items returned but dispute not yet opened

soolin

I won't go into too many details in case it gets messy, but I believe I have come across a rogue buyer and want to just check a few things before I respond to her email today. Short story is Ms T Bought a brand new sealed CD one of a line that I regularly sell she emailed to say it would not play. I replaced it and Ms T made the comment she didn't want a replacement as she struggled to play any Cds ..but will not accept her equipment is at fault. By this time i had already sent a replacement and she claims that doe snot play either. I also had a brief contact from someone warning me about this buyer as she copies and returns, but as per the request of the sender I destroyed that contact entirely.

Both CDs are apparently on their way back to me and I am threatened with SNAD dispute. I know a SNAD claim can go either way and I think I have a slight advantage as the CDs were brand new and sealed and I have sold dozens from the same batch previously. However regardless of whether I win or lose I am prepared to go to dispute on this as buyer is actually claiming more than her paypal payment so if I go to dispute and lose I will still be better off than paying her off now. I am expecting a neg whatever I do but I am prepared to take it rather than give in on this.

My question is I believe the Cds are on their way back, do I accept them and let the buyer know I have them, or do I mark them return to sender and put them back in the box? Would I have any advantage myself in opening the dispute and putting my side of the argument first, or shall i wait for her to ppen one? If she has had to go to dispute before then she may be more reluctant to do another one in case a pattern starts and paypal get suspicious, but on the other hand I don't know if she ever went to dispute before or whether the other sellers just paid out. Her feedback is good but she routinely leaves poor feedback for others.

smartie1976

I can't believe no-one else has commented in her feedback about the inability of her to play normal CDs, but then she continues to buy them.
Surely some apt feedback would have knocked this unscrupilous buyers practises on the head.

Personally, if you think she's going to be an ar se of a buyer anyway in regards to feedback, then I'd refuse receipt. I suppose it's about principle.
She's already threatened a SNAD anyway which you've got more chance of winning than her I think.

soolin

I am taking rather too much time checking this one out..I really ought to leave it and move away and just let it all happen. However, from feedback it looks as though if a seller leaves feedback first then she often responds with a non positive, if the seller does not leave feedback then she tends not to leave any either. She has a number of items bought in the past 30 days where no feedback has been either received or left yet. I suspect from the warning I received that the bigger sellers who maybe sell one off items that they just refund as there are a couple of positives floating around that vaguely mention a refund. Normally if I were selling an opened CD and someone complained I would also just refund and leave a positive, so it i spoosible that is why her feedback is still good, in this case though I am aware of other issues both from what she has stated and from what another seller told me.

patchwork_cat

I would accept the item back, but make a note of tracking no. I would not open a dispute - wait and see if she does. It may all be her causing trouble and you never get them back - there are some people who get their kicks that way!

If she opens a dispute check whether the item has tracked - if not then you never received it back. If it does track - well they will almost certainly find in her favour, so c'est la vie.

Can you still leave negatives? Also how can she be claiming more than she paid?

Hintza

Look at her recent buying and contact some of the other sellers. This really depends though on the amont of time and effort you wish to put in. Personally I would be tempted to go all the way.

Good luck.

This is the main reason I have decided CDs and DVDs etc are just not for me!

dotchas

Sorry to hear you are having a problem Soolin,its usually you giving us advice
This is example of when the new feedback rules definitely won't help.
Sellers will not be able to mark the buyer as dodgy

What is she claiming as a refund if it is more than her paypal payment?

I'd let her open a dispute as that would be on her record and a pattern may form.............not that ebay will notice:rolleyes:

Good luck!

soolin

I have the CDs back, untracked, but then you know me tracked or otherwise I can't lie and pretend they haven't arrived if I did get them. I haven't opened the packing yet. I had thought about writing formally to the buyer stating that the CDs are in my possesion but that I consider them to be the property of the buyer so I will keep them safe until they make arrangements to have them sent back. Then maybe just tell them that if they wish to take this up with ebay and paypal as per their last email then I am happy for them to do so.

AS for extra payments, she wants costs associated with returning the Cds and there was a vague mention of other payments, but I am not sure if that is my poor reading of the previous email.

soolin

I actually emailed ebay and asked them what I should do, and I have had the oddest response. I got the usual blurb about needing to resolve this with my buyer (yawn) but then it tells me that most of the time it is easier to resolve by issuing a full refund and (get this bit) ..do a full NPB and put a non paying strike on the buyers account. So I can legitimately strike a buyer who has paid but requires a refund..that seems to breach a few of the 'malicious' actions on the ebay help pages.

Oh then it goes on to tell me to report them to the uS mail for mail fraud as they will probably have sent back a different item to the one I sent out..

dotchas

soolin wrote: »

I actually emailed ebay and asked them what I should do, and I have had the oddest response. I got the usual blurb about needing to resolve this with my buyer (yawn) but then it tells me that most of the time it is easier to resolve by issuing a full refund and (get this bit) ..do a full NPB and put a non paying strike on the buyers account. So I can legitimately strike a buyer who has paid but requires a refund..that seems to breach a few of the 'malicious' actions on the ebay help pages.

Oh then it goes on to tell me to report them to the uS mail for mail fraud as they will probably have sent back a different item to the one I sent out..

All very odd!
Its worrying from buyers point of view that you can get a NPB strike for getting a refund!

I would be tempted to state the Cds never arrived but in reality I probably am with you and would rather be honest.:o

If the Cds are not faulty what happens with Paypal if she opens a dispute?

I still think you should tell her they are not faulty and she should pay for redelivery or open a dispute against you.

Do you have the elusive ebay phone number to chat to a human rather than email a robot?

soolin

dotchas wrote: »

Do you have the elusive ebay phone number to chat to a human rather than email a robot?

Nah, I'm one of the lowest of the low sellers, frankly I was surprised to even get such a quick response from ebay to my email.

Now I've decided to fight this I feel surprisingly calm..the most I can lose is the original paypal payment, plus I now also have another useless CD as it is no longer mint. Even the possibility of a neg doesn't seem to scary now I've stopped flapping.

Lakelady_2

Good luck with this, I too would fight it or at least make it difficult for this buyer to get away with this.
I once read that all ebayers are too frightened of a negative feedback, I suspect all of us at times take the easy way out when we shouldn`t. So no advice just encouragement!