Would you expect a FULL refund to include the postage costs ?

postingalwaysposting

*for the mods - my selling id is different to my forums id - on ebay*

mike55_2

postingalwaysposting wrote:

*for the mods - my selling id is different to my forums id - on ebay*

thanks for agreeing, and after reading some of the ebay board, i know who i'd buy off and who not to, and just from some of the posts. unfortunately, the missus buys stuff on ebay, books mainly, and when she's not looking, i sell them on amazon she does read them though.

but there's been a big rise in her ebay disappointments, things like promotional copies of books that aren't for resale, and books turning up that don't look anything like the pictures, which are probably 'borrowed'. the pictures that is.

i sell on amazon and although i'm new, i call a (i was going to say a spade a spade, but not sure if that's un-pc), so i say a book's tatty but readable etc.

ultimately, i don't want people to spend their hard earned money on things that are clearly overestimated. it seems to be rife at the moment. maybe because it's the run up to xmas?

Contains_Mild_Peril

The only circumstance I can think of where it would matter if a book is a promo copy would be if it were intended as a gift. If the buyer plans to read it themselves, and they get the item described in the condition described, why should it matter if it says "not for resale" on the back? If the buyer considers this important, they should ask before bidding.

mike55_2

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

The only circumstance I can think of where it would matter if a book is a promo copy would be if it were intended as a gift. If the buyer plans to read it themselves, and they get the item described in the condition described, why should it matter if it says "not for resale" on the back? If the buyer considers this important, they should ask before bidding.

it was a gift, but not a birthday or xmas one. but it was still a gift. there were/was 4 books involved, the postage was fair enough, but the sentiment was lost when it says not for resale etc. sellers should state this when they're selling imo, but i realise they have a living to make too.

would you sell promotional books and not describe them as such? it's not an interrogation, just a question.

but as the op asked a question about the postage for returning an expensive jacket, which cost more to return than those books cost to buy, i hope i'm not going too far away from the question. would you sell a jacket that was expensive, and it was worn for a wedding or similar and then the buyer wanted a return, who'd win and lose? the seller in that case i'd imagine?

things should be described as accurately as they are, (and returns policies) and if sellers mislead people, can they really expect a great feedback? similar for buyers in my opinion too. maybe there's always winners and losers. personally i stick to the same sellers, and they're great. just need the wife to do the same now , although she can recognise a good book or bargain when she sees it now.

my future son in law sells cars. that's tricky ground so maybe i should ask him for advice. he deals in a lot of money, but i still think the op has raised a good point. especially as the return cost is so much.

talksalot81

This is a diffficult question. In the case where an item is so obviously not as described, then the seller should be refunding the lot. To be honest such a seller shuold be shot and deserves a negative unless they can come up with a very good reason why they so badly misdescribed.

There will be other not so clear cases. I sold a pc on ebay. I tested and it was working fine. Sent it away and the buyer couldnt get it to even power on. I was then told that he had tried another power supply and the pc I had sold had fried it too. Additionally he had installed a different video card and the pc fried it too. So I said I would refund. He pushed for refund on postage and for the items supposedly fried. I only refunded what he paid. On return, the original power supply was indeed fried. So I put in a new one and everything worked fine. So to be honest, as far as I can see, it was something that happened either in the post or at the buyer's end.... so there was no way I would contemplate refunding anything more than what I did and I would actually have been tempted not to refund my own postage costs since I didnt honestly think the problem was of my causing.

Of course my PC buyer might see it entirely the other way (based on his experience), so there is no right and wrong.

Peakma

I emailed the seller to ask for the postage refund, they replied saying how much do I expect to get and explain why.
I have replied saying I expect at least the original costs, and if it were me I would offer the return costs also, but thats down to their morals.I will let you know there reply when it comes.I do think I will have to leave a neg, and proberbly get one returned if they don't, I'm still slightly unsure whether it is worth me leaving a neg for a few quid, as it may effect my future sales.The feedback system sucks.

jaxxy00

Well if i were the seller of the item (i would have fully explained the condition to start with and woldnt be in the situation) i would ask you to return the item and then on inspection if i were to find what you are describing i would refund the item cost including p+p and also your cost for having to return it to me. Why should you be out of pocket, its not fair. Its bad enough your dissapointment and the time wasting. I am suprised to find so many people saying that youre expecting a bit much to get your return p+p costs refunded. Hope you get it all sorted. How i see it, is that i treat people on ebay the way i would like to be treat myself. Goodluck.

DRiz

Hi im sooo suprised about the cheek, being a seller i would have refunded FULL cost including postage and also offered to re-imburse you for you returning postage.

Explain that its not down to you, to pay for her mistakes and she should pay for herself !

Benji

DRiz wrote:

Hi im sooo suprised about the cheek, being a seller i would have refunded FULL cost including postage and also offered to re-imburse you for you returning postage.

Explain that its not down to you, to pay for her mistakes and she should pay for herself !

If the seller si a 'business' then they are obliged to refund for shipping both ways if the goods are damaged or not as described. If the items are okay, but you don't like them, you should still get the cost back, but not the shipping. (Distance Selling Regs)

Contains_Mild_Peril

mike55 wrote:

would you sell promotional books and not describe them as such? it's not an interrogation, just a question.

If I listed the book as new, I would include it in the description, but towards the end so that with any luck they'd have already decided to buy it by the time they got to that bit. If I listed a used book which happened to have been a "freebie" originally, I probably wouldn't bother mentioning the fact.
If a customer was not happy with what they received and I offered a refund, it would normally be for outward postage and purchase price, but I would only include return postage if I'd made a serious error in the description. If they felt the condition was not as good as described, I'd usually offer the option of a partial refund. I do try to be as accurate as possible with my descriptions, and I recently had a very satisfied e-mail and positive feedback from a customer who bought a vintage satchel from me and found it in better condition than he'd expected.
I inspect items before listing, and would certainly not describe an item as being in "great condition" if it was in the state of the jacket the op described. If I were listing something like that, I'd probably say something like "Vintage condition: displaying some signs of wear and tear which add to its character, but it would benefit from professional cleaning and a little TLC."
I'm actually a little concerned about an item I'm listing at the moment on behalf of my son (a football team sleepsuit which he's outgrown). I didn't go into great detail about the condition because I didn't really have time and I was trying get through several listings on 10p day, so I just said it's not in perfect condition and this is reflected in the low starting price (which was 50p), but it's still very wearable. I stand by that description because it's nightwear so appearance is much less important than with day wear, but the bidding is now over ten pounds, so I'm starting to worry that the buyer might expect it to be in good condition. It has a stain and a couple of tiny holes in the front of the outer layer. I think I'll try to remove the stain if someone's going to pay serious money for it. I'll also probably include details of the condition when I send the winning bidder an invoice, to check that they're happy with it before I post it.