10-15-2020 10:15 AM
Community... please offer your thoughts:
On 9/27/20 I sold a pair of size 29" x 32" women's jeans to an eBay buyer. The measurements were shown both in the written description and in a close-up photo of the label on the jeans. Despite this, before placing a bid the buyer requested that I confirm the length of the inseam, writing in an eBay message:
"Dear, seller, Hello. I have a quick question for the acne studio jeans men 29*32.
My waist size is 32, which seems matching to your description. However, the label rag of the jeans showed it as 29. Could you confirm that the waist size of jeans is 32 and it's inseam is 29, please?
Thank you."
Note that the buyer's question refers to "studio jeans men". The "Item Specifics" section of the listing clearly shows that these are Women's jeans. In any case, after receiving the buyer's message, I got out a measuring tape, measured the inseam of the jeans and sent the buyer a message confirming that the inseam was indeed 29 inches. The buyer wrote back: "Thank you so much for letting me know! Have a good one!"
After the buyer won the auction, I sent the buyer a message indicating that I would be shipping the jeans the next day, when a tracking number would be available. The buyer wrote: "Thank you so much for letting me know! Have a great week!" As promised, the next day I sent out the jeans via USPS Priority Mail at no cost to the buyer (i.e., free shipping).
On 10/1/2020, I got an eBay message stating that the buyer "let us know that they want to return [the] item... for a refund" -- even though my listing clearly shows that I do not accept refunds. Under "Return Details," the buyer's message indicates: "Dear, seller Hello. I once sent you the message and confirm the size of the item before the purchase. However, it does not match to the description and fit me. Though you said the waist size was 32, it is 29. Can I return the item, please?"
The buyer’s request/message included a photo of someone - the buyer? - extending a measuring tape along the inseam of the jeans; this photo confirms that the inseam is 29 inches. Also included in the message was a photo of someone extending a measuring tape across the top of the jeans (i.e., the waist); this tape measurement shows 16" across the top. So… front to back of the jeans is 16" x 2, or a waist size of 32 inches. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if the jeans label reads 29 x 32... and you measure the inseam as 29 inches... the waist size must be 32 inches.
I declined the buyer's request to return the item – not so much because the buyer ignored the notice in the listing that shows I do not accept refunds (if this was truly my fault I would have refunded the buyer, no questions asked)… but because the buyer made the dubious argument that the description in the listing was inaccurate in order to cover for the fact that the jeans simply did not fit the buyer. The description of the item was accurate; both a photo and written description of the item in the listing gave the measurements as 29 x 32.
Even though I declined the buyer’s request to return the item, I offered the buyer a partial refund with no obligation to return the jeans - which the buyer could in theory resell - as a good faith gesture. I just wanted to wash my hands clean of the transaction, and thought this was fair. But then eBay sent me a message indicating the buyer "has declined your partial refund offer". In this same message, eBay wrote: "To resolve and close this request, you can accept a return for this item or refund the buyer by Oct 06, 2020." eBay closed the return on October 2, with no further explanation. I concluded that the return had been closed because the buyer rejected my offer of a partial refund.
I thought that was the end of it… until I noticed on October 9th that there was a negative balance in my PayPal account. There were no funds in my PayPal account to begin with, because I only use the account to process transactions in and out of it. In the meantime, without telling me that it was doing so eBay appears to have processed my partial refund offer via PayPal (my eBay account is linked to the PayPal account) or put some sort of a lock on the amount of the partial refund - which the buyer had declined. When eBay did this, PayPal saw there were no funds in my account and threw up a red-lettered message on my account that said I needed to "Add Funds" to the account.
So I called PayPal "collections" and added funds to the account… apparently because those funds needed to be on hand in order to pay the partial refund offer that - as far as I knew - the buyer rejected. To make matters worse, per PayPal, adding funds to a PayPal account takes 3-5 business days "to clear their system". As a result, any and all payments going through my PayPal account on are hold until the added funds "clear their system".
Normally this would not be a problem because I don’t use the PayPal account that much. But it just so happened that 24 hours before PayPal instructed me to “Add Funds” to my account, I sent some money to a friend using PayPal, drawing the funds from a bank account that is separate from the bank account linked to my eBay account . And those funds for my friend have been on hold since October 9th (I have since given her a handwritten check in the same amount). As you probably know, the way PayPal works, the email associated with your PayPal account affects all transactions processed in the account, regardless of what payment method used. So if something goes wrong with one transaction, it screws up all those that follow.
Are you dizzy yet? It gets worse: the person on eBay who bought those jeans left me negative feedback that tanked my feedback rating.
This lone eBay buyer has proved to be a nightmare. I have been buying and selling on eBay for 21 years and have had a 100% positive rating the entire time. But because of the negative feedback left by the buyer who misinterpreted the listing and rejected my partial refund offer… my feedback rating is now 88% positive after being 100% positive since 1999.
On October 10th, I reported the buyer for violating eBay's policy. Of the options I was given for “Reason” I chose: "Claimed the item was not as described when that wasn’t true." On the same day, I received this automated response from eBay: "Thanks for letting us know about a buyer who may have been violating our policies. Here's a summary of your report." (eBay pasted in my report which gave the basic details, as above but much shorter!)
I have not heard from eBay since reporting this buyer on 10/10/2020. Since eBay no longer offers live phone support, I feel like this could go unresolved for days, weeks or months.
Community... what are the chances that this buyer's negative feedback will be removed and my 100% positive rating restored? If anyone has had success with getting negative feedback removed, please suggest how to proceed.
Thank you for hanging in there with me on this long message!
10-15-2020 10:27 AM
But you do have to be a rocket scientist to know that 29x32 is always Waste x Length. The Waste is always 1st, on all pants. The width of anything, windows, doors, clothes, boxes etc. is ALWAYS first.
Something is wrong with that label if it says 29x32 and the inseam is 29....
10-15-2020 11:57 AM - edited 10-15-2020 12:00 PM
I would be confused too if I were to try to buy them. The category is men's and item specifics is women. The measurements are reversed from the common US standard.
If they filed the return not as described, you really didn't have the option to decline the return.
10-15-2020 12:25 PM
Perhaps they mark the measurement differently in Italy where the jeans were made but pants in North America usually have the waist size first so 29 x 32 would mean that the waist is 29. But regardless of what the measurements were, as soon as the buyer said the item was not as described you were obligated to either send the buyer a return label and refund once the item was returned or refund without requiring a return. eBay does not investigate not described return requests.....they assume the buyer is unhappy and they want the seller to cooperate. Since you didn't refund, ebay stepped in and refunded on your behalf.
A no return policy allows you to refuse buyer remorse returns but not item not as described returns.
When the buyer wrote you about the 'mens' jeans that alone should have told you that there was a problem with the listing. Your item specific say that the jeans are womens but you have listed the item under mens clothing so the initial mistake was definitely yours.
10-15-2020 12:57 PM
Agree totally, label reads: 29 x 32 means the waist size is 29 the inseam is 32 and these are generally Mens sizes..Womens are solid numbers..10, 12, short, long, petite etc.
10-15-2020 01:10 PM
Womens jeans are often sold by waist and inseam size.
10-15-2020 02:56 PM
Thank you for your helpful reply. As you wrote, I listed this under men's clothing and that was my mistake, for sure. It's actually something I did not even notice until you pointed it out; I had created the listing using the "sell similar" option, after seeing a listing for these same jeans sold by another eBay seller. I didn't catch that the item I was "copying" was listed under men's clothing (ironically, the manufacturer of these jeans describes them as Unisex). Perhaps I should have questioned the "mens jeans" reference in the buyer's message to me, but I was focused on answering the question posed - which was, can you confirm the inseam is 29? I did this by taking the measurement and confirming it was 29" - so the response about the length was truthful.
You wrote: "A no return policy allows you to refuse buyer remorse returns but not item not as described returns." I guess this explains why, in asking for a refund, the buyer chose "not as described" as the reason, rather than buyer's remorse - which is more accurate given that you buyer got confirmation that the inseam was 29, and the buyer even took a photo of herself measuring the inseam and her tape measure shows 29 inches. If you are hellbent on getting a refund and the seller has a no return policy, of course you're going to choose "not as described" if the item doesn't fit you. The jeans may have been in the wrong category, but they were accurately described in the listing ("Item Specifics" clearly indicates Waist: 32 inches).
My main issue is with the negative feedback. I rarely leave negative feedback as a buyer or a seller. There has to be something really wrong with an item, and as a party in any transaction, if I made a mistake of some kind, I may take issue with a refund amount but I am not going to leave negative feedback. The buyer's own photo showing the length as 29" proves she made a mistake and was partially to blame. I tried to meet the buyer halfway with a partial refund, but she rejected my offer. I am also very reluctant to leave negative feedback when it is clear - if you take a moment to look - that the person on the other end of the transaction has maintained a 100% feedback rating after being on eBay for many, many years. In this case the buyer's negative feedback was mean and retaliatory, which is not cool. But I guess I have to live with it.