Bit of a conundrum - help please

curlycurly09

I sell stuff odd bits and pieces on ebay. I am quite pedantic about it - I spend a lot of time on listing, photos, packaging, and I think I am good at communicating. I am also very quick to refund when things occasionally go wrong, and unless I smell a rat, I often let the buyer keep the item as well as the refund. So, you can see, I don't make a huge amount out of it, and I am certainly not in the game of ripping buyers off!

I sold a brooch last sunday. it had a stone missing, and this was made clear in the listing. The buyer paid straightaway, and I despatched it the next day first class.

The buyer then sent a rude email saying it was misdescribed, in fact there are two stones missing, not happy, give me a refund. No problem, I said, send it back and I will send you a refund. Then they sent a further email saying in fact there are three stones missing. OK now I am smelling a rat because I didn't examine it with a microscope, but the stones are large enough to see reasonably easily, and definitely there were not 3 missing. Ho hum, maybe the item was damaged in the post.

So then I had another email saying "I have returned the item first class recorded... and it is in your local sorting office ... please refund immediately". So I collected the item from the sorting office and, no prizes for guessing, it is not the same brooch.

Any advice? I would say that perhaps I should better just refund the £15-odd because I don't like hassle, I have 100% feedback which I don't want ruined, and I can't prove it isn't the same brooch. But, equally, I am increasingly irritated by rude buyers who demand everything, because they know they can leave you negative feedback, and you can do nothing in return. I am feeling particularly annoyed at the moment because I have also just had two unfair and very rude neutrals out of the blue, and the buyer did not contact me before leaving them.

So sorry this is long guys, but if anyone has any suggestions/wisdom, I wld be very grateful.

curly

hermum

How different is it to the brooch you sent? I would message the seller & say that they have obviously got transactions mixed up and while you are happy to refund on your sales, you can't make refunds on other peoples property. If it's big enough say that you somehow had it marked.

curlycurly09

It is the same "model" of brooch, if you like, but it definitely isn't the one I sent. The clasp is loose, and there is a scratch on the front, and there are three stones missing. I can accept the stones and the scratch could be due to damage in posting (except that my packing was v careful) but the clasp cannot have gone from being "quite stiff" (because it had never been worn on a piece of clothing") to "very loose". hope that makes sense, and thanks for taking the time to respond.

lookingforsun

If I were being cynical, I'd say that the buyer bought your brooch, as it was the same as their damaged one. They saw an opportunity to get a *better* condition brooch, and then also get a refund, so in effect they cannot lose.

They originally said there were *two* stones missing? My cynicism would argue that they took an extra stone from their one (that they sent you), and used it to replace the one missing on your original one too.

Unless there was some markings, unique to yours, I can't see how you can prove this one isn't. I'm sure that photographically it looks the same (albeit with more stones missing)

pinkshoes

I would send them a polite email back (via ebay) along the lines of:

Dear <buyer's name>

Many thanks for returning the brooch, but it seems you have returned the wrong one by mistake. My one had a very stiff clasp, and a security water identity mark on it, and this one hasn't.

Could you please now return the correct brooch to me so that I can issue you with a full refund.

Kind Regards,

<you>

OwtForNowt

Can you check on goofbay to see if they bought another broach like they one you received back?

curlycurly09

Wow guys, thanks so much. I must be very naive, I would never have thought of ripping someone off in this way! ..

lookingforsun - that does seem entirely plausible, doesn't it? I took a really close up photo, but you can barely tell that the stone was missing unless you know where it was supposed to be. I have looked at it really closely and I can't see any other stones missing, but that is not to say that there weren't, and as you correctly say, I have no proof anyway

pinkshoes - good suggestion

owtfornowt (great name btw) - again, good suggestion

Thanks for your time, all

curly