Sold a set of pens and one is defective, not response from buyer

[dragonfire781]

Hi, looking for some advice about how to handle a sale. Buyer bought a set of 5 pens and one seems to be defective. I've sent two messages asking if they still want the purchase at a discount or to cancel, buyer isn't responding. Should I ship anyway?

[lewisburggold]

Thats a little tough because they would probably want to cancel but if cant get a hold of them.  We would go ahead and ship.   They would probably want a partial refund when all said and done.  Best regards

[sin-n-dex · Accepted solution]

@dragonfire781

The sin-n-dex solution would be to email this:

Hi!

I haven't heard from you with regards to your purchase of the pens. I'm very sorry I only found out about the defective one after your purchased. I'm going to go ahead and discount your order by 25% with free shipping immediately. I'll get these in the mail tomorrow for you to look at. If you don't feel the discount is fair, I'll send you a label to return them at our expense. I thought you might like to have a look at them first before making a decision.

Kind regards, Seller

Then print the message you sent and include in the package, as some people do not read their eBay messages (or use an email address they check regularly), so your buyer might not know you are trying to reach them.

If you want to ask why 25%... you sold 5 items, one is defective, that's 20%. You give them 25% as an act of good will that you are not "only after their money", and offer free shipping to make up for the inconvenience. (Some of my buyers pay shipping to get lots of things, the minute one of those things can't be shipped, I start discounting shipping).

Best of luck,

C.

[dragonfire781]

Thanks! The pens sold for $4, I just don't want to get dinged over it.

[tofu107]

why not cancel the sale and relist just the good pens.

if you ship and buyer complains,then you could end up paying for return shipping and a neg,is it worth it?

[a_c_green]

I'd try getting the offending pen to start working by shaking it down like an old mercury thermometer, to get the ink pressed down against the tip, and then work it in circles on a pad of paper until it starts flowing. We've only been making ballpoints for around  about a century now (I'm averaging here between when it was patented and when it made it into widespread use), so I'd say that the odds of that pen being actually DOA instead of just reluctant to start are kind of slim.

[fern*wood]

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@tofu107wrote:

why not cancel the sale and relist just the good pens.

if you ship and buyer complains,then you could end up paying for return shipping and a neg,is it worth it?

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That's terrible advice unless the buyer requests the cancel.  Canceling doesn't negate getting bad feedback (it might just guarantee it), plus it will end up being an out of stock defect on your record.

[sin-n-dex]

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@dragonfire781wrote:

Thanks! The pens sold for $4, I just don't want to get dinged over it.

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I didn't know they were so inexpensive... if it weren't for the defect problem, I'd just refund all and ship anyway. But eBay will give you an out of stock defect for this.

Since the item is inexpensive, you could leave the note I drafted as is, but instead of shipping back, just refund if they're not happy. (I know people here don't agree, but I think sometimes doing these things is OK so long as you don't advertise ahead of time how you intend to fix the problem).

I think having the buyer pay $3 with free shipping will probably be OK for them to receive 4 good pens.

Cheers, C.

[dragonfire781]

I really under priced the pens just to get rid of them, they were new without package and it was a shame to toss them out because I didn't like them. 😞 The buyer got a terrific deal over one defective pen. Thanks for the help!

[tofu107]

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@fern*woodwrote:

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@tofu107wrote:

why not cancel the sale and relist just the good pens.

if you ship and buyer complains,then you could end up paying for return shipping and a neg,is it worth it?

---

That's terrible advice unless the buyer requests the cancel.  Canceling doesn't negate getting bad feedback (it might just guarantee it), plus it will end up being an out of stock defect on your record.

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I mean to say ask the buyer first,if he does not want defective pen,then cancel based on mutual agreement,then relist.

But now OP said buyer is happy with 4 good pens ,so case is resolved with happy ending

[tofu107]

This is another reason I dont buy much on Ebay,you never know where the items come from,it is too much hassle for buyer and seller.

time is also money,if I find the item defective or not my expectation,I have to take the time to file complaint and then pack it up and return it.

But it does not mean we should all stop looking for that diamond in the rough.  

[castlemagicmemories]

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@tofu107wrote:

why not cancel the sale and relist just the good pens.

if you ship and buyer complains,then you could end up paying for return shipping and a neg,is it worth it?

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What would you cancel the sale for?  Seller is technically OOS if one is defective and that will give him a very serious defect.

There is no problem with the buyer's address and the buyer has not requested to cancel.

Seller does not have to pay for a return if he does not want the item returned, and it is not cost effective to do so.

[nowthatsjustducky]

And now I am imagining a post soon on the Buyer Board complaining about being unable to leave feedback because they wanted to say that One pen is defective, but it keeps getting blocked for profanity.

[sin-n-dex]

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@nowthatsjustduckywrote:

And now I am imagining a post soon on the Buyer Board complaining about being unable to leave feedback because they wanted to say that One pen is defective, but it keeps getting blocked for profanity.

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You can imagine that, but most people are fairly reasonable, and the ones I came across that were difficult were often difficult because other sellers lied to them, so they thought all problems were lies told by sellers.

In my entire selling career, intentional scammers aside, I've only encounted a couple of buyers that were incredibly unreasonable with no good reason for being this way. (Like the woman who wanted me to find her lost DVD so she could have the used beat up one I listed, and not accept a new one drop shipped from Amazon). I think I got out of that unscathed by not reacting to her messages and answering her promptly after my cool off period.

Cheers, C.

[nowthatsjustducky]

I was mostly musing that the censor bots would prevent such a statement because it would think they were trying to get around the filters, due to them ignoring spaces.  That is all.