Not as described? Stupid buyer.

Surbybird

Just a vent really. I've just had my first case for 'not as described' opened against me in over 500 sales on ebay. I'm a bit miffed, frankly.

I sold a brand new shirt which I bought from a high street retailer ages ago and never wore. The buyer paid 99p for it. I always photograph the size labels and put them in the auction, and then do full measurements of every item so there's no excuse for people buying things that don't fit. This particular shirt came up small and it said this in the auction, along with a suggestion that prospective buyers use the measurements to check against one of their own shirts to make sure it would fit.

Auction won and item paid for and sent.

I've now had a message from ebay to say that the buyer has opened a case because the item doesn't match the description.

But it DOES match the description.

The measurements are correct and the item that I described and sold is what she has received. It just doesn't fit her, which isn't the same as it not matching the description!

Now, I am always willing to refund (I have a returns policy which says I will and to contact me straight away if the buyer isn't happy so we can resolve the issue) and have responded to the case saying that if she returns it I'll be happy to refund when I get it back but she went straight to opening a case with no other contact, which annoys me because now my Paypal account is frozen and I have 30 auctions fininshing in the next 24 hours and now can't post any of the items when they sell!

Why do buyers do this? If she'd bothered to read the T&C on my auctions she'd have seen my returns policy and realised that all she had to do was send me a message and I'd have told her to return the item for a refund anyway. Opening a case because she didn't check that the item would fit seems a bit like overkill to me.

I wish that ebay would require buyers to have at least tried to resolve matters before letting them open a case.

K

charlies_mum

She may not have meant to open a case. Ebay has now changed so that if a buyer tries to contact you, it immediately opens a case.

If you check back through the board, there is a thread about this.

SpammyTheSpammer

What amount of Postage and packing did you charge for sending this shirt to the buyer?

Surbybird

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

What amount of Postage and packing did you charge for sending this shirt to the buyer?

P&P was £3.00, which is the cost of sending a small parcel via Royal Mail. There was nothing added for packaging or anything else, just the cost of postage.

K

Surbybird

charlies_mum wrote: »

She may not have meant to open a case. Ebay has now changed so that if a buyer tries to contact you, it immediately opens a case.

If you check back through the board, there is a thread about this.

I wasn't aware of that, as I have buyers contact me quite often (I sell lots of items for collection only and buyers regularly contact me to arrange collection) and this is the first time someone has opened a case.

It says in the Resolution Centre, "We always encourage our members to communicate with each other when there's a problem with a transaction. If you've already attempted to contact the member but were unable to resolve the problem, you can open a case". I spoke to Live (not a lot of) Help and they confirmed that she appears to have made no effort to contact me first but there was nothing they could do.

She seems to have buyers remorse quite often though, as she leaves lots of feedback saying that she was disappointed with items.

K

soolin

Your paypal account is not blocked unless there is more to this than you are saying. Only that payment, or sufficient funds to cover it is being held. It is perfectly possible to carry on trading as normal while this is resolved.

This is happening a lot now, as others have said if buyers don't read the options properly then a case gets opened automatically and there is nothing at all to panic about. The case does not count against you unless it is unresolved.

So, just confirm in the case that you will refund on safe return. Then paypal will give buyer 10 days to get item back to you. If they don't then it is closed in your favour.

CouponWoman

Silly buyer. It will cost £2.60 to return so she may as well keep it. I would not pay her return postage costs in these circumstances

CWxx

Surbybird

soolin wrote: »

Your paypal account is not blocked unless there is more to this than you are saying. Only that payment, or sufficient funds to cover it is being held. It is perfectly possible to carry on trading as normal while this is resolved.

All I know is that during the chat with Live Help, the 'agent' informed me that NO funds would be released from my Paypal account until I had refunded her. I responded to the case immediately and agreed to refund so I have no idea what is going on or why they have frozen my account. Apparently someone from the Resolution Centre is going to ring me to sort it out. I won't hold my breath.

soolin wrote: »

This is happening a lot now, as others have said if buyers don't read the options properly then a case gets opened automatically and there is nothing at all to panic about. The case does not count against you unless it is unresolved.

So, just confirm in the case that you will refund on safe return. Then paypal will give buyer 10 days to get item back to you. If they don't then it is closed in your favour.

I responded immediately by clicking to say that I agree to refund as soon as she sends it back. Not sure she'll bother sending it back once she realises it'll cost her to do so though. Why are some buyers so difficult?



K

Surbybird

CouponWoman wrote: »

Silly buyer. It will cost £2.60 to return so she may as well keep it. I would not pay her return postage costs in these circumstances

CWxx

Well, if she gets told to use a tracked method for a 99p item she might be in for a bit of a shock when she goes to the Post Office.

The case details say that I have to refund her the full amount that she paid originally, so that's all she'll get.

Well, as she chose to open a case, I shall do what ebay/Paypal say. If she'd sent me a message in the first instance, I'd have refunded her anyway and told her to keep the shirt and save us both a load of hassle.

Not looking forward to seeing if she trashes my feedback and stars though.



K

busybee100

charlies_mum wrote: »

She may not have meant to open a case. Ebay has now changed so that if a buyer tries to contact you, it immediately opens a case.

If you check back through the board, there is a thread about this.

soolin wrote: »

This is happening a lot now, as others have said if buyers don't read the options properly then a case gets opened automatically and there is nothing at all to panic about.

I did this accidently, I thought I was contacting the seller to confirm they had posted the item (after waiting 2 weeks) and it opened a case, I was mortified because I know how important things like this are to sellers but didn't know what I'd done wrong. Can someone link to the thread please so I can work out what I should do. I have searched 'accidently contact seller' but nothing seemed relevant.

Thank you.

campdave

When contacting a seller, if you click either of "my item has not arrived yet" or "my item is not as described", a case will automatically be opened.

Personally, as a seller, it doesn't bother me. I'm quite happy to resolve the issue either way, and I now insist that all buyers who contact me to say their item has not arrived open a case to deter anyone trying it on. If they're honest, and it's been lost by the post, it won't affect anyone, but if they are serial claimers, it will flag them with ebay.

So far, although I've only had a few cases, all have been successfully resolved without the buyer escalating to ebay or it harming my feedback or DSRs.