what to do?

demonblade

ViJay wrote:

Seems clear enough to me too - it's in the second line of the description that the buyer should choose which one!

Sorry but the buyer is just dense...

agreed.

You are buying one only... please state which you would like when paying at checkout.
Each items plays one of the following tunes:...

the "Each items..." implies more than one for sale, and the "buying only one only" confirms it. Her mistake not your problem.

However I do have to say if it were my auction, i would make it extra clear. Always expect all your buyer to be stupid, that way you are covered. Also too much info confuses the "normal" brain and in my opinion your terms and condition is unnecessary.

sarahlouise210

the auction would have been clearer if you had numbered the mobile options and stated which tune related to each mobile. if you really did not feel you should contact the buyer when she did not state a preference you should have sent the teddy mobile as this was the main photo in the listing.

blue_haddock

The auction isn't very clear - it would of been better to have three seperate auctions, one for each item then there could be no confusion.

Hintza

AUCTION IS FOR ONE MOBILE - CHOICE OF THREE

I have three different mobiles to choose from (you are bidding on ONE) please let me know which mobile you want.

Tune A - Furry Animal 1
Tune B - Furry Animal 2
Tune C - Furry Animal 3

Something like this is how to list; keep it clear and concise so as to avoid confusion (or list seperately).

I agree that the buyer probably does not speak very good English and as a responsible seller I would realise that my listing could have been better and would sort it out in the buyers favour.

Even the photos are hard to tell apart!

Sugar_Coated_Owl

So were there 2 bears and 1 giraffe mobile to choose from? Not sure how you tell the bears apart. There's one large picture of the bear mobile, 3 smaller pictures of two bears and a giraffe and then a list of 3 different lullabys with no mention of which lullaby goes with which mobile. It's no wonder that the auction caused some confusion.

Kaminari_2

I can't believe you sent a mobile without them telling you which one and just assumed that the one you sent was suitable. Why didn't you contact the buyer to find out which one they wanted?

I'm really surprised that no one has complained before this if this is what you do. I would refund and send them out the one they wanted and learn from it but then again i would not have listed an auction with a choice or sent an item without knowing which one to send.

shellsuit

You have given a choice, the buyer didn't choose one so all you had to do was confirm with the buyer by email to see which one they wanted.

They weren't sure about the choices and either didn't read the listing properly or just assumed that you would send the one in the main picture, but by you not asking which one they had you are going to lose money.

If I were you I wouldn't have sent anything until the buyer had told me which one they wanted, because I know I would end up with a mess like you are in now.

I can see it from both sides, but surely a quick mail asking which one they wanted wouldn't have hurt?

Also, if the buyer paid with Paypal, are you sure there was no note with the payment?

lil_me

I can also see both sides and have had similar happen to me. I think the description was a bit unclear but understood it myself. I had 6 toys in different colours advertised. Did ask them to state which one when paying/checkout. Emailed a buyer for 2 weeks asking which they wanted and just waited for a reply, which never came, then the cheeky sod tried to reclaim money via paypal dispute. Second time I emailed for 3 days, and no reply so sent one and then they complained. Can't win grrr !!

Hintza

lil_me wrote:

Emailed a buyer for 2 weeks asking which they wanted and just waited for a reply, which never came,

This is probably a spam filter (especially if AOL account). If you don't get a reply like this send via ebay or send an email with all mentions of EBay removed, that sometimes works.

bleugh

auction looks good to me,

my suggestion will be to email the bidder upon winning and ask them which they want

your offer of seending a replacement upon receipt of the original is very fair
both of you made a mistake, it's only right that both end up out of pocket a little

why not offer them the teddy one at a slight dicount??
the original went for £11 incl post. i'm sure they'd rather pay (say) £7.50 incl post for the teddy one as well as the one they have, obviously make up your own discount here, but offer, you never know.......................