Returns

[33yrvet]

I'm fairly new to listing items for sale. I have been a member since 2001 and sold previously for years but after a few years of not selling, I started selling again last fall. I have a situation where the buyer is claiming that the silver content of the jewelry they purchased is not of the content I described. 

As for some background, I travel to Mexico and work directly with my silversmiths in creating the pieces I am selling. I have no doubt about the silver content. 

I am selling the pieces at auction with a starting price of $0.99, and am clear in my listings that I do not accept returns. I'm careful with the descriptions and am confident that everything is described accurately.

What is the best way to handle this situation?

[monica-sells]

@gurlcat 

nice post.....

[gurlcat]

It is not yet time to even consider reporting the buyer for misuse of returns.  Imagine if you filed it now, and (only) talked about him lying, then days later you receive the return package and it's a bag of dog poo -and you've already used your one chance to report him.  Assuming he DOES file a return (you don't even know that yet), and you get your silver back, what would you say in your report of him?  "He returned because he said this was not 950 silver, but I know it is because I watched the smith .....etc" -How could an Ebay employee verify either side?  It would be purely he-said-he-said, and I seriously doubt they would give this guy a strike for it.  Even if they did, it would be only a strike, not an account ban or anything.  

[monica-sells]

personally, I would NOT file a misusing report (at this juncture)...if I am reading this right....their expert says it is not what it is....they are not being deceptive at this point...

Yes, I would block this buyer  later on (after all is done)

[33yrvet]

Great.

I appreciate everyone's advice.

I have sent the buyer a message and asked her to file a return request, and after she has done that I will accept the return request and send her a return shipping label. 

The buyer has a feedback of over 5,000, most as a buyer but she also has sold items though not recently.... she's not a novice or a transient scammer. The messages have been sent through the eBay message platform. She has not filed a return request yet, so it is possible she's just trolling me to get a partial refund. That's not going to happen. 

If the items are returned, and I issue her a refund, should I

-file a report for abuse of the return process?

-block the bidder?

On everyone's advice about best practices, in the future I will change my policy and accept free returns.

Are there any intricacies in this method to be aware of? 

I likely will not relist items for auctioning a second time that have been sold and returned. I have a good business in my retail store and can wait until I connect with the right brick and mortar customer. 

Your advice has been very helpful and enlightening. Thanks everyone!

[ckimodog]

@33yrvet 

Honestly, if this person is questioning your item somewhat doubtful right off the bat to me is a red flag. This is just my take on it.  

Nip it in the bud.  Block them. 

[ckimodog]

@33yrvet 

Very glad to be helpful.  That bracelet is really beautiful and unique looking. 

Happy Selling

[fern*wood]

You can offer a return policy without offering free returns and the buyer pays the return shipping.  Your choice, though.  Most of my returns are for remorse and fall under my return policy rather than them filing a not as described return.   It gives buyers that just don't care for the item to return using an honest reason.

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@33yrvet wrote:

I understand that eBay has the money back guarantee. I'm a reasonable person and will accept returns for a valid reason, an inaccurate description or an item damaged in shipping. This instance is spurious, the buyer states that the item doesn't look like or test as 950 silver, without offering any evidence of a test.

I don't plan on allowing the buyer to keep the items they purchased, as the value is about $300. 

Should I file a report on the buyer for misusing the return process? 

What is the best course of action in an instance such as mine?

Also, going forward, would I be better served to allow returns for an inaccurate description or damage in shipping. I'm using eBay to liquidate the pieces that don't sell quickly in my retail store, and am okay with selling them at a loss in order to regain the investment to apply to future production. Remorse returns seem to be an ongoing problem. 

---

You have NO PROOF that what you sent the buyer is what you say it is; except your word, which means nothing.

You can 'report' anyone for 'any' reason, but don't expect anything to be 'done about it' because again, you have no proof that the buyer misused returns. 

[soh.maryl]

Have you ever read eBay's Money Back Guarantee for buyers?

If you sell on eBay, and a buyer opens an "item not as described" case, you DO accept returns.  Not only that, but when a buyer opens a case, you'll be required to send the buyer a prepaid return label and to refund in full when you receive the item back.

That's the gist of the MBG.  Please read it.  

[soh.maryl]

Respectfully, how did the buyer misuse the return process? 

[gurlcat]

Assuming she returns the items with no more fuss (as in still trying to get a partial refund), then no I definitely would not report her, and I especially feel that way now that you've explained what a good long track record she has here.  I think it's actually possible that she truly believes these silver pieces are something other than described, for 2 reasons: 1. 950 silver, especially as new and clean as your pieces are, could be really strange-looking to someone who has only seen 925 with at least slight patina.  I know a lot of people mistake rhodium-flashed sterling as fake, and newly-forged 950 is nearly that bright and shiny.  2. If she has the same testing solution that I (and lots of people) have, it SUCKS.  I don't even use mine anymore, as 18k gold solution actually works better for sterling.  

So what I'm saying is, don't punish a buyer if there's a good chance they are just somewhat ignorant and/or mislead by faulty testing.  Now if she NEGS YOU whether or not she decides to return the items, then yeah you should report her.  By the way that reminds me of another perk of Free Returns: it makes you virtually neg-proof.  You can get negs removed by ebay (usually on request, sometimes automatically) because there aren't many good excuses for someone to neg a seller who gave them a no-fault return opportunity.

That said, you don't need an ignorant buyer with faulty testing buying from you again, so yes BLOCK.  

[33yrvet]

I sent her another message and said, "file a return request if you want to return the items and I will send you a return label." Haven't heard anything from her since, now 24 hours later. I believe you read her correctly and I have called her bluff.

We'll see what reason she uses to make the request, if she ultimately makes one. She is otherwise, a good buyer and underbid on a number of my other listings. That put money in my pocket. I am hesitant to block her because of that, even if she's trying to weasel a partial refund from me. Some folks want to test the waters I guess. I won't be giving any partials... but I also won't be accepting if she is not honest about the situation and does something that will harm my seller metrics.  I will attempt to defend myself and provide proof of my accuracy in describing my merchandise. I take some pride in what I am making, and put my mark on my pieces. 

Actually, this is a good thing for me.  I will take the extra effort to test and verify the silver content of everything I make going forward. With testing reports that I can provide if anyone questions the content in the future.

After reading the return policies and understanding the landscape better, I decided that if she does ask to return the items I will ask her to send me the results of the testing she said she did to determine the silver content. I plan to go to the refiner here in my area after I get the pieces back, and have the pieces tested with their mass spectrometer, then get a printed report for providing to eBay for proof of my being accurate in my description. Acid testing isn't but so accurate. The spectrometer test will show the percentage to the tenth of a percent.

She has 30 days to act to return it from the date of delivery, so I have plenty of time to wait.

I don't expect to have to refund her. From looking at her other purchases and the feedback she has received (she doesn't appear to leave feedback on her purchases), she is not a bad buyer.

I'm getting stellar feedbacks from the majority of my buyer's and feel positive about the experience overall. I've been in retail for decades so I am used to the occasional problem customer. Better to suffer them a little, because they are buying and I do make a profit in spite of the momentary aggravation.

I do appreciate your advice and I have decided to go with the free returns when I get back to listing more pieces later in the summer.  Thanks!

[33yrvet]

soh.maryl wrote:

"Respectfully, how did the buyer misuse the return process?"

This is the message I received from the buyer yesterday morning:

"Gosh I’m so sad to tell you both the pieces I received from you do not look or test as silver the 950 is not correct and I will need to send them back please send me a mailing label to get them back to you"

Keep in mind she said, "do not look or test as silver".... 

I've been dealing in silver for 30+ years.

The difference between 925 and 950 is miniscule. 

There is no visual way to differentiate between 925 and 950.  But she said, "do not look or test as silver". Not, they are not 950, but the "950 is not correct"

Acid testing isn't accurate enough to state the above either, only the spectrometer can offer conclusive results of my product being of the value as marked. Or of a lesser value.

It's highly unlikely she did the testing, given the amount of time between her receiving the delivery and sending the message. 

If she were to open a return request and claim her items are of an inaccurate description, she will have misused the process, without sufficient proof of such. While I didn't test the individual pieces from my last production lots, my long-term experience in dealing in silver and the assay results from years of selling scrap silver to the refiner have given me the working knowledge that sterling silver in circulation in the US will be in the range of less than 1% of the 925/1000 value. During my last production, we added sufficient pure silver to the 925 ingots I brought with me to Mexico, to up the content of the finished product to a percentage higher than 950. I'm working with a silversmith in Mexico who has been working in silver since he was a child. He can almost look at the melt and tell you the purity.

That run on sentence in the buyer's message, typed well before dawn, is rather suspect and isn't credible. 

If she follows through and files a return request for inaccurate description, she will be misusing the return process, unless she has had sufficient, accurate testing done to say that. 

I hope she doesn't. I hope she bids on and buys more from me in the future. 

I'm appreciative of her "testing" me. It's made me realize how I need to protect myself and helped me to be able to become better at what I'm doing. 

[gurlcat]

You can rev up your testing protocol if you want (certainly won't hurt anything), but I want to assure you that trouble like this buyer is not something you should expect to encounter frequently.  This Community is where all the horror stories come; what you don't see is posts talking about this or that wonderful experience with a buyer, and that's kind of a shame, also a very misleading indicator of what it's like being a seller here.  Well, I say that but then being a seller here CAN be a nightmare if you don't don't know the policies and (this is key) if you have a lousy attitude, which is often the product of expecting the worst from buyers.  I think you could do very well here, with that gorgeous jewelry, good listings, heeding advice when you ask for it (I'd be such a mess without the great people in these forums), and yes free returns, lol.  Let the silly words from this buyer slick off your back because now you know what to do regardless of what (if anything) she does next, and resume doing work that gives you joy because when it stops being fun then it's just a job, and jobs suck.  Man I wish I could see what's in your BAM store!  

[33yrvet]

Thanks again for your help. Your comments gave me a smile.

This week has been one of "firsts". First time I've been fished for a partial refund and first time I lost something in the mail.

That lost package cost me some money, but it ended very positively. The buyer was very understanding and upbeat about it and I was fortunate to have another of what he'd purchased in inventory so I could fulfill the order. Left me a glowing review and I made a buyer very happy. Hopefully I also won over a repeat customer. 

Your boots in the trenches experiences and the insight you share is invaluable. Thanks for your generosity in the time you take in giving the guidance that you have. It's much better to get advice from a fellow seller, than to be upbraided by someone who is busy at the keyboard  but lacking in firsthand knowledge of our shared struggles. 

We have a page on social media and you can see a sampling of our BAM by going there. My profile "about" gives enough for you to find us.

Thanks!