Help With a Bad Situation

[stewill_9161]

Hello eBay forum,

Long time lurker here, glad I can finally contribute  though I wish it were under better pretenses.

I’ve been an eBay seller for almost 5 years now. I’ve had almost all great experiences, both buying and selling, with 100% positive feedback and top-rated seller status at one point.

I slowed down a bit on eBay and didn’t really post much until last month. I posted a few Hot Wheels cars that were a special release from November. They were brand new in the box.

A buyer offered me a discounted price for all four which made me a net profit of around $15. If I could give this back, I would send the buyer $30 to undo this whole transaction.

I promptly packaged the order and included a handful of free stickers and a handwritten “thank you” note.

Fast forward a few weeks after delivery, the individual messages me saying there is a “paint error” on one of the cars. To me it looked like it happened in the process of shipping, but I advised the customer I would do a return anyways. The customer wasn’t agreeable and was quite frustrated. I told him I wanted to make sure he was happy and would work with him until he was.

The customer insisted he is overseas and can’t return the item to me for two months and wants a refund. I contacted eBay and they advised me to have him initiate the return process through eBay. The customer insisted I send him a refund outside of the return process. He then left me a bad review.

This sucks because I have a 100% track record selling on this platform. I have tons of inventory to post but will have to post it elsewhere. With my current rating, I wouldn’t buy from me.

I have reported the buyers’ requests for me to send refund money without using EBay’s return process to eBay in messenger. I also asked eBay to review his feedback.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice for this?

[stewill_9161]

Thank you for the thoughts and kind words. I’ve started listing again and replies like yours have been extremely helpful. From a stranger on the internet, thank you sincerely

[stewill_9161]

Thank you chapeau, I took inspiration from the extremely helpful folks here on the forum for my reply. I kind of got the same feeling about the buyer wanting to keep the product and it’s sad to see but I have decided to keep selling and dilute the bad with overwhelmingly positive reviews.

[stewill_9161]

Thank you bashort, if you feel that way I’m certain others will also

[stewill_9161]

Thank you for the positivity coastal! I was definitely feeling a lot worse about this before I heard from everyone here lol. You guys are awesome

[stewill_9161]

Thank you a_c, it’s nice to have veterans like yourself to consult. I looked through his other feedbacks and didn’t see anything negative recently. It’s a shame because my offer to return/refund still stands for me. Thats what makes me feel your suspicions are justified

[stewill_9161]

Thank you gb for the advice, I will block them.

The numbers really do feel smaller when you break it down like that. I was feeling a little hopeless yesterday but have posted and made a handful of sales already.

Comments like yours helped me bounce back and know how to react- thank you again.

[stewill_9161]

Thanks for the out of the box thinking az I didn’t even think of reviews from buying items!

[stewill_9161]

Thank you broto, you have a valid point and I probably could’ve taken a less pointed and more welcoming approach to my response as my offer to return/refund still stands.

[stewill_9161]

Thank you db, very helpful to hear insight on dealing with eBay customer service. Yes I actually shipped this item to New York. The customer tells me he is overseas and doesn’t want to return the item.

Hopefully the customer doesn’t charge back on their CC. They purchased 4 cars and claimed there was an issue with just one. I would hope I could get some reciprocity but if he does charge back I’ll ask here for sure!

[stewill_9161]

Thanks booji girl! In retrospect I could have included in my reply that my offer to return/refund the item still stands. The buyer just really didn’t want to send it back (or implied he could in two months when he was back in the country).

[reallynicestamps]

The customer insisted he is overseas and can’t return the item to me for two months and wants a refund.

Did he use a freight forwarder?

In that case, you can send the Return Shipping Label to the address he gave you( the forwarder in the USA). The forwarder might be a professional company or might be Auntie Sonia in Brighton Beach.

You are not required to send return shipping from overseas if there is a forwarder.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

[broto_64]

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@booji_girl wrote:

IMHO it did the exact right amount of finger pointing. If the negative comment was left before the return policy period ended, I might have added something along the lines of "as we are still within my [X ]days return policy period, you can still return this item [lay out steps as you did above]". Otherwise it implies that the seller never explained the return policy at all and was unresponsive, which is plausible because some sellers are like that.

While OP shouldn't go over board pointing the finger at the buyer, they shouldn't unnecessarily point it at themselves.

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Agreed, overall the reply was not a damaging one to the seller because that is what is important here... Those replies to feedback are not for that buyer, they are for future buyers to see. It is also why I like to stress on coming off helpful and sweet and to do our utmost to not let ire and fury direct our actions (even if it were rightfully deserved as some might say). 
Those future buyers will see that, everyone knows there are two sides to every story and we'll never get the full story but the last thing a buyer wants to see is an aggressive seller who doesn't appear intent on resolving the problem.
Most buyers realize problems will happen, in fact some of us actually want to see a negative or two when a seller has thousands of feedback, few of us are so foolish as to believe a seller can maintain perfect feedback in an imperfect world. So again what is important is how we handle our problem transactions (notice I didn't say problem buyer, it is a problem with the transaction; we do not know who is responsible and that is where I think it is important to stay away from the blame game).
Anyway...

[albertabrightalberta]

@stewill_9161 

My opinion is that the experienced buyer saw a newbie seller and knew he could take advantage of you. (Not that he has to but did he send a picture showing the damage he's alleging?)

The way I would have handled it from the first message would have been, "I'm sorry you aren't happy with the item. Since I accept returns, click on "return this item" and as soon as I receive it, I'll issue you a refund." 

Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Ignore that he's "overseas" because it's irrelevant. He knew you only ship to US addresses and that he used a freight forwarder is his problem. 

I'm guessing this isn't his first rodeo. 

You might be able to follow up with the buyer (through the order) by repeating that he can return the item for a refund as per your "free return" policy. (He'd have to pay to ship it to the FF and probably won't do that.)

After offering to take the return, you might be able to contact ebay requesting that the feedback be removed. Explain that you offered to take the return and instead, the buyer demanded a refund and negged you.