Buyer Return Fraud

scrumpyjim

I recently sold an item on Ebay which the buyer said had some out of date bottles. I offered to refund the cost of the bottles but the buyer said that they had gone out that day and bought a new item so it was no longer required.

I messaged back straight way with my return address but the buyer ignored this and open a case through Ebay straight away. I agreed to a refund upon return.

This morning the postman told me I had a package to sign for, which I initially signed for. He handed over a package containing just the bottle rather than the complete item. I asked if I could reject the item and he was able to do this.

Is there anything I can do ? Won't Ebay refund regardless?

Crowqueen

Appeal the case, stating the buyer only returned part of what you sent out as a complete item as sold on your listing.

The buyer will normally be refunded anyway , but you get to keep the money yourself/reimbursed by eBay, if your appeal is successful.

If the buyer had returned the wrong item (i.e. a different make of bottle than the one you sent out) that would have been actual fraud and what eBay call 'claim abuse', reportable through their system. As it stands however, I think they might have got the wrong idea about disputes and sent back only the part of the item that was faulty - and as such it would be fairer to appeal the case than report for claim abuse.

scrumpyjim

Do you think it would have been better to accept the bottle rather than reject it? Looking at the buyers feedback left for others (over 100 negatives left) I have a feeling they knew what they were sending back.

Crowqueen

Out of how many other feedback?! I must admit, sounds like feedback abuse; although you don't know how many actual dud purchases or idiot sellerst they've met, if that was my experience of eBay (and in some categories it has been) I'd stop buying that sort of item, or only shop where I could see the item before I received it! That is probably grounds for report, definitely, though I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt if they have left a few negs out of a lot of feedback (say 1 in 100 or 1 in 1000 or whatever, though your seller would have to have left 10,000 FB to qualify for that sort of ratio!).

As for what you've asked about accepting the return... I would have accepted a return as a matter of course; I have a 14-day no quibble returns policy, return postage paid, on my auctions (which is as flexible as I need it to be and it has never been taken up on), but you did that anyway. I would have said I would make a part refund based on the fact that I'd sold out-of-date items to begin with, and would have checked that before listing it as it might have been easier to sell the OK parts of the item separately (I'm thinking some sort of cosmetic set here, with e.g a bottle of smelly stuff and a brush or comb or sponge or something?). I made a similar mistake on a pack of cards I sold; I listed them with a template that said instructions included, and it turned out that there were no instructions; and to be honest it wasn't worth the aggro of buyer being unhappy with them, so I gave a small rebate to salvage what I could of the rest of the sale.

I'd have done that in this case if I accepted that a mistake had been made on my part. They're no use to me when returned.

Since it's your/my mistake originally (you don't say that part was untrue), I would definitely have accepted a return, no question. I have advised that you've no specific case for claim abuse, since the item that came back was the one that got sent out. However, I definitely think you have grounds for appeal against only the bottle being sent back and not the items that were sold with it - and would strongly advise you to check items thoroughly before listing them for sale; it might save the problem later on.

scrumpyjim

I always accept returns where the fault is mine. What I mean is that I didn't sign for the item as it wasn't the complete item as it was sent. So the bottle will be returned to sender.

I test and check things before putting them on Ebay but I'm not in the habit of checking used empty plastic bottles for use by dates.

scrumpyjim

Out of 461 feedbacks left 83 were negative and 31 were neutral.

Strapped

Unfortunately, an attempted delivery will still be sufficient for your buyer to be refunded, but as CQ says, you can appeal (but don't hold your breath).

jpsartre

scrumpyjim wrote: »

Out of 461 feedbacks left 83 were negative and 31 were neutral.

That's a ridiculous statistic.

building_with_lego

May we have their ebay ID please, so we can block them?!

Taadaa

One for the blocked bidder list for sure.

scrumpyjim

I've added them to my blocked bidder list but its against forum rules to share that information with the rest of you.