Someone has requested return on ebay- what to do?

Costalot123

I had two sets of brand new Bluetooth headphones on eBay. Sold one with no issues.
second one I sold, they’ve had them for a week and now requesting a refund as they said they don’t work with their iPhone.
do I have to accept the return?
im not an expert on eBay, its probably the first thing I’ve ever sold.
if I reject the return are there any repercussions for me? 

MattMattMattUK

Costalot123 said:

I had two sets of brand new Bluetooth headphones on eBay. Sold one with no issues.
second one I sold, they’ve had them for a week and now requesting a refund as they said they don’t work with their iPhone.
do I have to accept the return?
im not an expert on eBay, its probably the first thing I’ve ever sold.
if I reject the return are there any repercussions for me? 

Your problem is that if you refuse the return the buyer will just claim "Not as described" as their get out of jail free card and you will be forced by eBay to accept the return anyway, but with added fees. As much as I think returns should not be allowed I have learned that not accepting them generally leads to a worse outcome.

Costalot123

MattMattMattUK said:

Costalot123 said:

I had two sets of brand new Bluetooth headphones on eBay. Sold one with no issues.
second one I sold, they’ve had them for a week and now requesting a refund as they said they don’t work with their iPhone.
do I have to accept the return?
im not an expert on eBay, its probably the first thing I’ve ever sold.
if I reject the return are there any repercussions for me? 

Your problem is that if you refuse the return the buyer will just claim "Not as described" as their get out of jail free card and you will be forced by eBay to accept the return anyway, but with added fees. As much as I think returns should not be allowed I have learned that not accepting them generally leads to a worse outcome.

Thanks for your response, despite the fact the buyer has written -
“ I made mistake when I ordered headphones and not fit to my phone-iPhone 12 pro”

Newbie_John

You can try rejecting but .. I've never been successful in such case, and then charged with fees.

Spoonie_Turtle

Have they opened a returns case?  If so, is it a change of mind or have they falsely claimed it was significantly not as described?

Costalot123

They have done a return request and said ordered by mistake and that it isn’t compatable with their iPhone 12.
im only reluctant to accept the return as the item will no longer be new in packaging if they’ve taken it out and used it etc and I will struggle to re sell it. 

GadgetGuru

If a case has been opened as a change of mind, and you have the option to reject it - then you can safely reject it. 
The buyer will not be able to open another case after this one has been closed. 
The worst that can happen here is you get a negative feedback (for which you can contact eBay and see if they'd remove it, although not guaranteed). 

If a case has been opened as 'not as described', then you have no choice but to accept the return. You wont even have a choice to reject it. 

dinosaur66

ebay is open to abuse from buyers

happens to me maybe once every 2 months

3 weeks ago a buyer bought a blu ray from me £14 with free postage he was a zero rated buyer -about a week ago he started a return saying blu ray had no sound and i had to pay ebay £3 to pay for him to return it.

no messages straight to return which ebay automatically processes

return came friday and of course sound was perfect and i refunded buyer /blocked him and relisted the blu ray

but i do not sell high priced items and it would bug me more if it was expensive.

usually when this happens and you read feedback left for others you find out they are problem buyers

i have never sold clothes but virtually every day at the royal mail post office i have women in front of me returning items of clothing and it must be a very frustrating product to sell online

martindow

dinosaur66 said:

ebay is open to abuse from buyers

happens to me maybe once every 2 months

3 weeks ago a buyer bought a blu ray from me £14 with free postage he was a zero rated buyer -about a week ago he started a return saying blu ray had no sound and i had to pay ebay £3 to pay for him to return it.

no messages straight to return which ebay automatically processes

return came friday and of course sound was perfect and i refunded buyer /blocked him and relisted the blu ray

but i do not sell high priced items and it would bug me more if it was expensive.

usually when this happens and you read feedback left for others you find out they are problem buyers

i have never sold clothes but virtually every day at the royal mail post office i have women in front of me returning items of clothing and it must be a very frustrating product to sell online

It's a hazard of selling at a distance that you have to accept a certain proportion of returns.  If you are a business seller, it needs to be built into your business model to ensure that you have enough of a margin to cover this.  If you're a private seller it's something that you should accept is going to happen occasionally. 

I entirery agree about clothes - it must be quite difficult to make selling those work.

Costalot123

I don’t think he’s trying anything malicious with me. His English doesn’t seem great and they may not be compatible with his phone, which is his error not mine. 

I have rejected his request for return, he has not opened a case with eBay yet so fingers crossed he doesn’t. I don’t really use eBay so not bothered re negative ratings. 

GadgetGuru

Costalot123 said:

I don’t think he’s trying anything malicious with me. His English doesn’t seem great and they may not be compatible with his phone, which is his error not mine. 

I have rejected his request for return, he has not opened a case with eBay yet so fingers crossed he doesn’t. I don’t really use eBay so not bothered re negative ratings. 

Should have told him to open a change of mind case with eBay so it can be assessed - then rejected it. That way at least you know he can't open another case, which could turn into a 'not as described', for which you have no option other then to accept the return (and pay return postage costs too).
Whether thats 'right' or not is another matter.