a laptop off us for £350 an paid via paypal
he mailed back/phoned when he received it saying the package was recvied fine as in the conditio nof the packaging
but the screen was gone, ddint work, to us it appears liek it has been dropped

to cut a story short
we sent it special dleivery so we are covered somewhat... it cost us £19 to send
now buyer is saying he will claim back from ebay....so what do we do...
tried to tell him to wait until we recvie something but he goes not this problem?

please advise
we did state in listing item was fully working and tested and we will not be held responsible for loss or damages as sold as seen
however i hear paypal always favour the buyer if that is the case
will royal maill always favour the sender???

please help....

soolin

For claims of faulty items via paypal there is no clear cut decision for either the buyer or seller, paypal can decide either way.

If paypal find in your buyers favour you will have funds in your account equivalent to his payment returned to the buyer but only after the buyer has returned the lap top to you. If paypal find in your favour then your paypal account will be unfrozen and he will have to go through small claims to reclaim funds from you.

Your own claim from the RM is not taken into account at all by paypal, that is another matter entirely. It is very rare that a buyer will choose to wait until a seller reclaims funds as that will almost certainly take him outside the time frame allowed for paypal chargebacks.

YOur own terms and conditions about not be responsible for damage etc are also ignored if they go aganist paypal terms and conditions. Paypal conditions allow for buyers to do a chargeback regardless of what sellers claim in their terms and conditions.

However, the fact that the laptop was sold as second hand means it is slightly more likely that paypal will find in your favour as there is no set guidance as to what is considered nearly new or second hand.

Soo

masonic

Acid,

Your best bet is to try and stall the buyer for a few days. Get them to keep hold of all the packaging and start a claim with royal mail. As long as RM consider your packaging adequate you should be able to claim the full price of the item less P&P.

You would need to give a full refund to the buyer to avoid the paypal chargeback, so you would be down at least £19 in the end. Whilst you would not be as certain to lose a paypal chargeback as if the item was not delivered, I don't think you can rely on disputing it in this case.

The other thing to worry about is the buyer doing a credit card chargeback, which would be automatic providing they can convince their credit card company the damage was not mentioned in the listing (and, of course, assuming they paid by credit card).

callmybill

As said before 'Do nothing until the item is returned to you', see any damage yourself including packaging.
Then and only then file a claim from RM, EBay will not allow a complaint until the item has been returned and signed for (same way it was sent??)

soolin

callmybill wrote:

Then and only then file a claim from RM, EBay will not allow a complaint until the item has been returned and signed for (same way it was sent??)

In this instance the buyer can claim through paypal who will make a decision and only then ask the buyer to return the lap top before the refund is actually made. The buyer isn't expected to return the laptop before paypal make their decision.

The seller/OP cannot stop the buyer using paypal for a chargeback, all they can do is try and limit the harm.

As I already mentioned the RM claim is immaterial and will not affect any decision that paypal make.

Soo

ACID

how do you mean stalling

rm have said that the sender needs to claims
and a receipient cannot claim?

soolin

ACID wrote:

how do you mean stalling

rm have said that the sender needs to claims
and a receipient cannot claim?

I'm answering here but apologies to masonic if I have misunderstood his original post.

I assume that masonic means that you should try and stall the buyer a little just while you see what kind of response you will get from RM, at least stalling the buyer for a few days will keep the funds in your account that little bit longer.

You are quite correct though that you as the sender need to deal with the RM, so whatever happens you are likely to need the packaging back from the buyer.

Soo

masonic

Perfectly understood, Soo.

I don't think a paypal chargeback is the right thing to do for either you or the buyer at this stage if you are willing to give them a full refund once you get to grips with the situation. I think some well-chosen words to this effect might convince the seller to compromise a little with you. It certainly won't hurt to try.

Malestrom

Looking at it from the buyers point of view, I wouldn't be very happy sending the laptop back simply because the seller promised me a refund. If it were the buyer on here we would be advising PayPal chargeback!

I hate 'sold as seen' auctions after getting conned in one myself. How can it be 'sold as seen' when you can't actually see it till its in your hands, by which time its too late. It doesn't inspire much confidence when a listing has all sorts of disclaimers does it? Of course the buyer is going to initiate a chargeback, you should accept the goods back, inspect them and go from there. Claim your damages from Royal Mail if there are any. Tell the buyer to return it by Parcel2Send or similar as that will cost you a lot less than Special Delivery and is still insured and trackable.

masonic

Malestrom wrote:

If it were the buyer on here we would be advising PayPal chargeback!

As already mentioned, paypal chargebacks for goods not as described are a bit dodgy - I don't think I'd advise anyone to risk paypal not finding in their favour if the seller was being reasonable about the matter.

Malestrom

I quite agree masonic, but the buyer is only trying to protect themselves. If the OP is willing to offer a refund upon return of the goods then great but who goes first, the chicken or the egg? As you say, PayPal may not find in the buyers favour, as happened to me, so surely this is in the sellers benefit? Let the buyer go through PayPal, at least he won't get his refund until proof of return is given. He will also be required to prove that the laptop is faulty, which again works in the sellers favour.