Out of Stock Item Buyer Agreed to Receive substitute now Disputes

[snare-trap-survive]

We had a listing for survival foods. The buyer is in Puerto Rico and we did not have stock here in our storage house. Our main supplies DOES NOT ship to Puerto Rico. We contacted the buyer and advised them of such. I told her we do have an alternate product of same (actually greater value) and she agreed to have it sent. Immediately upon the items arrival they opened a dispute saying
(1) All items didn't arrive wants full refund
(2) Claims items are not good value

It is clear this is a scam attempt but now we are stuck. Must we make a refund even though we have recorded correspondence of them agreeing to the terms?

Item is as described as in being 360 servings survival food, same contents but of a different brand name.

[forward-motion]

Ask them to return it, that puts it in the buyers court to do something. The will either return it and you can refund the money, less a percentage if it is not exactly as you shipped it, or they don't ship it back and the case closes in your favor and the money is returned to you. 

[katzrul15]

If it deviates from the listing sold, Buyer will prevail in SNAD claim, regardless of your email exchange.

If you want the item back, you will need to accept the return.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Once the Not As Described claim is opened, sellers are stuck refunding even when the buyer is committing fraud. As the others advised, select Return for Refund. Then after the return is received and the refund has been given, you can appeal the case. That will be where you can submit your evidence and messages to eBay. Below is a link on how to appeal. Don’t let eBay open an appeal for you, and follow the instructions carefully for your best chance at reversal. Good luck.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/appeal-ebays-decision-return-missing-item...

[justafemster]

YOU changed the terms after the sale.  This is on YOU.  

YOU should have immediately refunded once YOU discovered YOU didn't have the product.  But YOU didn't, YOU saw a sale and YOU wanted the money.  

Now it's up to YOU to either refund the buyer, or pay for a return label and refund the buyer.

Again, this is YOUR fault.

[assortedcollectibles]

Let's be real here. The buyer would have opened a case even if the product was the same as advertised and the outcome would still have been the same. Blaming this on the seller is the same as fanboying hard for ebay.

Some Puerto-rican is gonna eat free for an entire year now thanks to ebays scammer friendly policies.

[chapeau-noir]

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@justafemster wrote:

YOU changed the terms after the sale.  This is on YOU.  

YOU should have immediately refunded once YOU discovered YOU didn't have the product.  But YOU didn't, YOU saw a sale and YOU wanted the money.  

Now it's up to YOU to either refund the buyer, or pay for a return label and refund the buyer.

Again, this is YOUR fault.

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Oh, please - don't get so worked up over someone else's transaction.  The buyer agreed to the substitution.

[pikabo-icu]

Dang!!

I'm sorry the OP is getting scammed but...

It breaks my heart that somebody needs to scam to get food..

We are supposed to provide good customer service and asking the buyer if they wanted a substitution vs just cancelling seems like the best CS in this case. The buyer could have said no thanks & seller would've needed to cancel. 

As a buyer; I would appreciate the option of another brand- I may not accept it but I would appreciate the seller trying to accommodate me. 

[katzrul15]

@snare-trap-survive 

How much money are we talking here?  Some of your listings are really high-dollar?  Are we talking the $88 one or the $800+ one?

[justafemster]

So the "seller" says... 

[justafemster]

You know Puerto Rico is part of the US right?  Same US dollar, same US economy.  

[postingid7659]

Poor OP tried to rectify the situation with good customer service and in the end they still got bad PR.  

Yes that's a joke.  


Some of these replies are downright nasty though, there's no reason for that.  

OP, in the future I would suggest you cancel using the option "problem with buyer's address" in this kind of situation, it's just one of the pitfalls of drop-shipping.  You may be able to edit the listings for that product to block PR as a shipping destination.   Any time you ship an item that doesn't match the listing you open yourself up to a not as described claim and whether or not the buyer agreed doesn't matter.   

And this person is not scamming for free food, this is survival food, stuff you get out in the event of a disaster, like when a hurricane devastates your nation and your leaders leave the rescue supplies to rot in trucks on the dock or at the end of airport runways while they complain they aren't getting enough help.   There's a good chance no matter what the package says on it, it all tastes like wet cardboard anyways.  No offense, OP. 

[assortedcollectibles]

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@justafemster wrote:

You know Puerto Rico is part of the US right?  Same US dollar, same US economy.  

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What does that have to do with the price of fish?

[muttlymob]

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@postingid7659 wrote:

OP, in the future I would suggest you cancel using the option "problem with buyer's address" in this kind of situation, it's just one of the pitfalls of drop-shipping.  

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The problem wasn't with the buyer's address.  It was with the seller's inventory management.  If the seller did not have inventory in stock either on his own or with his supplier that could be shipped to Puerto Rico, yet the listing allowed sales to Puerto Rico, then filing as Problem with Buyer's Address would be false.

When in a hole it is best to stop digging.  Just go ahead and file as Out of Stock.  Don't make a bigger mess by lying about the reason for cancelling the sale.

[postingid7659]

Hey if you want to have umpteen dings on your account for out of stock, be my guest. 

If I have an item and I can't ship to a particular location I'm choosing the address problem.