Customers that should stick to in-person shopping

[Simon]

I had a customer buy a vintage empty marmalade crock (jar) from me the other day. It was from the 1960s or earlier I’d guess. It had lots of signs of wear, discoloration and fine cracks all over and at least one small chip. My listing included lots of photos from every angle. I got a return request because the buyer said she thought she was buying actual marmalade, not just a vintage jar.

Of course, someone that isn’t bright enough to avoid this kind of mistake is also not the ideal person to ship back a fragile item so it arrived in 25 pieces. 🙁

It’s not worth my energy to fight it so I just refunded her money and chalked it up to a cost of doing business.

[Sharyn]

You could try to get insurance cover it. It might not work if she didn’t wrap it in bubblewrap.

[sonia]

Seems like one of those “laugh or cry?” situations…

[Ryanne]

or you gotta love clothes shoppers who ask a bunch of questions about color shade, fit, smells, holes, pets etc etc. sometimes we want to say “if you have this much doubt about a used item on the internet, you should probably buy it in person”.

[Retro Treasures WV]

I have said that same thing to “problem buyers” in similar wording to several potential customers. You should actually say it sometime. It can be said in a nice fashion.

[Julie B]

Had a recent buyer return NWT apron and matching tea towels because the pattern of the fabric on the apron’s pocket did not match up precisely with the pattern where the pocket was sewn onto the rest of the apron. Only the highest quality brands like Gucci, Burberry etc, pay enough attention to their products to match up fabric patterns across all seams. I just rolled my eyes, accepted the return and blocked the buyer. Even though I highly doubt most buyers are ever return buyers, something about blocking her made me feel a whole lot better. Kind of like slamming an old phone receiver down after the other person already hung up.

[Linda Shields]

The reason only high cost brands “bother” to match up prints is hecause 1. It wastes more fabric to cut out Around a particular pattern which in turn 2. Costs more per hour for man hours.

[omfug]

I’ve had a couple of doozies this Xmas season, some people are odd, I had one guy tell me that he looked at at trinket box I sent him under a microscope and it isn’t leather–fine, send it back, jeesh, sorry that I don’t have a microscope at home, LOL.

[Steve List]

I recently sold a Teac Head Demagnetizer to a now blocked buyer. After each sale, I always send an email thanking the buyer with the tracking number. The buyer, about 3 weeks after receiving the package, opened a paypal case stating that they did not authorize buying it on eBay or paying for it with paypal. Paypal at first held my money, but after a few days sent me an email informing me that my money was now available. I have no idea if the buyer received a refund or not, and if they did, if they also got to keep the demagnetizer. A demagnetizer is a strange thing to purchase by accident since it has a very limited use. I think they might of just needed to use it once and wanted to rent it for free, but got to keep it for free. Thankfully it worked out for me, except I haven’t received any feedback from the buyer yet.

[annabel52]

I just had a case opened on a pair of well used tactical pants. I listed them with pictures of the frayed areas and stated the inseam length. I even had in the title pants, shorts because the inseam was so short.
The buyer claimed not as described. They wanted a refund because they were frayed and were too short. Also they didn’t want to return them because they didn’t want them to be resold. Really?
The ebay rep said it was buyers remorse. Thank goodness I got a rep with a sense of humor and common sense to boot. Can’t wait to block this dude as soon as time is up and I can close the case because my guess is that he won’t return them.

[Author]

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