Buyer Opened Return for Item Not As Described, but Wants to Keep item after modifying it

[sprockt]

So, this is a new one for me.  A buyer opened a return last night on a shirt I sold saying that it had a hole in it.  I did not see one when I listed it, but I know I'm not perfect, so there definitely could be one.  She said she is upset because she paid more than it's worth and had to buy thread to stitch up the hole. I sent her a message apologizing and offering a partial refund, but she has yet to respond.  What are my options here?

I don't want to let her keep it for free, obviously it has some value to her if she stitched a hole. But she bought it Feb 24th, and I just found out about this March 13th. Why didn't she message me when she got it? If she doesn't respond to my message, I'm tempted to just have her return it for a full refund, but now it will come back with some kind of sewing job that she did on it, so it won't be in the original condition.

Any thoughts on how to handle this?

[juststuffisell]

You only really have 3 options if the buyer decides to open a return NAD. First is refund the buyer. Second is issue a label for the return and the last is fight the return.

Without knowing all the costs involved, I can't tell you what I would do. If it is a low cost - relative right - item, I would just issue a full refund, block the buyer and cut my losses give I would expect to receive a damaged item returned. A more expensive item I would issue the label and throw it away when I got it back plus block the buyer. I would not fight a return in this case.

Since the buyer has not opened a claim and not yet responded to you - there is nothing for you to do.

I will add, if you missed the hole on listing, show some grace to the buyer as they may have missed the hole as well when it first arrived. They may have worn the item once or more and caused the hole themselves and noticed it during laundry. A lot of what ifs here.

Don't sweat it until the buyer takes a course of action

Cheers

[fab_finds4u]

If it was defective she has to return it in the original condition.  She accepted it and attempted to repair it instead of returning it with the hole.  Call eBay ASAP and let them know she altered it.  Usually they side with the seller if she admitted in a message she altered it/ tried to fix the hole.  

[cgma92]

Try to report all this incidents to eBay (in writing) and pray for EBay to take in consideration all your efforts to resolve this issue in a reasonable time.

From what I have seen, 99% of the cases are resolved in favor of the buyer, the 1% resolved in favor of the seller is when the seller is a professional scammer.

I have seen a buyer ordering an item by mistake (wrong part number), then claiming it was not working to return it, buying the correct item from another seller, and returning the claimed not working item in the package and box of the second item bought it correctly (correct part number).

After showing all this evidence to EBay, they resolved in favor of the buyer. Item claimed as not working, was tested again and sold without issues.

[postingid2017]

I had a buyer attempt nearly the same - she claimed that the measurements were incorrect - she paid too much, etc., etc.  When she wanted me to pay for the "alteration" I informed her to return for a refund.  This was before MBG - however, I told her if the item was altered in any way whatsoever, there would be no refund.  She harassed me for weeks and I just kept repeating "return for a refund, however, the item must be in the same condition as it was sent.  She FINALLY, left me alone 😉  - and her id only confirmed for me that she was nuts.  I cannot post it in fear of the mods, but she was crazy.