Buyer Abusing Refund Policy

chilledsadie

I recently sold an item of clothing. It was brand new with tags and it had photos on the listing. The buyer purchased at just a couple of quid but when she got the item claimed it had a massive stain on it. At such a low sale price I didn't want to lose another £3 to get the item back so I refunded the money and told them to keep the item.

When I checked the buyers feedback they had dozens of negative feedbacks stretching back years on other purchases saying sellers wouldn't refund them their money because the clothing they received was damaged. It is literally every other purchase. I have reported the buyer as I think she is abusing the refund policy but I can't understand how Ebay allows buyers like this to claim so many refunds. Aside from blocking the seller and reporting them is there anything I can do?

soolin

chilledsadie wrote: »

I recently sold an item of clothing. It was brand new with tags and it had photos on the listing. The buyer purchased at just a couple of quid but when she got the item claimed it had a massive stain on it. At such a low sale price I didn't want to lose another £3 to get the item back so I refunded the money and told them to keep the item.

When I checked the buyers feedback they had dozens of negative feedbacks stretching back years on other purchases saying sellers wouldn't refund them their money because the clothing they received was damaged. It is literally every other purchase. I have reported the buyer as I think she is abusing the refund policy but I can't understand how Ebay allows buyers like this to claim so many refunds. Aside from blocking the seller and reporting them is there anything I can do?

It might have paid to check buyers feedback left for others first and perhaps called her bluff on the return.If you had accepted the return and promised to send a label via ebay she might well have given up.

Buyers are blocked, eventually, if they do too many INR or SNAD cases, but they need to be pressed to open cases so that ebay are aware of their history. If I had seen that feedback left for others I would have insisted she opened a case, it might not have helped me personally but it does bring it to eBay's attention.

mrcol1000

Agree with the above. Sometimes it is cheaper and easier to refund. But in this case I would have opened a case. Ebay can't review every sale so they need it to be flagged up. If all the past sellers have just refunded and not bothered to report, Ebay aren't going to know what is going on. They will come unstuck one day.

theonlywayisup

Unfortunately even when this sort of behaviour is flagged to eBay (both via reports and the PS board pinks) it goes nowhere. The current run of bad buyers being banished about the PS boards make my hair curl. It's all fees for eBay.

This_Year

I always ask for a photo of the alleged damage/stain. That way the buyer has to either produce a photo (and thus damage their own goods) or as I find usually happens, is never heard from again.

Take it as a lesson learned, to always check feedback LEFT before doing anything and don't ignore your spidey senses.

Block the buyer too.

theonlywayisup

This_Year wrote: »

I always ask for a photo of the alleged damage/stain. That way the buyer has to either produce a photo (and thus damage their own goods) or as I find usually happens, is never heard from again.

Take it as a lesson learned, to always check feedback LEFT before doing anything and don't ignore your spidey senses.

Block the buyer too.

You can ask but the buyer doesn't have to do anything other than open a case.

pinkshoes

chilledsadie wrote: »

I can't understand how Ebay allows buyers like this to claim so many refunds.

It's because rather than asking for an item to be returned, sellers just refund and tell them to keep it to try and avoid a neg.

If sellers got then to open a case, accept a return, THEN refund, it would soon become very apparent if someone was abusing the rules!

FatVonD

You could ask them to cut the item into pieces and send you a photograph before you refund.

ontheup1972

pinkshoes wrote: »

It's because rather than asking for an item to be returned, sellers just refund and tell them to keep it to try and avoid a neg.

If sellers got then to open a case, accept a return, THEN refund, it would soon become very apparent if someone was abusing the rules!

Unfortunately, nothing is obvious to ebay.

As someone else alluded to on this thread, there are two or three buyers out there who have been highlighted on the PS board as having left hundreds of negatives apiece, who have been reported countless times, who regardless of that, ebay are refusing to do anything about.