Threatened with Neg, refuses to return....HELP

[sandychristmas2012]

Yesterday, I got the first message from a buyer saying that a Cricut cartridge and overlay (sold for 11.99 including postage) was flawed.  I responded return for refund.  Today, she threatened a negative.

I know that the item did NOT stink.  I bought about 100 of these cartridges and overlays in a lot. I have sold a bunch of them with no complaints.  I kept a fair number of them and added them to my own collection.  My best friend came over and looked through them and got some for her collection (I checked -- she did not smell anything -- and she would have told me in the first place!).

I feel like I am being scammed. At first, I thought she just wanted to "rent" the cartridge and would return it. I lose a little money (postage was 2.13) and she loses a little money to pay for the return (rent for the cartridge which she could have used for a project and then just returned).  But now!  If she just negs me and won't return, I don't know what to do!   What is my next move?

[wtfockers]

Hold your ground and insist on a return for refund.

This is feedback extortion.  Let her leave the neg, then call eBay and have it removed.

[city*satins]

Buyer was probably fishing for a refund without return or partial refund.

Not a lot you can do. Have you looked at the buyer's feedback left for others profile?  Do you see a lot of soft positives, neutrals, negatives or revisions?  If so, you might want to contact some of the recent sellers who've been blasted and ask if they had a similar experience. If so, the buyer can be reported to eBay and investigated for trying to abuse sellers' return policies/extort partial refunds.

[banana-posts]

There is absolutely nothing you can do to insure she will not leave a neg FB. 

You could refund her and let her keep the item, hoping she won't do it.  I personally wouldn't do that but a lot of sellers value their reputation over their dignity.

This doesn't sound like extortion to me. Seems she just wants to chunk it (keep it) and leave a neg without a refund. Perfectly in her rights to do.

[city*satins]

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@wtfockers wrote:

Hold your ground and insist on a return for refund.

This is feedback extortion.  Let her leave the neg, then call eBay and have it removed.

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It isn't.  A statement of dissatisfaction and a statement of intent to neg don't in and of themselves constitute feedback extortion. The buyer managed not to make even one single request or demand of the seller.  

Only a pattern of such complaints and statements of intent will mean anything to eBay - that requires multiple seller victims.

[pikabo-icu]

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@city*satins wrote:

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@wtfockers wrote:

Hold your ground and insist on a return for refund.

This is feedback extortion.  Let her leave the neg, then call eBay and have it removed.

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It isn't.  A statement of dissatisfaction and a statement of intent to neg don't in and of themselves constitute feedback extortion. The buyer managed not to make even one single request or demand of the seller.  

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Yep. To me, that makes it appear she has done this before..

OP- The more I read of this same thing, the more my blood boils! It's so infuriating! Do this many Ebay buyers really have such a lack of integrity?

I can't tell you what to do, it's your account but for me it would be the principle of it all. I would tell then to return for refund.. If they do neg you, call and try to get it removed.. Check their other FB left and see if there's any hints they've done this before.. They're threatening but if they actually go through with it, they'll be on the radar with sellers and Ebay.

You can always leave a professional response to any neg they leave; "Offered to refund upon return, buyer refused" or similar.

A reply like that tells most buyers what really happened.. 

SORRY.. 

[city*satins]

By the way if you'll forgive the aside -  I see you are a rare bird.  A seller who doesn't leave feedback.

It doesn't seem to hurt your profile, contrary to the position that some people take that a seller who doesn't leave feedback for buyers will have more unhappy buyers as a result.  Looks to me as if it works out just fine.

[crescent_vinyl]

If the person is saying that it's a bad item....why aren't they opening a SNAD case?  Then upon return (label created by and paid for by seller)  then they would get their refund?

It's either they are avoiding SNAD because they filed too many already

OR

They are attempting to work with you BEFORE they file a SNAD.

If someone tells me something is wrong with a product I sold, I choose pride over funds.  I would send them a return label and let them know that once I receive the item then I will offer a refund.  I wouldn't offer a partial refund, or a full refund, without the product.

[city*satins]

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@crescent_vinyl wrote:

If the person is saying that it's a bad item....why aren't they opening a SNAD case?  Then upon return (label created by and paid for by seller)  then they would get their refund?

It's either they are avoiding SNAD because they filed too many already

OR

They are attempting to work with you BEFORE they file a SNAD.

If someone tells me something is wrong with a product I sold, I choose pride over funds.  I would send them a return label and let them know that once I receive the item then I will offer a refund.  I wouldn't offer a partial refund, or a full refund, without the product.

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I agree with your assessment.  

[sandychristmas2012]

Thanks for all the answers.  I did check out the buyer's feedback and she did leave one "false positive" for someone that was rather telling, I thought.  It said something like "Got the pens, didn't work, wanted me to mail them back!"  This tells me that she has tried this before and the other seller gave her the money back so she gave the soft positive.  

I think I will send another message saying return for refund.  I'm not really sure how to send her a label.  Anyone know how to do that?  But I could say that I would pay her return shipping since she says the product is flawed.

I don't really know what she isn't filing a case.  Of course, my answer would be to return for refund, so perhaps that is just not what she wants to do!

[lookng2015]

Unfortunately if they don't file a case (they won't as that would mean return for refund) and just leave a spiteful 'threw it in the trash" FB there's nothing you can do about it.

As someone else said, all you can do is leave a follow up to FB rec'd saying "offered refund upon return. Buyer refused." Let's others know what she's up to.

[a_c_green]

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@lookng2015 wrote:

As someone else said, all you can do is leave a follow up to FB rec'd saying "offered refund upon return. Buyer refused." Let's others know what she's up to.

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Very well said. She probably knows you can do exactly that if she Negs you. (It's interesting and perhaps significant that her Feedback shows no other Negs.) Your reply would undermine her whole strategy with future sellers, and she's probably realized that already.

Replying with "return for refund" is entirely reasonable; stick to that. Keep us updated if anything changes.

[tunicaslot]

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@sandychristmas2012 wrote:

Thanks for all the answers.  I did check out the buyer's feedback and she did leave one "false positive" for someone that was rather telling, I thought.  It said something like "Got the pens, didn't work, wanted me to mail them back!"  This tells me that she has tried this before and the other seller gave her the money back so she gave the soft positive.  

I think I will send another message saying return for refund.  I'm not really sure how to send her a label.  Anyone know how to do that?  But I could say that I would pay her return shipping since she says the product is flawed.

I don't really know what she isn't filing a case.  Of course, my answer would be to return for refund, so perhaps that is just not what she wants to do!

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I'm chiming in because I have a similar situation right now. I bought an ink cartridge for my printer on 9/15 from an Ebay seller. I just opened it today and there is no magenta ink. As I'm also a seller - I emailed the seller and told them the situation and asked if there was anyway I could get a replacement - within 2 hrs - I received a response that the replacement is on the way along with a prepaid mailer to return the item.

I could have opened an SNAD case - but feel it's unfair to a seller if they truely work with their buyers.

Now your buyer may have a very senitive nose to some smells - I can smell a gas leak when no one else does - for some reason I'm sensitive to it. As for the soft positive - to me it means nothing. Your buyer could very well have bought some pens that didn't work and the seller said return for refund expecting the buyer to pay return shipping. We have loads of sellers on here who do not know Ebay policy, do not follow Ebay policy and feel that their return policy trumps all others. Boy do they get a rude awakening when they come to the boards!

[wtfockers]

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@city*satins wrote:

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@wtfockers wrote:

Hold your ground and insist on a return for refund.

This is feedback extortion.  Let her leave the neg, then call eBay and have it removed.

---

It isn't.  A statement of dissatisfaction and a statement of intent to neg don't in and of themselves constitute feedback extortion. The buyer managed not to make even one single request or demand of the seller.  

Only a pattern of such complaints and statements of intent will mean anything to eBay - that requires multiple seller victims.

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Rereading, you may be right.  It depends, I suppose, on what was included in the buyer's first email.  Maybe the OP can post the buyer's original email of dissatisfaction.  If she asked for a refund in that email, and the OP said, "Sure, please just send it back," and the buyer refused but threatened a neg, then I think that stands a good chance of being removed for extortion.

If, on the other hand, the buyer never asked for a refund and just said she was mad, then city*satins is correct.  I assumed that the buyer had originally asked for a refund, but I may have misunderstood the opening post.

From her tone, she's hot under the collar anyway.  I suspect you will take a defect either with a neg even if you refund her, or a low star on As Described.

Was the item stored with mothballs?

[tree*fern]

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@sandychristmas2012 wrote:

Thanks for all the answers.  I did check out the buyer's feedback and she did leave one "false positive" for someone that was rather telling, I thought.  It said something like "Got the pens, didn't work, wanted me to mail them back!"  This tells me that she has tried this before and the other seller gave her the money back so she gave the soft positive.  

I think I will send another message saying return for refund.  I'm not really sure how to send her a label.  Anyone know how to do that?  But I could say that I would pay her return shipping since she says the product is flawed.

I don't really know what she isn't filing a case.  Of course, my answer would be to return for refund, so perhaps that is just not what she wants to do!

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If she pays the return shipping herself without using the eBay return process, eBay won't require you to reimburse her for the return shipping, even if it's a return for SNAD.  (Of course reneging on paying the return shipping wouldn't be the right thing to do if it's a genuine return.) 

Sounds like she might not use the label, just wants to keep the item and get a refund too.  

You can create and pay for a label file either through PayPal or USPS: 

• A label through PayPal is only good for 5 days (IIRC - hopefully someone will correct me if I'm remembering the time limit wrong), so check the tracking and keep an eye on the date so you can void it and be refunded if she doesn't use it by then.

• A label through USPS can be paid with a credit card, and is good for 30 days.  That gives you plenty of time to void the label if she files for a SNAD return through eBay instead.  

Log in to your PayPal account, then go to https://www.paypal.com/shipnow

Or go to https://www.usps.com/ , click Mail & Ship > Print & Ship.

Print the label, but change the printer destination (or printer option) to print to a (PDF) file rather than to your printer.