I sell used clothing so to begin I know to measure twice return never, use all 10 free photos, return never, accurately describe every detail of what buyer is receiving SO you never get a return request, item not as described forced refund from paypal...I offer a 14 day return policy, ebay says that makes me sound friendlier and they're more likely to purchase from me, however when I list every measurement and detail they know whether it fits, the color matches their eyes, etc and buyers remorse is just that....basically of the couple returns I've had was because of being damaged in shipping, not mine or the buyers fault.
With all that said, I sold a book and have a question for the sellers, veteran sellers, not the 1000 item a day, 1 in every 100 bad feed back doesn't hurt me because ebay likes taking my fees...I sold a 40+ yr old well read text book, very rare and when found in collectable condition sells for several hundred, not say $50, I've read this book over and over, forced it out flat, broke the binding so it would lay flat, glue in binding after 47 yrs shows age, however book is sound, no loose or missing pages, all photos show cover, back, spine, facing top pages, facing bottom pages, side and inside several pages. So I get offers, someone buys it at asking price....gets book on a Fri then on a Sun sends me a message stating sections are falling out of the book, would like a 40% partial refund without doing anything through ebay, just messaging. I called ebay within minutes Sun afternoon, spoke with someone in returns as this person wasn't asking to return item just wanted partial refund, stating that they would have to have the book rebound. I had an issue where a painting was damaged in shipping, the glass broke, buy said they would work with me taking it somewhere and I'd partial refund the cost of the glass as they wanted to keep it, waited for a week and then saw they were shipping it back with no notice, got it back in the original packing destroyed and now shattered glass shaking around destroying artwork. Went round and round with photos and their messages till eBay found in my favor and didn't refund them as they didn't have any photos to back their statement of damage, basically they tried to pull small arwork out of matting and had to brake frame and backing making original item useless. I explained if buyer got item and tried to pull binding apart to re glue anything, I'm not taking back something in worse condition as when I sent it, especially an item that shows up on eBay once every couple years, basically an estate item where someone has to die for someone to sell it.
I know, getting long, girl on Sun told me and we both agreed, lets see what he does, if he sucks it up we can worry about negative feedback, but so far it's buyers remorce he should abuse the 14 day return policy and based on terms, pay to ship back and loose 20% restocking fee for not being happy because he didn't look at photos or read description. So days go by and I get another message, and found a buyer loophole which makes the ebay people just go quiet like they are not on the line anymore hoping you'll hang up....message states, sent you an email expressing my dissatisfaction. I received no reply. I left you VERY BAD feedback, Please respond and I will change the feedback. Feedback states book is falling apart. I want a 50% or total refund. It is not as described. I called eBay, spoke with a guy this morning, he read the notes from Sun, today is Tues, he said nothing we can do with the feedback, for some reason I left you VERY BAD feedback, please respond and I will change it and the I want 50% or total refund isn't resonating as feedback extortion, and the fact that he doesn't want to open a refund as he wants to keep the book, they don't think that someone telling me they want 50% back or total refund without mention of shipping back the book is an unreasonable demand, and he states in the feedback item not as described, which again is another reference to paypal and so long money and maybe you'll get item back.
I told they guy, why is it I called Sun and got 1 response and today your telling me it's an opinion, give me 50% back or keep the negative feedback isn't feedback extortion, he has an opinion he should get half his money back? I told him ok, as he couldn't understand what I was told and he read from notes on Sun was different from what he was telling me..so I said thank you, oh well, eBay...I called back 5 min later, wen't through the whole thing again in the same department with someone different, however she said she saw the person I spoke to earliers remarks, but no notes from Sun, the 1st person said he read Sundays notes, the 2nd person said there were no notes from Sun, just the ones from the person I just spoke with who told me I could respond to his negative feedback with my what 12 characters to try to explain he wanted to keep the book for half the price....
So I called again a 3rd time to see if they had any notes from today or it was all just, well yes I have this documented....I contacted the buyer explaining I'd gladly refund his purchase based on the terms in the listing, I'd spoke with ebay when I received his first message, with the worry he possibly damaged the vintage book as he didn't want to return it or send any photos showing damage, then after receiving his negative feedback another message about gettting a partial refund to remove feedback, all of these things I discussed with eBay, hoping he'd as the first person said, let him slip up and dig a hole, if he did damage the book, he knows he can't return it as the photos will show damage against your listing photos, he told me he's sorry he didn't mean to be harsh, but looking at 2 of the photos from the listing it clearly shows sections of the book jutting out...yes it does, and if he did try to pry them out and damage the book....I'm waiting to call them back and dispute the feedback allowing them to read the message where he acknoledges he saw the photos, but after receiving the book didn't like it, yes buyers remorse, sometimes that does hold up in eBay court....
My question verterain eBayer's have you ever listed something with accurate photos, to the point where the buyer admits they knew what they were receiving, however after they got it, were upset they purchased it, didn't want to return it as they knew they weren't going to be able to at that price buy it again, however expect the seller to pay to have I don't know, lets say I sold a LCD Projector where the bulb was dead, now I tested it with another bulb, knowing these bulbs cost $300 to replace, the listing didn't include a new bulb hense the low price, but the projector worked, so the buyer states, he wants money back so he can buy a working bulb? Or he based on photos purchased a pair of dress shoes that from the photos shoed they needed to be shined or worse re-soled to bring to perfect new condition, sold as EUC, can I be forced to pay to polish those shoes, re-sole shoes that show the soles are worn, or pay for a working bulb in a projector that stated there wasn't one included to change feedback? In this instance I could have had the book binding repaired to make it look as it did when it was new on the inside, but I would have added that fluff into the asking price...all around this is the first time eBay and their scripted responces are not protecting the seller.
