Buyer says new tagged top is wrong size and wants refund, what should I do?

singlemumstudent

I've got some great advice from this board in the past and would really appreciate some help. I sold a new, tagged child's cardigan on ebay. The label says it is age 10, 136cm, which is the size I listed the item under. (In fact, I listed it as 9-10 under the details to be cautious)

The buyer received it today and says it is too small. She says she has the exact same cardigan in the 7 year old size, and the one she bought from me is the same size as that one.

She now wants to send it back for a refund, and said she would like me to refund her postage as well. I'm not sure what to do here. I have already incurred nearly £4 in Ebay and Paypal fees for selling this, I didn't make any money on the postage to her, and certainly don't want to pay for her to send it back. It said I didn't offer returns on my listing - but at the same time I don't want to lose my 100% feedback.

Any ideas or advice would be really helpful!

KarleyMarie

I would personally not refund, point out this is what the tag says, therefore the item is as described.

Karley

singlemumstudent

Thank you, but that does mean losing my 100% feedback, which is really frustrating.

peter_the_piper

Chances are you'll get a neg anyway, get her to return it (at her expense, trackable) if you do decide to refund her.

KarleyMarie

I see what you mean about neg feedback..
Try pointing out you don't accept refunds & that the tag says age 10 and see how they respond.. they may just accept that.. if not offer refund of cardigan but not postage either way as there is nothing wrong with the item?
Karley

itsnotfair_2

I would stick to your guns. If it was tagged and you quoted exactly the tag size it is as described. Maybe the 7 year old one had stretched over time.
Don't worry too much about a neg, if you have good feedback sensible buyers can see that. You can just calmly add a comment underneath stating the truth for all to see.
The longer you are on ebay you come to realise some negs cannot be avaoided whatever you do.
I had a buyer recently who complained about an item (which was a collection). I asked him to return it for a refund. He refused as he had already taken out what he wanted from the collection. Later that day he left me a neg.
But it does'nt stop people buying believe me.

singlemumstudent

OH MY GOD!

She got in touch with me for the first time less than 12 hours ago. I haven't replied yet, because I wanted to decide what to do first. I've just checked my emails, she contacted me again saying to get in touch because "she's a very fair person" apparantly. As well as the new email from her, there's another one from Paypal saying she's opened up a "Item Significantly Not As Described" dispute with them, and I've got £25.95 temporarily deducted from my account.

cyberbob

If she wins (which is not guaranteed ) she will be told to return the item(at her cost) for a full refund you do not have to refund her return postage. So In the dispute I would offer her to do that

Fuzzy_Duck

I have had both a claim made against me and made a claim myself regarding mislabelling. With the claim made against me, I stuck to my guns, the buyer won the dispute and returned the item. I measured, and the buyer had been telling the truth- the item was mislabelled, and as I hadn't worn the item much I'd failed to notice.

When I claimed against a seller, they had sold me a garment that was far too big to be the size advertised. The item must have either been ridiculously generously cut, or was an American size, which are very different from UK sizes.

As the cardigan even had the measurements in cm, it seems unlikely that they are incorrect. Is it possible it shrank in the wash? I think in the majority of cases people are trying it on, they think simply because an item doesn't fit they can get a refund like they would in a shop. Her child is probably too big for it and she doesn't want the hassle of selling it on again or cutting her losses.

I would ask her to measure the cardigan and tell you what size it is, so you can determine if the sizing might have been off in the first place. Clothes do get mislabelled, but I would only consider the seller at fault if the true size is very different from advertised (ie so much bigger or smaller than you should have noticed simply by looking at it).

From experience the buyer does tend to win these disputes, especially as it is difficult for PayPal to investigate properly. I would agree to a refund of just the item price, and ask her to pay for the return of the item. It shouldn't cost much to return anyway, and at least then you can check the item for reselling and hopefully escape a neg.

cyberbob

Fuzzy_Duck wrote: »

. I would agree to a refund of just the item price, and ask her to pay for the return of the item. It shouldn't cost much to return anyway, and at least then you can check the item for reselling and hopefully escape a neg.

If she goes via paypal she will get her original postage refunded. As a buyer this would put my back up and insure a dispute and a neg

emby

singlemumstudent wrote: »

OH MY GOD!

She got in touch with me for the first time less than 12 hours ago. I haven't replied yet, because I wanted to decide what to do first. I've just checked my emails, she contacted me again saying to get in touch because "she's a very fair person" apparantly. As well as the new email from her, there's another one from Paypal saying she's opened up a "Item Significantly Not As Described" dispute with them, and I've got £25.95 temporarily deducted from my account.

Like cyberbob said, if she wins the dispute she will have to return the item to you, via recorded/special delivery so that paypal have proof it has been returned, before you issue a refund to her. She may not win the dispute though as you say you described the item fully and quoted the labelled size. Good luck.