Partial Refund Maneuver...A scam?

[u4rickguitarman]

Recently I encountered a buyer who apparently has been working a "maneuver" for years to negotiate a better price than that to which he agreed as the winner of a legitimate eBay auction. He outbids the competition, receives his item and then "creates" issues with his purchases. He never wants to return the item. Instead, he's betting that the seller doesn't want the hassle. In fact, in my last encounter with him, he sent me 15 emails in an attempt to get me to let him keep the item AND refund him. Long story short...he had to send it back, his issues were non-existent and I relisted the item. This is the second time he pulled this on me(the first time I gave in) and I've spoken to other sellers in my category that have had similar experiences. Beware of this activity and make the buyer return the item for a full refund....I'll check back to see if this sounds familiar to other sellers.....Cheers

[ads*and*ends]

Are you aware you can and (definitely should) block this buyer from purchasing your items? Copy/paste their ebay ID into the block bidder/buyer list.

[dqdnvwe0]

I learned this lesson early on, if it's good enough to keep it's good enough to pay full price.

If it's not, then return it for a full refund.

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@u4rickguitarman wrote:

In fact, in my last encounter with him, he sent me 15 emails in an attempt to get me to let him keep the item AND refund him. 

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It might help, what I do...

Anytime a buyer sends me a message, whether one, two, four hundred...

I always reply ONE time per day, with one short message.

This defuses those back-and-forths sellers can get sucked into, those have a way of turning out really bad.

So one reply per buyer, per day.

Helps tremendously.

As well once those buyers realize you're not the easy target they'll move on.

[this*old*attic]

Personally, I think there’s a place for partial refunds. I’ve both given and received them.

[wastingtime101]

@u4rickguitarman 

This tool would be useful in your current situation.

[a_c_green]

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@dqdnvwe0 wrote:

Anytime a buyer sends me a message, whether one, two, four hundred... I always reply ONE time per day, with one short message. This defuses those back-and-forths sellers can get sucked into, those have a way of turning out really bad. So one reply per buyer, per day.

In Tech Support Land, we called that "tar-pitting." We used it to get hyperactive customers under control. Send us a problem report or question and you'll get a prompt response, and a followup question will be replied to quickly as well... but if you continue to pepper us with questions, our responses will be... progressively... slower... ... in coming back.

If you can't ask a complete question in your first email, such that we have to play Twenty Questions to figure out what your situation is, then we're going to have to move on to someone who's a little more organized or coherent.

[alcoforever]

I've had a number of buyers try that trick on me, particularly when I was just starting and had a low FB number.

I learned very quickly to just reply with "return for a full refund, including return shipping."    In almost every case, I never heard from that buyer again.