Please help - urgent ebay advice needed!

Refund_Queen

Hi, I desperately need some advice to make sure that i'm doing the right thing. I sold a greenhouse on ebay, heres some of the listing;

EDEN ALUMINIUM GREENHOUSE
I'm selling this greenhouse on behalf of my mum, she needs the space and it has to go!!
She is unsure how old it is but it is all intact in good condition, no windows broken, etc. It features a sliding door, a top opening window and the wooden staging also comes as part of the auction.
Viewings welcome, just let me know and I will arrange a time with my Mum.
PLEASE NOTE: The winner of this auction MUST dismantle and collect the greenhouse by Sunday 22nd August. Any damage caused during dismantling is the responsibility of the buyer.
Pay Pal payment must be completed prior to dismantling.
Any questions, just ask!

The winning bidder arrived today (later than arranged) to dismantle it. They did not view it prior to bidding. The buyer arrived with her husband and their 2 children who were approx 6 months and 4 years old - I didnt know she was bringing her children. My mum rang me to say that things weren't going very well (I was at home with my 3 children) and said that they hadnt come very prepared; he had a few tools but not appropriate ones to do the job, no gloves or newspaper and other things like the woman had flipflops on. Apparently the man couldnt undo some of the nuts from the bolts and that he wanted a refund. Mum advised that he remove the glass first so that he could get to the back of the bolts. By then one of them had cracked a pane of glass – not sure who although the man had already told his son several times to put the tools down.

I spoke to him on the phone and he described the bolts as being inside a track that he couldnt get to the back of. I told him that it would probably help if he took the glass off first. He said that he didnt want to do that as there was definitely no way to get to the back of the bolt. He admitted to cracking a pane of glass and that he would pay for it but he wanted a refund for the greenhouse.
I decided to go round. When I got there he showed me what he meant - I could see that the nut was twisting round with the bolt - he showed me about 6, only 2 of these seemed stuck. I again said to take glass off to have a good look but he just refused saying he wasn’t stupid, that he knew what he was doing as he was an engineer.

Apparently the first thing the lady said when she saw the greenhouse was that it was older than she thought it would be. To be honest I think from that point they didn’t want to go through with the sale and that they were trying to do everything that they could to get out of it. They initially offered to pay in cash so I could save on paypal fees but I wanted to go through paypal for a bit of peace of mind and I think (?) it offers mutual protection if things go wrong, but I know ive made a big mistake. As a seller I should have checked that it would dismantle ok and I didn’t.

I did however tell them that my husband would come and look at the bolts (he’s an engineer) and if he said there would be no way of doing so then I would of course refund him. The buyer just said no and that he wanted a refund. When I said that I was sure it was possible to resolve, I even said that they could go home as they had young kids with them (had to collect another one up when they got home) and that hubby and I would dismantle it for them. He and his wife got quite negative, saying that if I didn’t refund him thenit would be like robbery and that I was breaking contracts and that he would leave neg feedback etc. I walked away to speak to my mum at this point as I didn’t like his tone.

He then came over and showed me one of the bolts that was stuck – he said it had sheared off in his hand and that it proved the greenhouse was not as described. The lady started to become quite loud and I asked her to lower her voice as the neighbours were out in their gardens but said she didn’t care etc. I said I didn’t want to argue in front of my children and she again said that she didn’t care and it was all my own fault. I then asked them to leave. I really wanted to resolve the situation and was trying to help them but they simply didn’t want to listen. He refused to leave without ‘something in writing’ and I put my foot down and said to go through ebay. Then he got pretty rude and said that id taken £x off of 2 strangers and told me to keep it.

They have now opened a dispute with ebay;

Details provided by the buyer:
The buyer said the item doesn't match your description
The buyer has tried contacting you
The buyer paid on Aug 19, 2010
The buyer contacted you through: "personal visit"
You have responded to the buyer
The buyer is expecting a solution from you
The buyer said the item is unusable
Additional information:
"On arriving to view the greenhouse I surveyed the item an it was obvious it was too old and unusable and not as described. I informed the seller that we dis not want to purchase the greenhouse and if it would be ok for a refund. This was refused. I left empty handed and out of pocket. "
The buyer wanted:
A full refund

My hubby has had a look and he says theres no reason why it wont dismantle and that the bolts are accessible - if you remove the glass. We are going to dismantle it tomorrow.

Can anyone give me some advice on what I should do please?!?
Thanks, RQ

perfectpeta

id advise just refunding him through paypal and offer it to the next highest bidder, there was nothing to stop him opening the same dispute after he has taken away the greenhouse - you should think yourself lucky he didnt scam you and have the greenhouse and the money aswell

the next person to come will probably know what hes on with and wont be so mardy about it

good luck xx

Maysie

Just refund nothing else you can do. Paypal will usually side with the buyer. They are not interested in who did what. Most people try and avoid paypal on collection only items. Its impossible to prove delivery and if there are any disagreements on an item seller generally loses out.

pug_in_a_bed

Next time if you're offered cash on collection take it; if the buyer claims item not received, even if they have collected, you would lose a dispute as you would have no proof of delivery. There are some unscrupulous buyers around. I'd refund and move on.

harveybobbles

Get it dismantled, then reply to the dispute saying "Now dismantled, ready for collection"

lindseykim13

i need a greenhouse lol
moral of the story never except paypal for a collection item.

hermum

Refund them, block them from bidding for anything else of yours again, then make a 2nd chance offer to the under bidder. Hopefully they offer cash on collection & accept it.

Refund_Queen

harveybobbles wrote: »

Get it dismantled, then reply to the dispute saying "Now dismantled, ready for collection"

My husband just finished taking it down an its all came apart ok, it took him under 2 hours. Do you think that I should email the buyer saying the above, or go via ebay dispute route?

If I had asked for cash on collection as mentioned by others he wouldnt have handed the money over anyway. Also how am I going to bill him for the pane of glass that he broke?

Thanks x

emerald_starcat

Ask him if you can refund him the amount he paid minus the breakages cost then you can offer it to the next highest bidder.

Mrs_justjohn

emerald_starcat wrote: »

Ask him if you can refund him the amount he paid minus the breakages cost then you can offer it to the next highest bidder.

You will lose the dispute - Try offering a partial refund of the full cost minus the cost of replacing the broken glass. I think this is the ONLY chance you have of getting any form of reimbursement.

Refund_Queen

Can someone please tell me what happens when you win an ebay dispute and also what happens when you loose?!? ta x