Urgent Help please - Send Item or Refund?

lexuslass

Hi

I really messed up on one of my listings that finished on sunday - I'll try and keep this short.

I took a load of gold jewellery into a local jewellers to sell - they gave me two of them back and advised me to sell them seperately (on ebay) as I would get more for them because of the diamond content in them. I asked them to size them for me and they told me one was 0.3 carat (which I already knew this one was) and the other was 0.5 carat.

So I listed them on ebay stating "I believe this has 0.x carat of diamonds". One of them sold on Sunday - the one I listed as 0.5 carat.

I was polishing it up yesterday to send it special delivery and noticed on the inside of the ring it says 0.25.. I presume this must relate to the diamonds. I cannot believe I missed this before - but yesterday I was sitting directly under the lightbulbs - when I listed, it was in daylight and I couldn't use the flash on my camera as it was reflecting off the ring.

I was gutted and immediately emailed the buyer and explained everything and said I was quite happy to refund her the money.

Got this email last night:
Thanks for the email today... where are we? did you post the ring?

I emailed back and said i hadn't posted it as I wasn't sure she still wanted the ring.

Got this email this morning:

I think you should send the ring anyway and I'll see if I like it. After all I have paid for it!

What shall I do? Do I refund saying that I didn't want to send out something that she hasn't really bid for, or send it hoping (and praying) that she likes it?

If I send it and she decides she doesn't like it, I'm going to lose out on so much postage etc.

I know it's all my fault but I was upfront with her as soon as I realised my mistake. I am a private seller with 100% - 1300 feedback and don't want to risk a negative!

She has 2 feedback and I'm wondering if she quite 'gets' how ebay works!

Help!!

Thanks in advance!

frivolous_fay

Was the final price a lot? What do you think the difference in price should be?
Maybe they're happy paying that for a diamond ring.
Why not pull their details and give them a ring if you're worried?

jamsandwhich

If it was me I wouldn't send it - her answers to your emails seem a bit odd and sound alarms to me. She could very well go through a significantly not as described dispute wanting a partial refund or want to return it at a cost to you. It is the 'I will see if I like it' bit that I think rings bells.

I am not a huge ebayer though and am not really up on the regs so am sure a more knowledgeble person will be along to help:)

lexuslass

Thanks for your reply Fay. I had a fair few watchers but (whether it was people just watching to see how much it went for or because I was foolish enough to end the auction while the X-Factor was on!) she was the only bidder so it went for the starting price (£70).

I'm no jeweller but I still think it's a good price for the ring - similar rings are going for £100+ on ebay.

I started the auction at the minimum price I would be willing to accept for the ring (including ebay fees etc).

I was offered about £45 for the ring from the jeweller (scrap value) - reckon I'd be left with less than that if I send it and end up refunding the amount she'd paid or her asking for a partial refund when she receives it!

Wish she'd have just said she wanted a full refund - I could have relisted it and corrected the details!

lexuslass

jamsandwhich wrote: »

If it was me I wouldn't send it - her answers to your emails seem a bit odd and sound alarms to me. She could very well go through a significantly not as described dispute wanting a partial refund or want to return it at a cost to you. It is the 'I will see if I like it' bit that I think rings bells.

I am not a huge ebayer though and am not really up on the regs so am sure a more knowledgeble person will be along to help:)

Thanks for your reply.. it was that reply which sounded alarm bells to me too!

Gothicfairy

Maybe she likes the look of the ring rather then the amount of carat ? I am not sure that helps much but it might be that she is not that bothered as she thinks she paid a good price for something she likes.

I once bought a pendant that was listed as white gold but once cleaned was silver.....I paid the price I would have paid for it being silver anyway and wear it all the time so it might be ok

I hope

soolin

lexuslass wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Fay. I had a fair few watchers but (whether it was people just watching to see how much it went for or because I was foolish enough to end the auction while the X-Factor was on!) she was the only bidder so it went for the starting price (£70).

I'm no jeweller but I still think it's a good price for the ring - similar rings are going for £100+ on ebay.

I started the auction at the minimum price I would be willing to accept for the ring (including ebay fees etc).

I was offered about £45 for the ring from the jeweller (scrap value) - reckon I'd be left with less than that if I send it and end up refunding the amount she'd paid or her asking for a partial refund when she receives it!

Wish she'd have just said she wanted a full refund - I could have relisted it and corrected the details!

If this goes to a paypal dispute she can't insist on a partial refund, you are perfectly entitled to have the ring back and then refund her in full.

Crowqueen

The best idea is to be honest and explain beforehand.

It's her money, if you send it and she doesn't think it's worth what she paid, she'd be within her rights to do an SNAD.

lexuslass

Crowqueen wrote: »

The best idea is to be honest and explain beforehand.

It's her money, if you send it and she doesn't think it's worth what she paid, she'd be within her rights to do an SNAD.

I was completely honest and upfront with her. I was packaging it up yesterday, noticed it and emailed her immediately - I was very apologetic and offered to refund her money ... to which I get the reply "I think you should send the ring anyway and I'll see if I like it. After all I have paid for it!"

Crowqueen

Oh dear.

That sounds to me that she suspects something "happened" to the ring and you didn't want to let it go for the price you got for it. I've encountered this on the other forums from the buyer's point of view, both from sellers who have said "the dog ate it" and who have been more honest about why they are refunding the buyer. In both situations, the buyer is usually advised to file a non-performing seller report, and I think if the buyer was the one here, it might look from the other side as if you thought it should go for more too.

That is happening a lot with sellers refusing to sell. I think the buyer is calling your bluff - or the bluff she thinks you are making. To be honest, it's what we would tell her to do if she was here with the other side of this story. If you send it to her, and she doesn't like it, make sure you spell it out to her that she can return it for a full refund (don't say "no partial refunds", but make it abundantly clear in a positive way). If you don't send it, she may neg you saying "seller didn't get enough for the ring" and file the non-performing seller report, which not only sanctions you, it leaves a bad mark on your feedback reports.

I'm sorry, I gave you poor advice. Sometimes you can't win. This looks to be one of those times.

I think the best thing to do here is send it and accept that it may come back for a full refund. She doesn't need to go to dispute if she's unhappy though - tell her you will give her a refund on return of item if she's not happy, without a dispute.

It's difficult to see things from both sides but in this case you've fallen into about the worst possible case scenario. From the way other sellers abuse eBay, this has made buyers - and forum posters - very cynical.

lexuslass

I guess I am just going to have to send it.... and keep everything crossed and hope she likes it!

Just heard so many horror stories on here about people not receiving their items back and having to refund anyway!