What do you think?

irishesman

This is my first post so plase be gentle with me - thanks:beer:

I've just sold an old digital camera on e-bay for the grand total of £10-51. The low cost was due to it having been dropped and the battery container being broken and requiring replacing.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the winning bidder sent me a cheque and I duly cashed it and waited until it cleared. Once cleared I posted it and left him positive feedback. The next day it arrived and I got the following email from him

Hi, the camera arrived today and I fixed the door and it does'nt work and
you state on the advert that it works well,so I would like a complete refund
please and if you want the camera back,send me the postage and I will return
it,but please refund first,
I should loose nothing as I paid for something I did'nt get,it's no good to
me at all.
Please get in touch as soon as possible or I have to get ebay involved as
this is fraud.
Thanks Ken


Alarm bells are now ringing as I know the camera works and I dont really want to send him the money until I get it back.

What do you think? Is this a con?

Thanks for your thoughts

mrsb_5

it could be a con but then it may not be, what is the buyers feedback like?
If you don't refund then he can start a non performing seller against you

If you know for definate that it did work ok then stand by your guns, email him and state you know categorically that it worked before you sent it

mcwarre

Depends on your description. Did you just state that the door was broken??? Please post item number and I will have a look

frivolous_fay

There's no way you should refund before receiving it back.

culpepper

I agree with fay on this one.
If an article is faulty and you want your money back ,you return the article.
I would ask the buyer to please mail it back and you will reimburse them for their purchase and postage when you receive it back again.
They cant expect to keep the article wether it is broken or not if they want the money back.
Course they might just be a bit untechnical and have the batteries in upsidedown or even not be using new batteries(mine likes new batteries).

soolin

What did you say in your listing? If you clearly stated what you said to us in the first post i.e. "having been dropped and the battery container being broken and requiring replacing" then you should stick to your guns, if however you glossed over the damage and stated merely that it worked, then ask for the camera back and send him a cheque for a full refund of all his payment and return postage costs.

Soo

alba37

I would also ask for it back first. Tell him you will then refund cost and also postage if you find it to be broken after checking it on return. If you find it works, don't refund postage.

pulliptears

Just as a thought, if he claims to have fixed the door can you be sure he isnt swapping for another camera?

When you email him tell him that you will refund on reciept of your camera back, and on finding your "distinctive mark" you let on the camera before it was posted as proof of originality.

That usually weeds out the conmen.

irishesman

pulliptears wrote:

Just as a thought, if he claims to have fixed the door can you be sure he isnt swapping for another camera?

When you email him tell him that you will refund on reciept of your camera back, and on finding your "distinctive mark" you let on the camera before it was posted as proof of originality.

That usually weeds out the conmen.

:eek: hadn't eben thought of that one!!!!

irishesman

mcwarre wrote:

Depends on your description. Did you just state that the door was broken??? Please post item number and I will have a look

Here is the item number 120036998861, as you can see, you can even see the damage in the photo

Just revceived this reply from him when I queried him

Hi Peter,when it arrived I did what you said and I put the pieces together
and tried it and it did'nt work,so I thought it must be me,so I though if I
sort out the battery lid and try it again it should work and it did'nt work
and it still does'nt work.

I've tried another lid,off my sons cx6200 I've tried putting the correct
rechargeable battery in it and charging it from the base with my sons
Compact flash Card in it.

So I thought I'll try your camera'slid and I've repaired your lid by super
gluing the parts together, then I've used a piece of special tape which the
tape is like metal and I reinforced the outside of the lid and it's solid
and it still does'nt work.

On the base it lights up as it goes through rebooting it,but after charging
for 5 minutes the green light dies and that's it,the battery gets fully
charged,but still nothing.

Now your advert says,this.
Works well , Now that means it works well which it doesn't, even after I've
fixed the battery compartment.
Peter it does'nt work and I want my money back so I can get another camera.
This is'nt for sympathy,I have grade one Multiple Sclerosis the worst,you
just get worse, it's a slow death, I've got 5 years tops,so time means a lot
to me and so I can't stand messing around like this waiting for the
inevitable to happen hence the fraud bit,it was my 3 e-mail I'd sent you.

Anyway, I'm totally bed ridden so on a pension so this camera was for my
daughter who's at college,she can't afford on and I can't afford a new
one,so yours was an easy fix and it does'nt work, so I would like a refund
please or I'm sorry Peter, I will leave bad feedbad, I hate doing it and
it's a while since I've had to do so lets not go that way please. Many thanks Ken.


After the first half of the mail I thought "yes he's tried to get it to work" and I would refund him, but the second half makes me wonder again. I never told him to piece it bacvk together again and only included them so he had the 'complete' camera.

Yes he does have good feedback so I think I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but will ask for it back first

Thanks

frivolous_fay

Wait til you get it back. I don't particularly like his tone or his need to mention his illness and threaten a negative, but I think he sounds genuine.