Item Not as Described Claim

[jbbuckley]

My husband sold over 3000 square feet of an original tongue and groove basketball court to a guy on the East Coast. The buyer bought the item without the option of return as the shipping alone was $4000.00 via a private trucking company.

The buyer accepted delivery of 6 pallets (550 square feet per pallet) of court. The buyer contacted my husband and claimed to be shorted 1000 square feet, demanding $7000.00 of his money be returned. My husband denied his request, and the buyer has since claimed "Item not as described" to try to recoup some of what he paid.

We have pictures, he claims the product is what he wanted, but it wasn't all there. His word against my husband's. eBay closed the original claim, but the guy went another route and it has been reopened. It comes down to our word against his on an item that he accepted and is not eligible for return.

Has this happened to anyone here, and what was the resolve? To expect us to absorb another $4000.00 in shipping costs to return this item is absurd.

[lakefor94]

Did the buyer open a bank chargeback? 

[jbbuckley]

No, not that we are aware of. We have not received any notification of this.

[lakefor94]

So, if you want help here, what are the details of what has transpired so far? 

Cases opened? Type of cases, dates? Whatever you can provide less personal information. 

[ogaugeminiaturefigures]

I would have NEVER used eBay to sell those items. Good luck!

[mam98031]

What kind of dispute did they file?  If they filed it in Ebay it would have to of been a Request for Return or an Item not received dispute.  You would have gotten an email from Ebay with the link to the dispute in the email.

Or was it a Chargeback?  That is when the buyer files a claim with their credit or debit card company directly.  If the buyer does that, again you get an email from Ebay notifying you that the buyer filed a Chargeback.

It is important to know which type of dispute / claim was filed to know how you need to proceed.

If you are saying you received no emails from Ebay regarding to anything this buyer is claiming, then do NOTHING.

Now IF the buyer has filed an Item Not as Described claim in Ebay, you can't just deny it and expect that to be the end of it.  

Look at the trucking receipt.  Did they weigh each pallet on its own or is it just a total weight?  If it is just a total weight, go and find the manufacturer of the product and find out how much they weigh.  Do the math and see if it could have been short.  

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.  Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is.  Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message.  It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

Your options will be on the left.  If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.  Not all options are available 24/7.  It will depend on staffing available.  So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't.  Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me.  If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[jbbuckley]

eBay sent an email for "Request of Return." Husband had 5 days to respond, and called eBay yesterday. eBay shared that the buyer indicated he wanted to return the item based on "item not as described."

Pallets were not weighed individually; the total weight was 8000 lbs. The shipment consisted of different lengths of a 2" basketball court from the 1950's. To find the manufacturer and product would be unlikely.

We still have about 400 feet left of the court, but the boards are different lengths. 

We live in a VERY RURAL area, hence why my husband thought eBay would be the best choice to use. Finding a shipper to truck it was not an easy task, and then U-Ship dropped the mover mid-transit. 

[soh.maryl]

It's probably too late for this advice to be helpful in your particular case, but a standard bit of advice from experienced eBay sellers is "Never list an item that you cannot afford to lose".  And I would add: 

"When listing ANY item for sale on eBay, be prepared for an item not as described case where eBay will side with the buyer and the seller will be required to pay return shipping up front and to refund in full upon receipt of the returned item."  

ALL sellers need to read the MBG, preferably BEFORE they begin selling here, so that they will be aware of the options available to buyers.  Your hardwood would have been better to be listed locally.  

[yoonix1]

Is it possible you have mistaken the length, especially when it's from 50's? Reading your messages, your Buyer doesn't look like a scammer. Not everything ends with EBay, for such amount of money people go to court.

[jbbuckley]

There was no mention of a "scammer." I don't believe he is a scammer...but, there is a difference of opinion on what was sent vs. what he requested.

Could the buyer have ended up short because he mismeasured the room in which he was installing the flooring? It is plausible that the buyer made a mistake as well.

[albertabrightalberta]

---

@jbbuckley wrote:

My husband sold over 3000 square feet of an original tongue and groove basketball court to a guy on the East Coast. The buyer bought the item without the option of return as the shipping alone was $4000.00 via a private trucking company.

The buyer accepted delivery of 6 pallets (550 square feet per pallet) of court. The buyer contacted my husband and claimed to be shorted 1000 square feet, demanding $7000.00 of his money be returned. My husband denied his request, and the buyer has since claimed "Item not as described" to try to recoup some of what he paid.

We have pictures, he claims the product is what he wanted, but it wasn't all there. His word against my husband's. eBay closed the original claim, but the guy went another route and it has been reopened. It comes down to our word against his on an item that he accepted and is not eligible for return.

Has this happened to anyone here, and what was the resolve? To expect us to absorb another $4000.00 in shipping costs to return this item is absurd.

---

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I can't imagine having to take the return and pay return shipping for that amount of money.

How/why did ebay close the original claim? Did the buyer not choose NAD as the reason for the return? That's the only reason (I can think of) for which ebay would close it. 

I found the listing and I'm curious how you knew that the quantity was 3300. New flooring comes pre-packaged but for your item, you claim it was meticulously removed and stacked. Is it possible that whoever did the packing didn't fill measure correctly? Or that the boxes weren't fully stuffed and resulted in empty space that may have been counted as square feet of wood? 

It appears to me (from what I see in the listing) that the buyer paid about $17, 350 including shipping. IMO, his request for $7000 partial refund is excessive but I'd offer a partial vs. the return. 

[jbbuckley]

I am unsure why the claim was originally closed.

The floor was an original 1950s basketball court; there was no box. These were measured per square foot, and delivered on 6 wrapped pallets.

My husband will be reaching out to the buyer this week. I was just wondering what the resolution was in other cases similar to ours.

We live in such a remote area, so selling locally would be difficult.

[mam98031]

@jbbuckley 

How did the buyer pay you?

[mam98031]

Would shipping them what you have left be a viable alternative?  Just asking.  It was only a thought.

[mam98031]

@jbbuckley 

DON't do that until you have reached out to EBAY to find out why the claim was closed.  You need to know why that happened FIRST.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.  Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is.  Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message.  It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

Your options will be on the left.  If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.  Not all options are available 24/7.  It will depend on staffing available.  So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't.  Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me.  If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/home