2 sales to same customer 2 problems

[randysauto01]

Hello everybody! So here is what I have going on. We sell used auto parts, and do fairly well at it. Just recently I sold a car radio to a customer, who based on the ebay username, I'm guessing purchases used radios, refurbishes them, and sells them for a higher dollar amount. 

We have customers that do the same thing with engine computers and a few other parts, so I thought nothing of it.

He purchased 2 different radios, 2 days apart. The second one that he received he said that the CD's spin at a very high rate of speed and won't play. He asked how I wanted to proceed. Although I thought it kind of peculiar that a person who refurbishes them for resale would have had an issue with just asking for a partial refund for the extra parts or labor to repair it, I just asked him to send it back for a full refund, and said that I hoped the first one he purchased met his standards.

So I received it back, issued the credit and just wrote it off as a case of, "sometime's it happens with used parts"

However, I just received a second message from the customer, and he is stating the exact same issue.

We sell 100's of radios a year, and haven't had this issue on a single one before, not to say there weren't other problems with them along the line, but never this particular issue.

I'm no math genius, but it doesn't take much thinking to come to the conclusion in my opinion, this guy is buying used radios, taking parts out of it to repair a different one that he is refurbishing and then claiming something is wrong with mine. I of course have no way of proving this, and have no intention of accusing him of anything in a follow up message. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to say, but I will offer the refund, because there is no sense in not doing it, ebay will offer no help as I've learned in the past.

I've never been in a situation where I felt I needed to block someone,  but that is my gut feeling about what I need to do here.

Can you just block a buyer from buying from you when its not an auction item? I would like to make sure if I do this, I do it right. 

So far he's only purchased relatively cheap radios one was $129 and the other was $149. We have radios that are upwards of $1000, and maybe its my paranoia about him now that makes me think maybe he was just testing the waters to see how I would respond to his claims. Who knows? But I want to get out in front of this before it happens with a more costly item.

Thank you all for your time, I really enjoy reading up on stuff on this seller hub, I've learned quite a bit since my boss asked me to take over ebay about a year ago.

[katzrul15]

Add him to your BBL (blocked buyer list), so he does not purchase from you again.

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin

[dhbookds]

Did you check out the one he mailed back?  Was it missing parts, did it work the way he said?

[randysauto01]

We don't open the radio's up before we send them out, there would be know way to know if he swapped internal components unfortunately. When we are done processing and dismantling a vehicle, it no longer has the engine, or transmission left in the vehicle. The wiring harness's are pulled from the vehicle to be recycled for their copper. So there really isn't a way to test the radio when we get it back.

I had a past sale for a different part, a turn signal switch. We mark all parts that we send out with a yellow number, called a stock number, and its exclusive to that vehicle.

I had sent picture of the switch before I sent it out to the customer, and in those pictures you could see how clean ours was (we always clean the parts the best we can before sending photo's) and in that picture you could see our number written in yellow (its a special ink pen that doesn't just wipe off with out harsh chemicals).

When he received it he said his mechanic installed it and said it didn't work. I asked him to ship it back for a full refund.

What we got back was definitely not ours. It no longer had the yellow number on it, the white markings to show the position your switch was in were completely faded, where as ours were nice and bright.

I pointed it out to the customer, he got extremely defensive, insisted he watched the mechanic put it back in the box we shipped it in.

I jumped through the hoops with ebay, just for poops and grins, knowing very well what the outcome would be, and it was as I thought. They told me I needed to refund him, which I had already done anyways.

So, in the case of the radios, it would be a moot point to frustrate myself with that process again, knowing full well that ebay lacks any type of common sense in nearly everything they handle.

[myboardid]

You can block any buyer for any reason or for no reason at all any time you want.

[myboardid]

Don't try to sell those radios again since they are likely to be missing parts.

Report the buyer for abusing the returns process.  Enough reports will get him removed from being able to use the money back guarantee system.

[postingid7659]

The turn signal switch guy committed mail fraud. 

Radios that don't require some connection to the vehicle's computer can easily be tested, if one clips the plugs when removing it, they only require a few connections to verify something does work.   I have tested units in my driveway off a set of jumper cables in a few instances.  

[randysauto01]

We don't, and for that reason exactly.  When I get them back we put them in a big box and sell them to a guy (not on ebay) that legitimately refurbishes them if they can be. But we have an agreement with him that for the price he gets them for, they are sold as is, then the risk is on him.

[randysauto01]

I will check that out further. I had seen that before, but the part that stated bidder block made me think it was for auctions, and I didn't delve any further into it. Thanks for the input, I will check it out further.

[randysauto01]

I think in this case I'm a little beyond the testing with jumper cables.

[katzrul15]

@randysauto01 

You add any user ID you want to block from bidding or buying in that box.  Just highlight the ID (so you get it correct) and copy and paste.

Good luck.  Block you thieving nimrod buyer today before he gets any ideas about your salty priced ones.

All the best.

[randysauto01]

Thanks again!