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 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,202 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1590 Posts |
I received an email from an ebay customer who said the coin he got was not the one he bid on and wanted a refund. He said he bid on a 1922 Peace dollar and got a 1923. The header of the auction said 1922 Peace dollar. But the picture was of a 1923 Peace dollar. The same coin he received in the mail. It was a typo on my part, I had just listed a 1922 and hit "sell similar" button. It was the last ad in a series of ad's and while I changed the picture to the correct coin, I forgot the change the date. The buyer indicated that he had not looked at the picture, and that instead he bought the coin completely on the basis of the item header. Well, I have an unconditional refund policy, so no problem. I offered to refund the purchase price, the shipping to the customer and the shipping back on Sunday. That wasn't good enough for the customer. They wanted the refund "RIGHT NOW". less than 10 minutes after telling them I would refund the money on Sunday, they opened a buyer protection case against me. So I did some research. I discovered that I wasn't supposed to give them a refund till after I received my merchandise back. Who knew? I also discovered that according to the policy with the buyer protection case, they have to ship the merchandise back to me at their expense before I issue them a refund. So now the impatient buyer, who did not take the time to actually look at the coin he was biding on, and who demanded an immediate refund, in violation of ebay policy, is going to have to wait. To be honest, I am done with ebay. You bend over backwards and even offer them faster refunds than ebay allows and they still try to get over on you. In the last month, I have had to issue a refund for an item that tracking says got there. I have had a buyer refuse to pay the $1.99 shipping fee, threatening to leave neg feedback unless I shipped for free. I have had a buyer wait a week before paying and then the NEXT day after he paid he sent a "where is my item" email. The NEXT day. And he lives 2000 miles away! In all these years I have not had as many problems as I have had in the last month! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
Your buyer seems a bit unreasonable. I've come to expect these types from time to time, especially those new to the Bay. To protect yourself you must make sure your listing is accurate. If my listing was inaccurate I would pay the return shipping and if I were the buyer I would insist the seller do so. I've made several purchases where the seller shipped the wrong coin. Their policy was the buyer pay shipping for returns. I "politely" reminded them that the error was theirs and they should take responsibility. In every case they did so. I won't abandon ebay as a selling venue. There's no other medium out there that puts your product in front of that many potential buyers. Yeah there are problems with them and their fee structure, buyer protection program, and other policies, but I've learned to minimize the damage. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
ebay should have covered you for most of those instances, if the tracking says it got there if anything ebay usually just refunds the buyer if they feel like it out of their own pocket to keep their business. As far as the latest issue you definitely made a mistake, but who seriously bids off the title alone? Thats definitely a string of bad luck and I would block every single one of those buyers. I agree with seated though that I wouldnt ditch ebay because of it. Theres just always going to be problem people in the world that expect everything to revolve around them or special treatment and like to make things as difficult as possible.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1590 Posts |
Oh, yeah, no doubt, it was my mistake. And like I said I offered a full refund and to pay shipping back. But I had to wait till probably Saturday and probably Sunday to make sure I had enough in my paypal account. First of the month, ya know! More money flowing out than in! I have no idea why he wouldn't wait three days. In any event the ebay CS rep told me to never issue a refund before my merchandise is back in my hands. But that if I like I can pay for the shipping back to me. Even the CS rep said she couldn't understand why the customer kept escalating the case, when in each instance I agreed to issue a refund. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
That is just the sad part about having to deal with people. There is always going to be someone out there that did something wrong and expect you to pay for it.  However, you shouldn't be done with ebay because of it. I don't offer refunds. I really don't want to have to deal with it. |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
298 Posts |
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threatening to leave neg feedback unless I shipped for free. You are covered in this situation, ebay take a dim view of feedback extortion. Simply report the buyer, I believe ebay then prevent the buyer leaving feedback or ratings for that transaction. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
I can feel your pain brother. But it works both ways also. I purchased an 1883 V nickel on another auction venue on the 3rd of February. Several days later I was informed by the seller that the coin he mailed out to me was the wrong one and that he was sending the right one out to me right away. I sent him back the "wrong coin" using priority mail and he stated again that mine was on it's way and he would send me tracking info. I never got the tracking info even after requesting it. That was over 2 weeks ago and I still do not have an 1883 V nickel. I will give it a couple more days and will post the auction and all the email traffic so that everyone will know to steer clear of this seller. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:In any event the ebay CS rep told me to never issue a refund before my merchandise is back in my hands. But that if I like I can pay for the shipping back to me. Even the CS rep said she couldn't understand why the customer kept escalating the case, when in each instance I agreed to issue a refund. Yea I dont get that either some people are just jerks to put it nicely especially since you were going above and beyond their return policy trusting theyd send it back. Opening a case they have no chance of winning is always fun too. Sometimes you just have to laugh at people so you dont get depressed thinking about it lol. After all you cant protect people from being stupid. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1915 Posts |
Just to play devil's advocate here, you messed up. Therefore you should be responsible and refund 100%, including the money it takes for the buyer to send it back. What if it had actually been a 1923 he wanted, but received a 1922? Because your description did not match the photo or what the buyer received, you are liable for it all. Why should a buyer be out shipping charges for your typo? The is a reason ebay sides with buyers. ebay is liable as well. It is their website which facilitates the transaction. The only responsibility that the buyer has is paying. Once they have done that everything else until the customer is happy is on you. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1590 Posts |
That's just it seal006, I did offer to pay the refund, including the shipping back to me. I admit to the mistake, that was never the issue. The sole issue was the timing. He wanted it right now. Literally he wanted it that very minute. He did not want to ship it back and get his refund. He wanted me to refund him the whole amount plus shipping fees back, right now, and then I was to trust that he would send it back to me. Which I was actually willing to do, if he would just wait two days. And that was the problem, he didn't want to wait.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1915 Posts |
I understand better now. It is a tough situation. As a seller you want to be paid for the ASAP. As a buyer who pays promptly, I guess they feel the refund should be as well. The buyer also sent payment trusting you would send the coins, so in his mind his request was not off base.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
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The buyer also sent payment trusting you would send the coins, so in his mind his request was not off base. Thats business you always pay for goods before you get them. He sounds a lot more like someone who believes the world revolves around him and everyone else is just there to serve his needs than anything else |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1915 Posts |
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Thats business you always pay for goods before you get them. He sounds a lot more like someone who believes the world revolves around him and everyone else is just there to serve his needs than anything else Welcome to the wonderful world of retail. |
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Valued Member
Australia
491 Posts |
eBays has set the rules that the seller can be blackmail by the buyer and it is the sad cold fact of it all that the buyer knows they hold a neg or pos feedback at the click of a button. The buyer also has the ability to give you secret neg feedback as well. This is not a nice way to loose your top rated sellers status. We changed to free mailing because of this issue of secret neg feedback. We add a bit more to the cost of everything we list to cover mailing and we make money on mailing now believe it or not. On ebay the customer is always totally right! Edited by kg5
03/02/2013 8:52 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Lol sadly there are quite a few people like that out there
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1388 Posts |
JM, what ended up happening?
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Replies: 18 / Views: 3,202 |
Posted 03/01/2013 5:27 pm
