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I sold a used sweater, I had the buyer message me to say it shrunk and that I needed to arrange the return. I had told them they needed to initiate the return, and also mentioned that I gave the measurements in my listing and that the item was sent “as described”. The buyer then proceeded to open a return case saying the item was defective. He didn’t want to pay for shipping or the restocking fee. I accepted it as there is no way for me to fight the reason.
I only have the smallest store subscription. I have never called ebay for anything yet, but I feel like it would be a waste of my time. I know this won’t be the last time someone does this, I just wish they had some significant repercussion.
About the only thing, I think, I can do is give them a rating and review bewaring other sellers of this buyer.
If anyone has any other suggestions (besides upgrading to an anchor store) I would love to hear it.
Thank you!
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You do need to call ebay. If the buyer emailed you thru ebay and said it shrunk that is something you did not do. Did he wash it, dry clean it? Do you know the fiber content? Is the care tag on the garment? If the buyer shrunk the sweater it is possible that they just threw it in the wash and didn’t read the tags. You may have to eat the cost of the sweater but you needed to get your information on the listing with ebay. Be sure to take pictures of the returned sweater and upload them to ebay. True, they will probably side with the buyer. You never know, but at least you did your best. After you do that forget all about the sweater and move on. It’s not worth the headache. You did your best and the buyer will have a mark on his account. Maybe we can’t see it but ebay can and if he continues he will get his fingers slapped.
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It doesn’t matter if you have a Basic Store or an Anchor Store, you can call eBay anytime for anything.
As Annabel52 said, you may have to eat the loss. It happens. If you’ve decided to sell online, expect returns. We have a 2-3% return rate, so that’s 2 or 3 items for every 100 we sell. If we got angry for every return, we wouldn’t have an online business. You make $500+ a month and lose $20. That’s great profit.
In this case, the buyer admitted to washing and shrinking the item. That sounds like a clear case of buyer’s remorse or buyer’s mistake.
Part of running an online store (especially eBay) is learning how to professionally argue your case to the eBay customer service reps.
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They buyer did not admit to buying it. The buyer compared the shirt to one they already owned. I provided measurements in my listing.
It is not the return that bothers me, it’s the dishonesty. I’m also not angry.
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If you call ebay and show them the buyer’s original message with the word “shrunk” in it as well as the listing with measurements in it, and then perhaps take a photo of the item with tapemeasure measuring it once you receive the sweater back, then I would think that you have a good chance of convincing ebay that this is just a return “for fit”. I would call ebay as soon as you receive the item back and have verified that your measurements were correct.
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I’m not sure what you mean by this: “About the only thing, I think, I can do is give them a rating and review bewaring other sellers of this buyer.”
You can’t leave negative feedback for a buyer. If you click “positive” and then write what is, in fact, negative feedback, you can get into trouble with ebay. Besides, sellers don’t need to be warned about this buyer. Experienced sellers already know that buyers will sometimes file an INAD claim in order to avoid paying return shipping. There are literally millions of buyers on ebay, and anyone of them could do it, so your “warning” would be pretty pointless.
If you want to, you can “report” the buyer to eBay.
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Every retail business has dishonest customers. Nordstrom has notorious problems with people abusing their return policy. It sucks, but loss or “shrink” (ha ha, no pun intended), is part of the retail business. Any business, really -we had abusive clients in vet med that would throw (literal) screaming fits to get money off their bill. It used to make me SO mad when the doctor would cave and give them free services!
There’s no guarantee in ebay. No guarantee your item will sell, or that it will sell at a profit, or that it won’t get returned, or that you won’t lose money on any given item.
Most of the time, we all come out ahead, and that’s a pretty great feeling! 🙂
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Happy Resolution! Thank you all so much. I just got my case closed in my favor.
I think when I initially posted this I was under the impression that ebay only helped sellers with these kind of issues if they had an anchor store.If anyone else has apprehension about calling ebay, don’t be. My experience was extremely helpful. The other person patiently waited and guided me as I stumbled through issuing a partial return and uploading the proof to the case.
This was a positive experience. I’m happy to continue with my store and less scared of dealing with customers’ returns.
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Thanks for the follow up. Im glad it worked out!
I think a lot of new sellers come across a grumpy buyer, go on the eBay Community Forums, and just assume they are reading the truth. Every buyer is a scammer. eBay wants to destroy your store. You will fail.
What we try to suggest is to assume buyers have good intentions and want to keep the items. Always be professional and unemotional in messages. If a buyer is grumpy, we call eBay to get help. 95% of the time eBay helps us because we know the rules.
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