Buyer keeps the earrings sold for 1200$ and gets fully refunded-Share my expensive lesson
Hi,
everyone, today I faced something very uncomfortable. actually I have posted in the selling board but I realised I should also post this here, it is an expensive lesson so I would like to share with you.
I am a private hobby seller located in Germany, on Nov. 9th I sold two pairs of very nice antique diamond earrings ( whole sale ) to Ebayer G. from US ( also a seller ) for 1200$. I packed the parcel well and shipped through DHL express so the buyer can receive the parcel in3-4 days but she wrote immediately that all edges of the diamonds are damaged, if I gave 250$ partial refund she will keeps the item, of course that is a lie and I was feeling very uncomfortable with that. I told her to ship the earrings simply back to me and I will also cover the return shipping fee and gave return guide in detail. I am in Germany, it is not that easy for me to organise a label with pick-up appointment , custom declaration signature etc. I read the return policy, ebay offers two options for return request: provide a label or transfer the shipping fee to buyer ( if I can not purchase a label by myself ) both are possible.
The buyer opened a return request, I clicked accept, here I made my first mistake, I should not agree with the return reason such as item not as described which might result in my situation now, then the second mistake, after accepting the return I chosed the third label option something like I can not buy the label by myself I worked with buyer for the return ( something like this). After I click this, the communication board of the return request disappeared that means I can only contact the buyer through ebay message( maybe I should also report this to ebay technical group? ) . Buyer also as seller is very experienced, after that he stopped responding to my message with my return guide, without that I can not organise my carrier to pick up the item or transfer the postage fee to her, I called in the following days three times to Ebay customer service and they also contacted buyer on my behalf to take a contact with me, however several days later she opened the case direct on Ebay and let ebay step in, I called Ebay everyday they promised me buyer can not keep the item and money without responding to my message, but today Ebay decided on the buyer's side , she keeps the earrings for 1200$ and get 1200$ refunded, I lose the earrings and the money, meanwhile I need to pay extra around 300$ on ebay ( I can not get the selling fee back ) . In the beginning, in order to let the buyer to receive the parcel earlier, I have even paid extra 50$ more from my side to ship the parcel through express . So total case I lose around 1600$ .
Ebay does not followed his return policy as they listed the second option If I can not purchase a label by myself I can send the money for postage to the buyer, it seems they ignore what they write.
I have discussed before with other nice sellers in the selling board and have collected several tips and I think the only action what I am taking now is to contact the police in her city which is on the way : ) .
I still hope the seller can ship the earrings back to me because I still can not understand her behaviour like this, however there is also another case reported this buyer G. not done this for the first time, at least receive parcel and request return / partial refund immediately.
As a hobby seller for 7 years mostly happy on the ebay US website, I have never faced this situation before which means good buyers are still more than not that good: ) . Nevertherless I am deciding to stop selling on ebay US and I would also like to share these experience with you . I do want to post the photos of my nice sold earrings here as a memory however it might be forbidden because of the issues of privacy.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Discussion is welcome : )
bonjourami
·2 years agoWe can see the earrings in your sold listings.
lukdudle
·2 years agosucks that happened to you.
everyone loses sometimes.
best we can do is learn from it.
agemelee
·2 years agoYour mistake was selling international outside of Ebay’s shipping program. They fully insure and handle all refund and you keep the money.
an-57470
OP2 years agoOh, yes, did not use the international shipping program
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoFrom the op
I am a private hobby seller located in Germany.
Afaik they don't have that program in Germany.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoeBay's international shipping program is only available for sellers and items in the USA. OP @Anonymous could not have used it to ship from Germany.