Ebay Seller woes!

fuzz1977

Hi All,

Here we go! any advice would be greatly appreciated! So far I have a 100% feedback score on ebay.
I recently sold via auction a ceramic collectors plate to a buyer in Japan for £84. The item was sent via Royal Mail tracked and Insured. I underestimated on the international postage a little so out of my own pocket I paid out an extra £8.75 on top of the original £17 UK pounds that was quoted on the listing. Total cost of shipping was £25.75, the buyer was notified about this, I also told the buyer that I'd cover this!

To cut a long story short, it turns out that the buyer in Japan is not happy with the plate and wants a refund, the buyer is saying that there are pinholes in the glaze of the plate, to be honest without a magnifying glass/x-ray vision I would never have noticed these defects, I feel the item was well described on the listing including the photos. The plate has been stored away in it's original packaging and has been very well looked after.

I've said I'm very happy to offer a full refund on return of the plate. I've responded rapidly to all of the messages that have been sent to me. Basically the buyer wants me to contribute 'a little!' towards the return postage, The return postage to the UK that she has been quoted is £22 tracked + insured, which I don't think is too bad considering I've already paid out £8.75 out of my own pocket, I feeling rather miffed!! I have already lost out on the ebay listing fees and now I'm worried I will get stung by customs when the plate is returned and possible negative feedback. Any thoughts?

Many thanks for reading.

campdave

The outgoing postage is irrelevant - it's up to you to check the actual costs and price appropriately.

How you play it is up to you - at any time the buyer could open a claim for SNAD and return the item to you for a refund. You wouldn't have to pay for their return postage, but obviously they could leave feedback and stars as appropriate.

If the glaze is damaged, it's damaged, and not spotting it or photographing it isn't the buyer's fault.

As long as they mark it as a return, you won't be charged customs on it re-entering the UK.

theonlywayisup

campdave wrote: »

The outgoing postage is irrelevant - it's up to you to check the actual costs and price appropriately.

How you play it is up to you - at any time the buyer could open a claim for SNAD and return the item to you for a refund. You wouldn't have to pay for their return postage, but obviously they could leave feedback and stars as appropriate.

If the glaze is damaged, it's damaged, and not spotting it or photographing it isn't the buyer's fault.

As long as they mark it as a return, you won't be charged customs on it re-entering the UK.

That's debatable now. Some accounts are being forced into the new 'flow' returns (not managed returns). The new 'flow' allows for ebay to supply a returns label and add the cost onto the sellers invoice.

Brooker_Dave

theonlywayisup wrote: »

That's debatable now. Some accounts are being forced into the new 'flow' returns (not managed returns). The new 'flow' allows for ebay to supply a returns label and add the cost onto the sellers invoice.

Is that legal?

theonlywayisup

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Is that legal?

Well, I don't think so. Partly because it restricts the buyer in the service for return. But more importantly because Ebay are charging an amount within the price for their services to administer the system. This is definitely not lawful. A return price must be just that, the cost of the return, not anything to administrate that.

RFW

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Well, I don't think so. Partly because it restricts the buyer in the service for return. But more importantly because Ebay are charging an amount within the price for their services to administer the system. This is definitely not lawful. A return price must be just that, the cost of the return, not anything to administrate that.

If you think it is unlawful you'd have to take them to court to prove it. It's only if they were charging the buyer, on a faulty/incorrect item would it be a problem.
Unnecessary, excessive, irritating, I'd agree with, but illegal it isn't.