Some buyers think sellers are complete mugs

thriftymanc

So, you sell something on Ebay which is in absolutely perfect condition and really well packaged. Then one day you log into Ebay to see a claim has been opened. The buyer is sobbing about how they're so terribly upset that the item you've sold them isn't as described, it's all mangled and how could you do this to them as they've been looking for ages for this one doohickey to complete their set of doohickeys, and they only bought it because they thought it would be brand new, and they know it's all your fault as the packaging wasn't damaged. How terribly unlucky for the buyer! The only explanation is that some sod of a postman must have carefully opened the parcel without ruining the outer packaging, taken the doohickey out, damaged it in the highly specific way that the buyer has gone to great lengths to tell you about, put it back in the parcel, taped it back up and delivered it to the poor unsuspecting buyer. What is the world coming to?

Of course, the buyer is happy to accept a partial refund - because as we all know, a partial refund has the magical power to transform a shoddy, unacceptable doohickey into one in mint condition. This magical power means that the buyer doesn't have to go to all the hassle of returning a damaged doohickey for a full refund so they can use the money to buy a better one. Less hassle for everyone! Happy days!

Out of sheer curiosity, you look at the buyer's feedback and see that they've bought and sold a good number of the exact same doohickey over the past couple of years. Well, hot dang, how terribly unlucky that they bought and sold all of these items before deciding that they desperately needed one for their own personal collection, and bought yours which was in such bad condition! A more cynical person might think that this was actually a dealer who'd already sold your doohickey for more than they paid for it, and were trying to palm you off with a poor condition doohickey they'd bought elsewhere... but you're not that cynical, are you? Poor, poor, unlucky buyer.

Oh no, to compound matters, you seem to have accidentally hit the 'return item for a full refund' button. Oh diddums, the buyer's going to have to return this shockingly bad doohickey after all

Of course, how they're going to explain that the unique doohickey feature on the returned item doesn't match the one originally sent out and mentioned in the listing... well, the afore-mentioned sod of a postman must have somehow managed to change that as well, mustn't he? You just cannot believe what a terrible, sad world we live in these days. Gosh.



(In other words, I've had a lovely evening conversing with the one of the world's thickest would-be scammers and would bet one of my toes that I never hear from them again. At least try to cover your tracks if you're going to pull a fast one! They clearly thought they'd try to get an even cheaper item off me, thinking I'd roll over and give the partial refund no questions asked - no chance matey, I want my allegedly damaged item back! Not going to happen as they've already sold it and it's got a unique identifier that means they can't return a different item to me!)

isthatreduced

Glad to here you won't be out of pocket and at least it gave you a bit of satisfaction knowing that they couldnt get one over on you.
I only buy on ebay now,couldnt be doing with the stress of selling.

Brooker_Dave

thriftymanc wrote: »

(In other words, I've had a lovely evening conversing with the one of the world's thickest would-be scammers and would bet one of my toes that I never hear from them again. At least try to cover your tracks if you're going to pull a fast one! They clearly thought they'd try to get an even cheaper item off me, thinking I'd roll over and give the partial refund no questions asked - no chance matey, I want my allegedly damaged item back! Not going to happen as they've already sold it and it's got a unique identifier that means they can't return a different item to me!)

What happens if they just send a box with a phone book in it back, via a tracked signed for method?

Won't be so smug then, innit.