How do you protect yourself against a NAD claim when your listing was accurate?
Summary: lumar7225 initiated a discussion about handling Not As Described (NAD) claims from buyers, emphasizing the challenge of proving photo accuracy when returns occur. Various sellers, including ladybugmls and tobaccocardyahoo, advised accepting returns without disputes, recognizing the inevitability of such claims. Others, like kensgiftshop and ryry-jj, suggested offering free returns to discourage false NAD claims. lumar7225 also proposed a method to timestamp and certify listing photos to counteract unjust claims, but feedback from other participants indicated skepticism about its feasibility, noting that eBay prioritizes buyer satisfaction. The consensus was that sellers should focus on minimizing return impacts by relisting items and understanding marketplace dynamics.
Curious how other sellers here handle this: how do you deal with buyers who claim an object "doesn't match the photos" when you know your listing was accurate?
As a seller, this cuts both ways. Some listing photos genuinely oversell an object, saturation boosted, ring-lit to hide flaws. But plenty of NAD cases probably go the other way too, an honest photo, a buyer who just didn't like the object in hand, and a seller with no way to prove the photo was accurate, so they end up eating the return anyway.
That second scenario is the one I keep coming back to. When a buyer opens a NAD case and your photo was actually honest, what do you point to? Right now it feels like there's nothing, it's your word against theirs, and the seller loses by default.
I've been tinkering with a small side project around this, the idea is you take your listing photo plus a second reference photo live, in natural light, in the same session, and it checks that the listing shot wasn't filtered, over-saturated, or lit to look better than the object really is. You end up with a timestamped record you could point to if a buyer claims the photo was misleading.
But honestly I'm more curious how experienced sellers handle the underlying problem today.
How do you protect yourself against a NAD claim when you know the listing was accurate?
pickapaper
·1 month agoYou have to remember, too, that there are more than 27 million sellers on eBay, selling more than two billion items which change daily. There is no way to document or verify all of them or what they are selling.
Also, I see you are in Italy so you are going to have international buyers entered into the picture.
3576betsyd
·2 months agoThis topic as at the top of the category and exactly why I came to the community to ask about it. I just had a buyer file a claim:
Return Reason
Doesn't match description or photos
Comments
Here is the still sealed unopened box
And they included a picture that is an exact match to what I listed and shipped him, as the plastic sealed package had sticker residue on the outer plastic that matches exactly what I listed so it is the same item, but it is an exact match since you can compare the 2 photos. I sent a message asking "I am confused by the reason as to the return request as it is the one that was pictured in the listing" as it sounds like he is trying to bypass paying to ship it back and getting his shipping cost back as well.
Thoughts?
pickapaper
·2 months ago"How do you protect yourself against a NAD claim when your listing was accurate?"
You can't. If a buyer wants to lie, they will lie. For all kinds of reasons. Doesn't matter. eBay doesn't know if a description is accurate or not, or if the seller actually sent the item in the listing or anything else about it. They won't look at photos. They just want happy buyers so they made the determination that the buyer is always right, even if they aren't.
powell-collectibles
·2 months agoI would think that the only solution for this is outside of eBay. Theoretically, there could be an authentication service that you could use and funnel all of your items through that. They can do the verification photos, testimonials, etc. then send the item to the buyer. If the buyer claims that it’s not a legit item, I suppose you can go after that buyer in small claims court – outside of eBay. That doesn’t help with claims of That doesn’t help with claims of damage during transit.
All that cost a lot of money. Even if you can get to scale, it is a solution to a small problem. It is just the numbers game – I don’t see the fix on this being anywhere low enough to cover the cost of the problem.
soh.maryl
·2 months agoHard lesson for a seller to learn: If/when a buyer opens an NAD case, the seller's only recourse is to send the prepaid return label and refund upon return. Knowing the listing was accurate makes no difference. That's how experienced sellers handle it. It doesn't matter how many photos you take to refute the claim.
robot-hands
·2 months agoYou don't.
The only "winning" a NAD return is by getting your item back and reselling it.
If it really is a phony return, and more than half of mine are, then you report your buyer and if you are lucky ebay "subsidizes" your return label.
lumar7225
OP2 months agoAppreciate the honesty, sounds like the consensus is "don't fight it, just accept."
Quick follow-up: would it help any of you if eBay offered a built-in way to certify a listing photo as accurate, as-is, specifically to discourage buyers from opening NAD claims they know aren't legit?
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 months agoThat is an impossible task. Ebay does not have the expertise to do that.
You can read the threads critiquing the authentication programs at Ebay which make it clear that even experts cannot be relied upon to make these judgements accurately 100% of the time.
You can discover that even PSA, a major authenticator of trading cards will often decline to authenticate rare card variants which have been documented to exist but are beyond the experience of their authenticators.
lumar7225
OP2 months agoTo be clear, I'm not talking about eBay (or anyone) authenticating whether the item itself is genuine, rare, or correctly graded, that's the expert judgment problem you're describing, and I agree it's genuinely hard, PSA declining to authenticate documented rare variants makes total sense given how specialized that gets.
What I mean is much narrower: just checking whether a photo shows signs of digital editing, filters, saturation boosts, that kind of thing, compared to a second reference photo taken live. That's a mechanical check on the image file itself, not a judgment call about the item. Doesn't require any product expertise, just image analysis. Different problem than authentication entirely.
ryry-jj
·2 months agoNo, how would anyone know you shipped the actual item in the photo? The best is to accept returns for any reason so the buyer doesn't feel forced to file INAD just to return something they don't want.
ryry-jj
·2 months ago · EditedOffer free returns and then the buyer just returns it. Otherwise, they just might make up the INAD to force the "free" return. In the overall scope of things, there really aren't that many returns anyway % wise...and if you do get a lot, then you need to look at what you are selling a bit more closely.
When you get the item back, relist. Plus if you offer free returns and 1 day shipping you may be able to hold up to 50% of the refund if you get back something other than what you shipped
kensgiftshop
·2 months agoAccept the return and provide a shipping label, then refund when something is returned.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 months agoThis may sound really insane to you, but I believe the best defense against unwarranted INAD claims is making the correct decision about whether to list the item.
Some items are more likely to experience buyer's regret than others. Some condition flaws look worse in person than they do when you picture them. Some items just disappoint.
Ebay is not going to play King Solomon and judge whether the seller or buyer is correct or is telling the truth. They will just believe the buyer and expect the seller to accept a return and refund.
When I was younger and less experienced, I had many things I sold, in many places which boomeranged. I hate returns, no one I know or have ever known wants to take returns. If you do retail at other than a flea market, you are going to have to take returns, unless you deal solely in cash.
The listing being accurate is not a realistic defense against INAD returns. Do not allow anyone to convince you they will not happen.
ladybugmls
·2 months agoI accept the return without argument and issue a return label. When I get the item back I relist it, and make any necessary changes to the listing to hopefully prevent another INAD. I also usually increase the price to cover the loss from the first sale.
I think you can reach out to eBay to plead your case & they may reimburse you for the return shipping label. But there is no point in trying to fight the actual return.