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I think this change just makes eBay more friendly for buyers. In the past, I’ve had buyers express frustration about not knowing how to initiate a return. Sometimes, they just mail it back without starting a return at all. The return process should be simple and easy to understand and initiate. I think this eliminates some of that confusion.
Accept the return and make them send the books back to you. They are probably bluffing and figure most sellers will just issue a refund without requiring a return.
Also, remember that crazy stuff can happen in shipping. Items get dropped, smashed, and generally abused. I’ve even had solid wood items cracked, despite layers of bubble wrap and a strong box. Don’t always be so quick to think your customer damaged the item and is trying to scam you.
I have a women’s leather trench coat for sale. Someone asked for a picture of it being worn while sitting in the car.
I also seem to get frequent questions asking me to rate the condition of an item using a 1 to 10 scale. Ummm… No. Look at the 12 generous pictures I have provided covering every angle and come to your own conclusion.
I would send him the item for free, just as you promised. Be the bigger person. Don’t ask for feedback revision unless he contacts you afterwards and is apologetic. It is the right thing to do.
He had every right to be mad that you did not fulfill the order as promised. However, I think most buyers who leave negative feedback are doing so not just because of the present transaction, but due to poor experiences with sellers on eBay in the past. Most people on this forum are very attentive sellers with good customer service, but there are also a lot of awful sellers on eBay who misrepresent items, frequently cancel sales, and overall provide horrendous or hostile customer service. These awful sellers lead some buyers to assume the worst about all sellers on eBay.
Show this person you are an honest seller who made an honest mistake and you might be surprised by your buyer’s reaction.
Of course, some buyers are just grumpy and/or have horrible lives and enjoy taking out their frustrations on others semi-anonymously. In that instance, still take the high road, but block them from future purchases.
I would refund the buyer and relist. If they haven’t responded by now, chances are you are not going to hear anything from them. At worst, they can just buy it again.
I blocked the guy and am moving on. If it was really that important to him, he would have bought it as soon as he saw it.
Well, now I get a message from a local eBay member. He previously wanted to buy the vest local pickup because he was supposedly too cheap to pay shipping. He didn’t say he was the VP of this group. Now he’s threatening legal action or something. So glad I did not offer to meet in person, as who knows how that would have gone down.
“Ok, here’s the deal, the patches on this vest areproperty of Missouri widows sons. When a brother becomes a member of the widows sons he is issued a oval and rocker, when he leaves the widows sons it is returned to the issuing state.
I tried to buy it back. This is not your oval and rocker to sell. Before you ship this to whoever bought it, it needs to be returned to the rightful owner. In the mean time I will contact eBay and explain this and see where we stand legally to get this resolved.
Best thing you could probably do would be to return it back to the state which would be myself the state Vice President and avoid any issues
Please reply back with a resolution”This is irritating. I guess I didn’t realize the sensitivity to this kind of merchandise. They should be mad at the guy who sold or gave away his vest, not me. Not sure if or how I should respond.
Well, the vest sold. I had a fairly reasonable price on it (but still got about 12 times return on investment), and frankly I’m glad it will be gone.
Thanks everyone for the input. Interesting to see the different viewpoints.
My concern was mainly that it felt a little like a threat. Or maybe I’ve seen too many movies about fraternal organizations (and bikers). Luckily, the guy is in another state.
You are right, it probably is just a weirdo.
Thought I’d follow up on this thread. I did suggest to the customer that he purchase the item via local pickup and set up his own shipping arrangements through uship. I haven’t heard anything from him since.
Very strange, given he was so pushy before. Maybe it was an attempted scam. Or more likely just another flaky buyer.
But thanks to everyone for the advice!
I did respond to this person, and it’s pretty evident he is very intent on getting this item. He sent a message offering double my asking price if I’d ship it and the cost to ship doesn’t matter to him. This item weighs 150 pounds and is large enough that it would have to go freight.
I’m guessing he harassed the customer service reps enough where they called me.
I had my highest eBay sales ever in January. It’s been pretty crazy. For some reason, January is usually a pretty good month for me. Been trying to sell more expensive stuff, and it is paying off. Average sale price for January was almost $60 per item.
Just be glad the buyer actually contacted you before leaving negative feedback. I just received my first negative feedback in over a year and the person never even tried to contact me first.
If you refund quickly and are polite, you might avoid the negative feedback. No matter what happens, just block the person and move on. Sometimes there is nothing you can do.
