Angry with eBay buyer

shariatlanta

Just wanted some opinions as to whether I should email buyer.

I have been selling on eBay for a couple of years and if there have been any problems they've been resolved amicably.

Recently my son asked if I would sell some kids clothes for him, rather than use my account I listed them on his, less hassle as the money would go straight to his PayPal account. Several items sold including two identical jumpers. I did state in the listIng that one was more worn but would be ok for play school.Two days after posting I was surprised to see a case had been opened against my sons account, there had been no communication from the buyer at this point. I responded and said if she wasn't happy I would refund, this she agreed to so I duly gave the address to return them. I also mentioned that normally in these cases contact is made between the two parties before a case is opened.

Today she has left negative feedback with a note stating she will keep the items because it would cost more to return them.
She also sent a message at 5.30 last nite stating the same but adding she was thinking maybe a partial refund but she thought she was doing the right thing buy emailing me before leaving negative feedback but gave me no chance to respond.

I'm angry for two reasons, one because a case didn't need to be opened and two, my son has only had his account for a short while so has very little feedback. Why do people assume you sit on eBay all day and not give you the chance to sort things out.
I might add at the time of buying she only had a feedback of 15 herself so obviously hasn't been on there long.

I have composed a message to send but haven't yet as I wanted people's opinions first, it does feel a little underhanded to me, get the goods for next to nothing, complain, agree to a refund then leave neg feedback but agree to keep the goods.

JoW123

Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not quite sure what she is unhappy about? Is it that the jumpers are more worn than expected? Can you give us an idea of how much she paid and without identifying yourself what the negative feedback said roughly??

I agree a negative is harsh and communication has been poor on her part.

squeakysue

If she has mentioned feedback in her messages you may be able to get it removed for feedback extortion.

sequence

You can't easily contact a seller anymore without opening a case. The contact seller function opens a dispute these days. Ebay changed the rules recently, so it's not fair for you to be annoyed with the buyer over that.

butler_helen

It's worth noting that eBay auto-open cases now when a buyer selects "not as described" or "not received" as their reason for contacting a seller. So the case might not have been malicious. Just check she closes it of she's happy!

shariatlanta

When did eBay change the rules, I had a communication directly from a seller only 3 weeks ago about an item she wasn't happy with.
Even if that were the case I'm still annoyed with her leaving neg feedback before she heard back from me.

She paid £2.20 for two Peppa Pig jumpers, feedback says I didn't mention one was all stained, I didn't see any stains on it, if I had I would have mentioned it as I know how picky people can be

JoW123

Oh dear. A negative is harsh but I can see the buyers point that it would cost her a minimum of 2.60 to return them which is more than she paid. The difficulty with these sort of cases is that you could have just stumbled upon a difficult buyer or it may be that the buyers expectation of suitable for play school is different to yours. You could try asking her to reconsider the feedback by being really apologetic (probably through gritted teeth) that the item is not as she expected. If you send the message you have planned you may feel better but I doubt she will remove the feedback.

funny.money

sequence wrote: »

You can't easily contact a seller anymore without opening a case. The contact seller function opens a dispute these days. Ebay changed the rules recently, so it's not fair for you to be annoyed with the buyer over that.

Things have been changed but as I understand it contacting a seller does not automatically open a dispute, you need to click on 'other' in the options and can then contact seller in the usual way. You may know already OP, but ebay has discussion boards very similar to this with loads of good advice available from ebayers with years of experience.

alykatz

funny.money wrote: »

Things have been changed but as I understand it contacting a seller does not automatically open a dispute, you need to click on 'other' in the options and can then contact seller in the usual way. You may know already OP, but ebay has discussion boards very similar to this with loads of good advice available from ebayers with years of experience.

Thing that people seem to be forgetting is that when asked to choose a header for the reason for contacting your seller nearly all buyers will choose the most appropriate heading as the most logical choice.
Most buyers are not so savvy with the new system as to know that they should pick other so as not to open a case.

funny.money

alykatz wrote: »

Thing that people seem to be forgetting is that when asked to choose a header for the reason for contacting your seller nearly all buyers will choose the most appropriate heading as the most logical choice.
Most buyers are not so savvy with the new system as to know that they should pick other so as not to open a case.

Quite - and there are lots of people complaining about it on the ebay boards - at least those boards and these are a (small) way of letting people know.

butler_helen

Indeed. There's a discussion on here somewhere about it aswell, hopefully the cases don't count negatively against sellers.