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I sold a 90’s Panasonic portable cd player. Player only, no accessories. I did a sell similar to another listing and apparently I missed an item specific that said the adapter and headphones would be bundled. Pictures and description showed only the player included, but it’s my mistake either way for missing that one. So buyer gets item and demands the bundled accessories or wants to return the item. No problem. I explained my mistake and promptly accepted the INAD return. Customer very quickly shipped the player back – less than 48 hour turnaround. Opened it up to inspect and was immediately concerned because the cd player was very grimy and dirty. Flipped it over and it had blue paint on the back that I know wouldn’t have been there – I clean my items.
Compared to my photos and sure enough, completely different serial number on the back. Grrrr!
I did test the player and it works fine (surprisingly) but it has a defect on the lcd screen.
So I’ve messaged the buyer giving them the benefit of the doubt and provide photos showing the item is incorrect, and called ebay to figure out what my options will be.
Ebay rep explained that I have to get the buyer on record saying they sent the wrong item. If buyer denies it, I lose. If buyer just stays silent, I lose. If I escalate, I lose. Photos are not admissible since they can be faked. I asked about appealing if any of those scenarios happens I was also informed I would not be eligible to appeal.
Currently I’m hoping and waiting for the buyer to respond but I don’t really see that happening.
At the least I do have a working, but not as nice, replacement in hand I can sell to offset my losses.
So…who here has went through a similar situation and has anyone actually been able to appeal if they truly ended up with a shady buyer?
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No communication from buyer yet after over 48 hours. I have till the 6th to refund. I’ll send 1 or 2 more kind and understanding messages to the buyer over that time in an attempt to set up an appeal on my behalf.
I’ve made a plan and will execute it and hope for the best. Not gonna let this upset me. Ain’t nobody go time fo dat!
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I agree with Jay – you may not win this battle, but overall eBay will make sure that all sellers will win the war on this guy. Too many red flags will catch up with this guy, and may involve the police one day.
I had a buyer do the same to me once on a item where the serial number didn’t match and the returned item didn’t work, and 6-8 months later I was contacted by the police for a report. Don’t know what happened to them, but these scammers don’t get away with these scams forever.
On a weird side note, I also have had 3 returns for no reason on Panasonic Personal CD Players in the last year – I probably sell 1 of them for every 10 Sony ones I sell, never have issues with Sony ones, but buyers for some reason are a pain with Panasonic ones of late. I just have bad luck on Panasonic CD Players for some reason lately. None of the returns have been INAD – just normal returns paid by the buyer, and they have been returned in the same condition.
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Ok so I can close this one out now. Eventually I got a rude email back from the buyer saying they sent back exactly what I sent them and that I better refund them promptly. I kept it civil and explained again that I had uploaded photos that clearly showed the item was not the same as I sold. I had until the 6th of September to refund and I intended to use every minute of that time. Early on the 5th, I sent them a message that stated that if they would just admit they sent the wrong item I’d go ahead and refund them. The one they sent back even worked aside from an LCD defect, so I was thoroughly confused as to why they even sent me a different one.
Now when I sent that message, my intention was to close the case without refund if they so happened to actually respond and admit fault. After all, ebay told me that I should make every attempt to get the buyer to admit fault. Of course I also figured at this point there was no way the buyer would actually fall for that, so really I was just humoring myself for entertainment while waiting out the refund window. I was gonna go ahead and refund them on the 6th anyways, so it didn’t hurt anything to make the attempt, but dag gone it they were gonna WAIT every single minute on that refund.
The 6th came and went, so at the end of the day I changed my mind and decided that I was going down swinging. I reported the buyer and asked ebay to step in and detailed my case in the escalation. The email I got said the case would be in review for 2-3 days.
The next day a peculiar thing happened – the buyer sent me an apologetic message (they even referred to me as “dear sir”) and admitted they bought this for their son and that the son likely did send me back the wrong item. They “didn’t think it would become this big of a deal”. I especially loved how their story changed and that they threw “the son” under the bus (there probably was no son).Victory!!! So at this point I could simply call ebay CS and close out the case easily in my favor based on that message.
What did I do instead? I refunded the buyer in full to cancel the escalated case and wrote them a message thanking them for their honesty, and reiterated the fact that all I ever ask from my customers is to keep an open line of communication so any issues can be resolved.
I am quite happy with my moral victory. Many Self high fives and self back pats were had that day.
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Good job Retro! Sometimes the moral gain is so much sweeter than the monetary gain. I wish more buyers would just approach their seller with honesty and a little kindness…they would be very surprised to see just how far most sellers would go to make things right for them.
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