Bad feedback???

[cupcake0113]

I sold a couple of china dishes on October 20th. I carefully packed them and shipped them and she received them 5 days later. However, a month and a half later (Dec 6th), she contacts me and says that they arrived broken??? Then before I had a chance to respond, she left me bad feedback! Has this happened to anyone else? How did you handle it?

[inhawaii]

Did the buyer file a case with ebay -or- only complain to you and leave bad feedback?

[ittybitnot]

 How did you handle it?

@cupcake0113 

Do nothing unless the buyer files a claim other than put the ID on my blocked buyer list. .  A general look at the "timeline" suggests her window has passed for filing with eBay.  

Bad feedback does not affect your seller rating, and this sounds like the typical "tree shaker" that is expecting you to refund (at least partially) so that they will (only maybe) remove the red donut.   A more experienced seller might reply "what would you like me to do?"  If you have no experience in baiting  a buyer giving you the shakedown, it is probably best to ignore until a claim is filed. 

Yes, we all know that the red donut has a "sting".   But it is best to remember the point of selling here is to make money, not accumulate green donuts.   You can always provide a "professional" reply to the bad feedback as you have already done. 

[cupcake0113]

She sent me pictures. I was in a hurry, but ran by the post  office about using the priority mail insurance to pay for it. I got home and was going to tell her, but she had already left the bad feedback. It seemed really fishy to me that she's had them for a month and a half when she finally messages me that they were broken. 

[alouetta725]

If it was insured with USPS, you can initiate a claim online at USPS. Then it will be in her ballpark. If she finishes the claim and gets refunded, she can then take away the negative feedback. Just a thought.

[iart]

The way to handle this proactively is to stop using the No Returns option. This just gives buyers the idea you don't stand behind your product.

Lucky for you this buyer doesn't know how to use eBay to get their money back.

If I were in this situation (which I wouldn't be), I'd apologize for the breakage, offer a refund because I obviously didn't pack them well enough and, after the dust settled, politely ask the buyer to remove the negative.

[ittybitnot]

It seemed really fishy to me that she's had them for a month and a half when she finally messages me that they were broken. 

@cupcake0113 

It seems really fishy to me that she did not file an eBay claim. 

[this*old*attic]

I often don’t open purchases right away because I’m busy and confident everything is fine.

If it turns out there’s a problem…. um, I’m busy.

 I know exactly what my parameters are, and I don’t owe an EBay or Etsy seller anything more than I owe Amazon or Wayfair or Overstock.

We aren’t friends, and there’s no hurry obligation… at least for buyers.

[fashunu4eeuh]

She sent pictures. I would not immediately consider this as fraud taking place. It could be she didn't open the package right away. Upon finally checking, she found the breakage, was angry, and left the negative before you could respond. (How much time elapsed from her first contact to your seeing the message?) 

If this were my customer, i would refund, with apologies. No sense it sending in back if it is broken.

@alouetta725 shipping insurance is for the seller. It is the responsibility of the sender, not the buyer, to make a claim. Ebay customers need to be refunded promptly, and then the seller waits for the reimbursement if the shipment damage qualifies.

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@cupcake0113 wrote:

She sent me pictures. I was in a hurry, but ran by the post  office about using the priority mail insurance to pay for it. I got home and was going to tell her, but she had already left the bad feedback. It seemed really fishy to me that she's had them for a month and a half when she finally messages me that they were broken. 

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Newbie buyer jumped the gun on leaving feedback. All this could be her inexperience on how to deal with a problem.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@fashunu4eeuh 

Glad you posted that about the shipping insurance. 

@cupcake0113 

     It did happened one time to me, but it was a tiny tiny finger on a little figurine that was in a collectable lot. Buyer sent me a message and a photo, I replied " what can I do to make it better? Just a little back an forth, settling on refunding shipping.

     I then uploaded her photo on USPS claim site and put in the amount, 2 weeks later received check.

     I would contact buyer stating you are refunding her purchase, apologize and file claim with post office. If buyer could remove neg, it would be nice, but don't lose sleep over it. You have darling items for sale and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from you.

     Merry Christmas to you.

[yuzuha]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

I often don’t open purchases right away because I’m busy and confident everything is fine.

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Yeah, given the time of year I could easily see this as being a case of someone buying some china with plans to use it for Christmas and then just setting it aside when it arrived and not opening it until now. I would personally never do that without checking it first, but it's not hard to see how someone might.