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I have a buyer who sent me a message complaining that a camera lens I sold him does not work. This item was delivered over 2 months ago. He said he wants either a refund or to have it fixed. He says he hopes I can solve the issue before he gets eBay involved. He has not yet left feedback for me on the transaction.
It has been a while since I have had this specific issue come up. My first thought is to just ignore him, and if he does open a case, I will call eBay to have it closed out. How do you guys handle situations like this?
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I would not ignore it. I would offer that you review the ebay and PayPal return policies by clicking the help and contact link on the perspective main pages and then type in returns so you are fully informed in this process. It sounds like the buyer is planning to push this as far as possible so it will be good for you to be fully informed. The ebay return window is 30 days while the PayPal one is 180 days. I would offer that once you have had a chance to review the policies, you contact both ebay (who will probably side with you because the return window has passed)and PayPal ( who will probably side with the buyer because he is claiming there is a defect and he is within the 180 return window) to discuss the matter.
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If you have 30-returns, he won’t be able to open an eBay case. That door is closed.
As others have said, Paypal has a more generous window for complaints. If he does open a Paypal case, we just tell the buyer to return the item for a refund. Often they dont return the item so it gets closed in our favor.
I would play silent until he officially opens up a case.
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Zach: Also it depends a little bit on how you listed it.
* Did you test it first and state tested and works in your listing or did you say “untested” would be good for parts? If you sold it as a tested and working unit, then they question is did he break it or did it just give out, or did he mount it on his camera body incorrectly.On paying for repairs, I wouldn’t leave that up to a customer. If the lens is a high priced lens, say $75 or more, I would say just send it back and you will have it checked out and resend it back to him. That alone would probably make him go away. What’s the shipping back to you less than $10 bucks or so. You can even issue a pick-up call slip so he doesn’t have to even do anything other than re-pack and box it up. Then when you get it back if it works fine, refund him and re-list it and sell it again and build in your cost of his shipping return. In other words, sell it for more than you did the first time.
You never know, but if you agree to a repair, he could actually go to a camera shop, trade it in for another one he likes better and then give you some sort of bogus receipt that is really just the cost difference of his trade in or trade up.
Just thinking out loud. No one rule that fits all in situations like this.
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It was only a $50 lens. It’s just the kit lens you get when you buy a camera. I probably have at most $5 in it. Certainly not worth repairing. I did sell it as a lens in working condition, since I tested it myself and it was working. He probably broke it or maybe it was on its last legs.
I’m guessing he knows he is outside the return window and is just trying to intimidate me to refund him by threatening to open a case. Since it sounds like he can’t do that on eBay, I’ll just wait and watch to see if he opens a Paypal case. He didn’t mention PayPal at all in his message, so hopefully he is not aware of that platforms’ longer return period.
In the meantime, I’m going to “run silent.”
Thanks everyone for the quick archive. It’s very helpful.
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