A Warning and a Sad Tale - Buyer Return - Item not a described

[affordablevintage4u2]

I recently sold two clear colored Waterford glasses in their original box. The original box has a red stain like lining so I photographed them in their box. Here, I imitated other eBay sellers of the same item.

The buyer returned the item as not as described because they thought the glasses were red. This in spite of the fact that I used the attribute "clear" for the color of glass and two other photos clearly showed the glass as clear in color. I complained to eBay about the return and defended my description as not stating a color either way and the other photos but I had to pay for return shipping. eBay's reason? They stated that my thumbnail photo was confusing and that I should have stated that the glass was clear in color in the title and or the description. The cost of the original shipping and the return shipping just about sucked all the profit of this transaction. I really think that the buyer and ebay are wrong. The buyer did not look at the other photos, nor did they really look at the whole description, which includes attributes. Also, eBay has held a wrong attribute against me when a buyer returned an item several years ago.

[bonjourami]

oh boy, I can see how the buyer got confused with that thumbnail photo..as we all know, buyers dont read..they just look at pictures. You probably should have made the photo of the clear flute your thumbnail photo.

[a_c_green]

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@affordablevintage4u2 wrote:

I recently sold two clear colored Waterford glasses in their original box. The original box has a red satin like lining so I photographed them in their box. Here, I imitated other eBay sellers of the same item.

The buyer returned the item as not as described because they thought the glasses were red. This in spite of the fact that I used the attribute "clear" for the color of glass and two other photos clearly showed the glass as clear in color.

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I hate to say this, but I can definitely see where there's room for confusion with buyers who don't bother to read properly, and I would have tried to avoid that by photographing the glasses next to their package rather than in it (or maybe with one in the box, but the other standing next to it). You did state "Clear" in the title and as a Color in the Item Specifics section, but the description itself makes no reference to color at all. When viewed in Mobile mode, the "Clear" references could either roll offscreen or never be seen at all.

I know it stinks that you got a doofus buyer, but I hope you have better luck next time. 

[fern*wood]

I understand the frustration that the buyer didn't use an honest reason about not noticing the color, so this counts on your return metrics, but it didn't affect the cost to you since you offer free returns.   Those shipping costs are on you regardless of why they returned the item.

[affordablevintage4u2]

Hindsight is 20/20. All seemed clear to me when I made the listing. It's hard and usually unpleasant inside other people's heads. I just resold the items using the same photo but did put the word clear in the title. This buyer had no problem understanding the color.

[ed8108]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@affordablevintage4u2 wrote:

I recently sold two clear colored Waterford glasses in their original box. The original box has a red satin like lining so I photographed them in their box. Here, I imitated other eBay sellers of the same item.

The buyer returned the item as not as described because they thought the glasses were red. This in spite of the fact that I used the attribute "clear" for the color of glass and two other photos clearly showed the glass as clear in color.

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I hate to say this, but I can definitely see where there's room for confusion with buyers who don't bother to read properly, and I would have tried to avoid that by photographing the glasses next to their package rather than in it (or maybe with one in the box, but the other standing next to it). You did state "Clear" in the title and as a Color in the Item Specifics section, but the description itself makes no reference to color at all. When viewed in Mobile mode, the "Clear" references could either roll offscreen or never be seen at all.

I know it stinks that you got a doofus buyer, but I hope you have better luck next time. 

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Perhaps eBay could institute a competency test before allowing people to buy, I don't know how some people manage to survive in the real world outside of eBay.

People need to read.