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When I asked ebay about this in my case, they simply said i couldn't guarantee 100% the item would not have been damaged even if it was in the box I sent it in originally. Of course that's true, I couldn't guarantee 100%, but the specific damage it received, i.e a light squashing of the outer box, would surely have been prevented if it had been sent in the much stronger & rigid outer box I originally sent it in. I wasn't saying my box would have protected it even if it had been run over by a steam roller, but the damage it did receive would have. But ebay just didnt care about that side. They only bright side i got the P&P cost she used refunded.
Loving this thread – shared pain! For Facebook marketplace the biggest annoyance I have at the moment is people will message with a standard text saying “I like the look of your <INSERT PRODUCT NAME IN CAPITALS> and wondering if it was the same as this:” and then they have a series of links underneath. Not even sure what the scam is here?
Worst kind of items to sell are electricals. Always seems to bring out the worst in people and get endless stupid questions from people who simply don’t read the listing properly and purely timewasting.
Tons of “Is this still available?” and then without any reply.
Plenty of people wanting to deliver - stopped that when I once delivered a table to a house 40mins away and then found 3 cars on the driveway, all of which could fit the table!!
Also lots of one or two word messages like “10” or “you deliver” etc. No manners. Tend to ignore and block people like that. Or reply along the lines of "what do you mean?" in order to be a bit awkward and force use of proper English.
Generally set a £10 minimum to be worth my time, anything less than that goes to charity or give away locally for free.
Did once give away a BBQ for free on Marketplace (lesson learnt – always list on local giveaway sites instead) and a guy asked my postcode and then next I knew I had a flurry of messages at 6am the next day to tell me he was off his nightshift and had driven to collect. I didn’t see he messaged for an hour.
All this said, generally had good experiences and as a seller I find being on FB marketplace and off ebay and away from the buyer protection and account neg feedback policies a benefit for sellers. Also a lot quicker / less faff.
At the time you could see the seller names on feedback profiles so I messaged a few sellers, lo and behold same story INR on every order. Buyer closed the claim when I sent a link to his diary but one of the other sellers was furious, she'd already refunded and made the guy pay her back. She was nice enough to me in her replies but I get the feeling the buyer got both barrels!
Weirdest one is going back 15 years or so now but buyer purchased and said "I'll pick it up on Sunday", now I'm flexible but it was the middle of summer and I lived right on the seafront, like I'm going to sit indoors all day waiting for someone who doesn't have the curtsey to at least ask if they can inconvenience me so I said no.
After several very long winded messages of how unfair it was (despite the listings saying collection was not available on anything for sale) was he told me he was sick of people like me bullying him, I assume the irony was lost on him...
Facebook is very annoying:
"Is this available?"
"Hello, yes it's still available, would you like to pop by and have a look at it?"
Silence
Why blooming ask?
Sleep well.
I made a not-reading error ONCE, I must hold my hands up.
I used to list them on best offer with starting bid of £9 + £1 postage. Once I got a very long-winded message about how this guy is a genuine collector and basically it boiled down to "will you accept £18". I said yes, just click Make Offer.
Nothing happened and the item didn't sell that cycle, the next time, he sent a very long message again about how he was disappointed he didn't win (??) the auction but he felt that I should offer free postage. I said "well, why don't you offer £17 and then you will pay £18 in total".
Again nothing happened, and it was relisted again, this time he offered £18 and paid the £1 postage on top. But he'd had 3 opportunities to get the item for £10 if he had just bid £9!!
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
Except buyer arrived at 6am, we were expecting him to turn up a bit later but he just said that he thought we wouldn't mind! Shortly after buyer arrived, so did his son. Both were in estate cars but there was no way the shed's panels were going to fit inside the cars. DH and I are thinking, "What on earth?" and considered that maybe someone else would be along to transport it to its new home.
No. Buyer plus son put shed panels directly onto the roofs of their cars. No roof bars, no roof racks, just straight onto the roofs. Tied on with rope through the rear door windows. Utter madness. They were a bit wobbly as they drove off but that wasn't my problem. DH and I had a good laugh about it, especially as we'd made an exceptional profit on the shed (purchased for £50,sold for £135!).