Seller bought Item in error, advise please

Mind_Overload

Hey Johnny, no worries on the thread hijack, it's all a learning curve for us, that's why I love this site.

MissGivings_2

Trouble is, in this case, all the buyer has to do is claim the instructions are not in 'stated condition' or they've got a mark on them that wasn't mentioned in the listing.

eBay cases are really taken from what the buyer and seller say, they don't examine items themselves. That's why mostly buyers will win a Not as Described case.

Just had a thought though OP-if the buyer were to state that the instructions were not in good condition or some other nonsense in the case, you could cut and paste their message stating they thought it was lego into your reply, couldn't you?

Jen_Jen1985

Even if a case was open its not like ebay can force a refund as paypal wasnt used.

MissGivings_2

johnnyboyrebel wrote: »

With some of the sites I've worked on, customers have received an item and decided they do not want the item any longer and legally they can return to us and we have to issue a full refund. This is down to the DSR's. This results in the initial postage costs to us gone and lost, unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do about that.

Yes, that's almost the same as a Buy It Now sale on eBay- the buyer is entitled to a change of mind and returns at their own expense for a refund of the full item price and the original p&p

Crowqueen

MissGivings wrote: »

eBay do allow the wording 'no returns' for private sellers, but it really has no weight and I believe they're going to phase it out by 2013.
May be a good thing to prevent confusion for buyers?

No - the 2013 thing is on auctions for business sellers - the DSRs, which govern returns for any reason, are being expanded in remit to all sales from business sellers only. Private sellers have to sell the item as described; if OP's listing was in any way misleading and the buyer made a mistake then I'd be inclined to refund. I hope you did not upload any pictures of actual Lego or the box lid or anything - and then only sent them instructions. Buyers see the picture before they necessarily read the listing, so it's your responsibility to be absolutely clear - and the Xbox fraud is usually held up as an example of how not to list as sellers are legally liable for what they list and misleading listings are firmly against the law.

If the buyer pays by a method other than Paypal then they can't enforce a return, which is why people say having "no returns" on a listing is futile in many cases. however, an unhappy buyer is an unhappy buyer, I would refund them, particularly if the item has not been posted out yet, or accept a return if you have.

Being a friendly and reasonable seller is going to get you a lot further than being snotty about no returns and uploading confusing listings.

Crowqueen

MissGivings wrote: »

Yes, that's almost the same as a Buy It Now sale on eBay- the buyer is entitled to a change of mind and returns at their own expense for a refund of the full item price and the original p&p

eBay allows the seller to set their own conditions - in this case to get that sort of "deal" under the DSRs the sellers' terms have to be 100% legal and by the book otherwise the buyer gets a lot more rights. In this way the seller is encouraged to put up terms which are legally valid.

eBay do not currently have a process through which a buyer can apply for a DSR return. At present the only returns eBay caters for directly are SNAD returns - the rest is left up to the seller.

Unfortunately, unimaginably many eBay sellers' terms are null and void because they don't conform to the law. I wish sometimes eBay would establish one particular set of terms that govern all sellers, which would give buyers a better deal than the patchwork rules currently in place.

johnnyboyrebel

MissGivings wrote: »

Trouble is, in this case, all the buyer has to do is claim the instructions are not in 'stated condition' or they've got a mark on them that wasn't mentioned in the listing

If this was the case anyone would buy an item and do just this, from what you are saying there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop it.

I will be doing this myself this weekend to see if it does work...

I cannot believe for a second this is right, if so then eBay is more of a joke than I've heard!!

soolin

johnnyboyrebel wrote: »

If this was the case anyone would buy an item and do just this, from what you are saying there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop it.

I will be doing this myself this weekend to see if it does work...

I cannot believe for a second this is right, if so then eBay is more of a joke than I've heard!!

As you are a seller you really ought to sit and read some of the terms and conditions on ebay and paypal as this might be the reason why you are struggling a bit.

On ebay or Paypal it is quite possible to raise a claim of SNAD (significantly not as described' and it is quite posisble that ebay/paypal will find for the buyer- there is no real arbitration so it is probably easier to find for the buyer, ask for the item to be returned for a full refund. That is the closest a third party can get to with putting the buyer and seller (nearly) back into the position they were before the sale.

I am also concerned that as you sell on Amazon you need to be aware that the buyer has more rights than on ebay, and on Amazon the DSRs apply to all sellers so any buyer can return anything at all without even claiming SNAD.

notbritishgas

soolin wrote: »

As you are a seller you really ought to sit and read some of the terms and conditions on ebay and paypal as this might be the reason why you are struggling a bit.

On ebay or Paypal it is quite possible to raise a claim of SNAD (significantly not as described' and it is quite posisble that ebay/paypal will find for the buyer- there is no real arbitration so it is probably easier to find for the buyer, ask for the item to be returned for a full refund. That is the closest a third party can get to with putting the buyer and seller (nearly) back into the position they were before the sale.

I am also concerned that as you sell on Amazon you need to be aware that the buyer has more rights than on ebay, and on Amazon the DSRs apply to all sellers so any buyer can return anything at all without even claiming SNAD.

My thought is that as the buyer paid by postal order they will not be able to raise a SNAD claim.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/buyer-protection.html#conditions

soolin

notbritishgas wrote: »

My thought is that as the buyer paid by postal order they will not be able to raise a SNAD claim.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/buyer-protection.html#conditions

Not via paypal but ebay do now support claims- although I have no experience of how they actually work. However I was replying to Johnnyboyrebel who was unaware how easy SNAD claims are generally.