Buyer now says item is faulty.......where from here?

nikki02_2

I sold an item a couple of weeks ago, buyer paid, posted item, received positive feedback and left positive feedback for him.
Jump to today......... buyer says item has stopped working and want's a refund.

I don't know if it's just coincidence but I only left feedback for him last night, and he emails me this morning saying he wants a refund.

Item was a computer item and he paid about £14 for it. It was almost new when I sold it, in perfect working order and sold as used. Playing devils advocate, what's to say he hasn't damaged it himself?

Where do I go from here? Do I have to offer him a refund? What are the rules of play and would ebay back him if he were to open a case?

gregmac666

If your buyer has left positive feedback, then it's case closed as far as I'm concerned, as that means they are satisfied withe the item.

You need to find out the specifics of what is wrong with the item. Get as much detail as possible & see if that calls their bluff.

I often wonder if someone might buy something from me on eBay & then replace the item I send with an identical broken item & try to return it as a faulty item, thereby gaining a refund & not paying a penny for a perfectly decent item.

With this in mind, and a few close calls in the past from weird buyers, I scan all my items in hi-res before I send them, so I know that if I receive a dodgy one in return, I can prove it was not the original. I did this with a bunch of PCI cards some time ago - kept a copy of all the serial numbers, etc. Just something to think about in the future.

But back to the now...

What item was it & how would it be used. You need to try to find out if it's a case of buyer error, which is highly likely with computer items. I've sold pieces to people before now who have plainly not ready my item description & then tried to get a refund after they have bid, paid & received the item. Happened to me with a graphics card last year which didn't work with their type computer.

It's important to stay helpful at all times, no matter how weird they get. Just make it so that you look good & see what happens.

If they're serious they'll get eBay involved & you can then fight your side. Remember - he left positive feedback for you, which say that all is well.

I know I rambled, but I hope that helps a bit.

winnie88

Whether he left feedback or not is immaterial. The buyer can still open a dispute and ebay/Paypal will then look into it and may ask the buyer to send item back tracked? Once you get the item back ebay/paypal will issue a refund.

pug_in_a_bed

how long ago are we talking about? buyer has 45 days to open a dispute

shellsuit

pug_in_a_bed wrote: »

how long ago are we talking about? buyer has 45 days to open a dispute

sold an item a couple of weeks ago

OP, are they saying they have used it and it's now broken, or have they only just got around to using it and found it is broken??

terra_ferma

gregmac666 wrote: »

If your buyer has left positive feedback, then it's case closed as far as I'm concerned, as that means they are satisfied withe the item.

That is wrong.
What if the item works for 5 mins, they give you pos fb, and then it stops working?

scheming_gypsy

Do you have a returns policy or a 'no returns accepted'? You've sold an item, if you're a private seller then the SOGA etc doesn't come into play so if they've tested it and it's worked ok and left feedback accordingly then they've accepted the item.
If you want to play fairly you could ask them to return it and you'll test it and issue a refund; if they want a refund first then i'd tell them to sling it as they're either planning on sending a faulty back or keeping it and the money.

nikki02_2

This is the message they have sent me.

''Hi, sorry but screen is no working, can i return it and get refund, beacause i buy already another one it was need immediate for my customer.''

English clearly isn't their first language and it seems as though they have sold it on to somebody else and it's now 'not working'.

My returns policy stated ' No returns Accepted' which is standard for everything I sell on Ebay.

hermum

They can open a SNAD in either ebay paypal & there's a very strong possibility that they would be told to return it for a full refund.
Regardless of what you put in your listings or whether you're a private or business seller there are 45 days to open a SNAD case.
Did you sell them a used or new item?
It does seem strange that they bought from you for a customer who needed it urgently, then didn't tell you for 2 weeks that it didn't work. Whether you could win a dispute or at least get ebay to find a no fault & refund the buyer who knows.
Maybe you could try a message saying that you think that they must have mixed up the purchases as yours was presumably working when they left feedback, this could of course really p the buyer off.

shaun_from_Africa

it seems as though they have sold it on to somebody else and it's now 'not working'

Have you looked at your buyers recent history for items sold?
If you do and it appears that they have resold this item to someone else, you may be able to state this in the dispute if one is opened.

chemical.galaxy

nikki02 wrote: »

This is the message they have sent me.

''Hi, sorry but screen is no working, can i return it and get refund, beacause i buy already another one it was need immediate for my customer.''

English clearly isn't their first language and it seems as though they have sold it on to somebody else and it's now 'not working'.

My returns policy stated ' No returns Accepted' which is standard for everything I sell on Ebay.

To me it reads that the buyer found that the screen no longer worked and had to buy another - not to sell to his customer but to carry on trading and doing business with his customers!