eBay

jabberwokeyy · ‎11-05-2019

Buyer bought an expensive Rosenthal porcelain figurine from me, one that often sells for $500+, but I accepted his best offer of $350 because I'm eager to clear items out.

I don't normally accept returns, but weeks after receiving the figure, he messaged to tell me it had a tiny chip. He said the chip is visible in my pics, but I never noticed it and can't be sure. I have to blow the pics up substantially to kind of see it, but I'm not sure I'm seeing a chip or a shadow. It's visible in the pics he sent because he is focusing on it.

Nevertheless, it's possible it was there before I sold, and I did say in description it had no chips or cracks, so I offered him $100 off as a partial refund. He wanted half off, which seemed a bit much to me since it was already priced quite a bit lower than normal and the chip is so teeny-tiny I never saw it in my look-over.

I said to send it back and I'd cover return shipping. What he DIDN'T tell me, tho, was that after receiving the figurine in the US where I shipped it, he sent it on to Russia to a "friend." (I suspect he really re-sold it, but no proof. He's bought nearly a dozen porcelain figurines from me and focused on their value quite a bit. I think he mentioned being a reseller when pushing for lower prices.)

Today he sends me the tracking and tells me it's coming from Russia, which makes me angry because I would never have accepted the return knowing it had travelled overseas after I sent it to him. My offer to cover return shipping certainly didn't apply to international shipping either.

So what can I do at this point? It's already on the way back. I did tell him he could return, but he left out information that would have made me decline the return and I think he did it on purpose. We went back and forth several times before, but only today when he sent me tracking does he say "oh, by the way, it's being returned from my friend in Russia." And I don't believe it's really a friend. I believe he resold it, also without noticing the chip.

Am I required to accept the return when he - I believe purposely - left out information that would have made the return unacceptable? Ebay does not force sellers to accept returns after they are sent on to a second address. I agreed to the return without this information, naturally assuming he was sending it back himself from the US location I sent it to. He made sure to reveal this info only after it was in the mail. Am I still required to accept it? If not, what would I do?

Cindy

dentalsales4u · ‎11-05-2019

I would report buyer for MBG abuse since they forward the product out of country.
If you said you would pay the return shipping, I would only pay him the amount it would cost to return here in the US, not from Russia, that's on him.
Does tracking show it has actually shipped? if not, I would let him know now that you would except the return from the US, but returns are not covered once shipped out of county.
As far as what are your other options, I would call Customer Service just to see what they might have to say about it.
At least get this guy on their radar.

femmefan1946 · ‎11-05-2019

You don't owe him any more for return shipping than from his own address where you originally sent it.

so I offered him $100 off as a partial refund. He wanted half off,

Frankly, any request for a partial refund should be treated as a scam and refused.

If it's good enough to keep, it's good enough to pay for.

In this case, he was trying to reduce the cost of his refund to his Russian customer.

If it's being shipped from his Russian customer, you just got a new customer. Are you enrolled with the Global Shipping Program? The GSP is a strong Seller Protection program, one of the few eBay offers, although that may be because it is run by Pitney Bowes who deal with any delivery or damage claims.