Ebay help needed please

screamer

I bought an item on 12th February, personalised wedding invitations, and they finally arrived this morning. Overall, I'm very disappointed with the item. It's shoddily made, the item looks absolutely nothing like it does in the pictures, the wording is all wrong because I requested something as the listing didn't make much sense. The seller did exactly as I asked but they added an extra bit on so the wording just doesn't make sense but this can easily be blamed on me.

I raised a claim a couple of days ago as the item hadn't arrived yet and contacted the seller today to say I wanted a partial refund but have decided I want a complete refund as the item is well, to put it mildly, crap!

The problem I have is that the seller has repeatedly changed the listing in the past 5 weeks so I can't prove that the mistake is NOT all my own. I've looked at her feedback and somehow the cheeky mare has managed to get all of her negative feedback removed, she leaves nasty feedback for others and has even changed her username a couple of times in the past few weeks too. Am I out of order for expecting a refund based on the item looking nothing like it does in the picture? The detailing, wording, design is all completely different to the picture. I feel mean because the item is personalised and was fairly cheap but is that any reason for me to settle for substandard goods? I'm torn, do I chase up for a refund, £24 total, or should I just swallow it? It appears that many customers are less than happy with her but of course her feedback keeps disappearing. Dodgy seller if ever I saw one.

I wish I'd never bothered, all this for some sparkly flaming purple butterflies which don't even sparkle!

hermum

Exclusions from eBay Buyer Protection

eBay Buyer Protection doesn’t cover services and certain categories of goods, false, abusive or illegitimate cases, or purchases where you have been or may be compensated by another third party. The following purchases are excluded:
items that violate our Prohibited or Restricted Items Policy;
intangible goods;
custom made items;
You aren't covered by ebay or Paypal for custom made items unfortunately.
Someone has said that some items are changing on 1st April, & will now be covered, I don't know whether that will include custom made items, or if you would have had to buy after 1st April.
It may be worth looking through the announcements to see if you can find the right bit.

kevineden

you may struggle to get a refund as they are personilized it is exempt from returns or refunds leave a neg feedback and tell them you may agree to a feedback change if you return the item and you recive a full refund

soolin

Personally I would always give the seller a chance to rectify problems, so email and ask outright for a refund.

If they refuse then I wouldn't worry at all about negging- on the basis that you wouldn't want future buyers to be as disappointed as you have been.

honey10

I'd try with Paypal, they can only say no, and if it was the sellers mess up then they should do something.
Did the seller not send you a proof first?
I ordered mine from eBay and they are gorgeous, so if you want to have a nosy, feel free to pm me :-)

Good luck!

screamer

Kevin, when I opened the claim I hadn't received my invites so I have done nothing fraudulent. In fact, considering the tracking info wasn't supplied until AFTER I opened a claim I still think she's a dodgy seller. Try reading my post properly before calling me a criminal, it does say clearly in my message that I received my items this morning yet I opened a claim a few days ago.

Thanks for your post soolin (hoped you'd pop by lol.) I have been in touch with the seller but she hasn't replied. No big surprise really, she's not been quick to get in touch so far!

Honey10, no the seller didn't send proof. She didn't contact me at all until last Wednesday and that was only after I asked where the heck my order was. I didn't even get a tracking number until I raised a claim, she most definately should have provided that when I enquired last week IMO anyway lol)

I've decided that it's just not worth the hassle and because the evening invites are for people we're obliged to invite we decided the quality isn't that important. For the day invitations, I've bought some materials, NOT SPARKLY PURPLE BUTTERFLIES, from ebay and I'm going to make the day invitations myself. I wish I'd done that first but it was the "sparkly" butterflies that won me over. I'm gutted that they aren't sparkly :-(

I'll cut the rubbish ones up and make some placecards with them or something. I can at least use 9 out of 10 of the envelopes for my new invitations so all is not lost (the other envelope is filthy and not fit for purpose!)

Honey, you can still send me pictures, I'd love to see what you've got :-) x x x

kevineden

sorry i miss read your post i have retracted my comment and sorry again

hermum

I hope that you're able to do something with them.
Don't people say that when things go wrong on the run up, it means the day goes really well?