Buyer left neutral feedback because I would not issue partial refund

[gingergottin]

...and by "partial" I mean 2/3 of the purchase price - which was already negotiated down via best offer (she had originally lowballed it but against my better judgement I worked with her to agree on a price).  Shipping was free as well.  I shipped the items out and about a week later I get an email saying the product is faulty (it was air fresheners) and she wants a refund of $20 (she paid $30).  I apologized and told her to return them for a full refund.  She didn't like that - she didn't have time to pack them up and couldn't believe I refused to issue the refund.  I apologized again, explained how to get USPS to do a pickup, etc but she said she can't be bothered  because she's caring for a sick relative and again demanded a partial refund.

A couple weeks go by and I got an email from her saying again that she wanted a partial refund, couldn't believe how unethical I was because she paid "top dollar" for the items and I refused to honor their quality, etc.  I didn't respond.

Today, nearly two months later, I received a neutral feedback from her saying that I sold damaged product and refused to give her a partial refund. I applied to have it removed but ebay said it didn't qualify for removal. I know it doesn't technically hurt me but it looks really bad, like I'm selling terrible items and I refuse to work with customers. Is there anything else I can do?

[popblox]

The very first thing you need to do in a situation like this one is report the buyer. Sometimes it seems like eBay doesn't do anything with that information, but I can say from personal experience it's something they definitely review before removing neg/neu feedback like this.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

For the reason, select "Buyer demanded something that wasn't offered in my listing". Only after you've reported the buyer, take an alternate route to getting the feedback removed. The feedback removal tool is useless lately, so I'd suggest having eBay call you. Make sure to leave emotion completely out of it and use eBay power phrases like "the buyer demanded" and/or "this feels like retaliation or feedback extortion".  

[gwens*4saleitems*]

3 Renuzit Tempting Indulgences Collection - Creme Brulee New, sealed in original wrapping 2012 Made in USA Distributed by Dial Corp.

If this is the listing in question ...... the listing clearly states these are from 2012.

Buyer claims the product is disintegrated (which seems plausible due to age).

I would give them their money back in full and be done with it.

[jayjaspersgarage]

If this has to do with expired air fresheners then you are getting what you deserve.  Similar things can happen to expired solid gel deodorant.  If the air freshener is shrinking after seven or eight years you are taking the risk.  Just because the original wrapping is on an expired product doesn't protect you as a seller.  I buy larger lots of gel deodorant for the price discount and check each one upon receipt to be sure they haven't started to shrink.  Same reason people open them in retail stores before they put it in the basket.

I would recommend not selling air freshener that has old dates regardless of how inexpensive they are at your source.

[femmefan1946]

A neutral will not affect your  FB rating.

Most buyers think 95% ratings are super-duper in any case.

Nor does eBay use it to assess your selling account.

That the buyer demanded to keep the product and get a partial refund, makes her case questionable.

Take it as a learning experience that expired products are not the quality the buyer will expect and that "Best Before" means "use it before it goes off in some way" and don't sell those any more.

[luckythewinner]

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@gingergottin wrote:

Is there anything else I can do?

---

The feedback says you refused a partial refund. 

You told us that you refused a partial refund. 

What is it about the feedback that qualifies it for removal?

[lamber9347]

@gingergottin I'm sorry, I'm sure you expected to receive more sympathy but that hasn't been the case. Perhaps you should concentrate on the lessons you can now learn moving forward. Selling online simply isn't for everyone. It's a risk for a variety of reasons.

In your case you sold 8 year old air fresheners that apparently had slightly deteriorated. Your initial response was correct, return for refund, but when she wasn't going to go through the trouble then you had an opportunity to weight the situation out. At that point the buyer had obviously unwrapped your "new" air fresheners so you couldn't resell them. You could have issued her the $20 partial, retained your $10 and be done with it. Instead you held out for the full return, which also would have cost you the return label as you cannot possibly think this buyer would pay to return them. That was your choice that you made. Now here is the consequence to that choice.

That's what happens in life, we make choices daily and have to live with the consequences of those choices. You should be grateful that she didn't leave you a negative as that would have impacted your ratings more. Frankly she wrote the truth in her FB, items had deteriorated and you refused a partial refund. Yes that will impact your future sales as potential buyers will now see who they are dealing with. 

You should rethink selling any products that are factory sealed yet dated from such a long time, as it can be a Pandora's box once opened by the buyer. Moving forward you may want to be more accepting of partial refunds within such scenarios. These are all lessons for us to learn from. Concentrate on selling and you will learn to ignore this neutral and hopefully use it to grow. Best of luck to you....

[gingergottin]

They were not expired: the Creme Brulee Tempting Indulgence version were trademarked in 2012, not sold. These were sold in 2017 and I have a few myself - they are in perfectly good condition.  And I did offer her a full refund if she returned the faulty product (which she claimed was faulty but I have no way of knowing that they were).

I've been selling on eBay for 20 years, I've never had someone demand a refund and refuse to return the product because it was inconvenient for them. In fact I just had someone return an item that didn't fit and she was refunded because that's how I assumed it works.

I have hundreds (thousands if you include my old account) of positive feedback from satisfied customers who seem to be okay with "who they are dealing with."  I'm not trying to scam anyone, I'm a small time seller who is trying to make ends meet. But thank you for making me feel worse about it.

[gingergottin]

Thank you for the help.  It was the first time I've ever used the online feedback tool - never really needed to until now! But thank you very much for your suggestion.

[lamber9347]

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@gingergottin wrote:

<snip>

I have hundreds (thousands if you include my old account) of positive feedback from satisfied customers who seem to be okay with "who they are dealing with."  I'm not trying to scam anyone, I'm a small time seller who is trying to make ends meet. But thank you for making me feel worse about it.

---

I'm so sorry to read this. It was not my intention to make you feel badly. I was trying to offer advice for future dealings while reminding that things happen which are out of our control. I said your initial response was correct, return for refund. I ended with a positive note for you to concentrate on selling and wished you the best, but unfortunately you didn't see all that. Again I wish you the best of luck.... 

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi sorry this happened. You can leave a follow up comment on the feedback to help deflate its future impact, if it even has any. I’d respond with something like, “Buyer refused a full refund upon return”. Short and sweet. Not blaming or defensive. 

It makes no sense she refused to return. She could have opened an Item Not as Described claim but didn't do that either. All in all, it could have been worse, and you handled it well.

[moo*cow*corner]

The seller (OP) apologized and offered a full refund on return. In my world (and ebay's), that's called proper CS for a seller.  Buyer opens a SNAD return request, seller pays return shipping. Seller gets their stuff back, buyer gets refund. That's how it works. If the buyer wants a refund, they must return the order. It's that simple, even according to ebay. It's called the MBG.

I think castigating the seller for offering a discontinued scent is ridiculous. It happens all the time on ebay. If there's a demand, there will be a market for such things. Buyer knew that these were basically unavailable anywhere else. Again, the ebay MBG 100% covers the buyer. 

A partial refund would not have made an unacceptable product suddenly more better. Maybe cheaper, but not more better.  /snark

If the buyer wants a refund, then they need to follow the proper procedures as laid out by ebay and return the products to the seller.  I'm backing the OP on this one.

[caldreamer]

Some customers are just scammers and demand "partial refund" to see if they can get something for nothing.   I wouldn't worry about "neutral feedback" nobody reads that anyway.   

I once had a customer buy a 2-piece suit and demand 50% refund because pants didn't fit (and wanted to keep both items).   She gave me the same "song & dance" about being too busy to return item.   She even threatened to leave negative feedback because I wouldn't give her "50% refund".   I am very stubborn and NEVER reward bad behavior.   

[jayjaspersgarage]

"I once had a customer buy a 2-piece suit and demand 50% refund because pants didn't fit (and wanted to keep both items).   She gave me the same "song & dance" about being too busy to return item.   She even threatened to leave negative feedback because I wouldn't give her "50% refund".   I am very stubborn and NEVER reward bad behavior. "

That's called feedback extortion and can get an account closed if you report them with the actual quoted threat.  That has nothing to do with the current topic but there are very swift and real consequences for feedback extortion.  

Had someone told me the pants didn't fit on a suit they bought I might have replied "so who wears the pants in your house?".   Clothes in general are a difficult sell on ebay in my mind.  The allowed tax write off for clothes when using Turbo Tax is usually more than I expected when donating clothes to goodwill.  I've been lucky with the few clothing sales I have completed over the years.

[inhawaii]

Haggling back and fourth and negotiating a partial refund is usually not a good idea.  The buyer can keep it or return it for a refund.  No partial refunds. 

In this case, since i wouldn't want 3 crumbly air fresheners returned, i would have apologized to the buyer.  They were factory sealed. You had no idea they were crumbly. Then i would issue the buyer a full refund and told the buyer to keep the items.

Good luck in the future and stay safe.