times are tight and more than a few buyers have attempted to abuse ebay's buyer protection policy in order to get a discount on their purchased items lately. Most claim some sort of not as described dispute and either threaten or file a claim as such hoping that ebay's blind tolerance of such actions will net them a quick refund and screw the unsuspecting sellers out there.
I thought I would go ahead and make more public one such dispute to see what you members thought and to see what ebay thought of me pointing out the flaws in their buyer protection program and the removal of the possibility of sellers leaving negative feedback for buyers which for the most part would prevent this sort of fraud from occurring in the first place.
on dec 7th, this buyer purchased a loose tvc commander cody from me
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250947438268&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123I have sold several of these iin the past, all receiving positive feedback for the transaction
on the 13th, I got this message from that buyer
Dear clint1130cat,
Hello,
I got my item. And there was a small problem. Are you a smoker? Because I opened the figure and there was a strong smell emanating from the figure. It was cigarette smoke, and the value of the figure is decreased by the cigarette smell. I would be happy with a partial refund or some kind of a replacement. I am an understanding person so let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks for your time.
- kevsfish8
on the 13th, I sent this reply message to the buyer
Dear kevsfish8,
Sorry about that, I am indeed a smoker and as a buyer that doesn't like the smell of smoke, I'm sure you will notice that in my description that I didn't mention that the item came from a smoke free home as non smoking sellers will. If you return it, I would be happy to tender a refund but another option would be to spray the figure with something that would cover the smoke smell, like frebreeze or something like that.
Once again, I'm sorry for the smoke smell.
Clint
- clint1130cat
on the 14th, I got this message from the buyer
Dear clint1130cat,
Well, if I ship it back to you then I would be out the cost to ship it back. What I really would like is a partial refund of at least $5. Please let me know if that will work for you, thank you again.
- kevsfish8
on the 15th, I sent this message to the buyer
Dear kevsfish8,
Well you live in Ca so if you just stuff it in an envelope and send it back without a tracking number, it would cost about$1.50 to $1.70.
I would be willing to refund that cost were you to send it back.
Clint
- clint1130cat
today, I got this message from ebay
Hi clint1130cat,
Here's what just happened:
We opened an eBay Buyer Protection case because kevsfish8 has an issue with an item purchased from you.
Here's what you need to do next:
Please click Respond now by Dec 24, 2011 and try to work it out with the buyer.
What you should know:
PayPal has placed a hold on this transaction.
If you issue a full refund to the buyer before the case is escalated, you will automatically receive your final value fee back.
If you don't work things out, the buyer can escalate this case to eBay Customer Support for a final decision.
Details the buyer provided:
Problem: The item is not as described
The buyer has already contacted you through eBay Messages
The buyer paid on Dec 07, 2011
The item is damaged
You have responded to the buyer
You aren't working with the buyer to solve the problem
Additional information:
"Item smells like smoke, and that was not in the description. I'm interested in a partial refund or some kind of a replacement."
The buyer wants:
"partial refund or replace"
here was my response to ebay
I went through their support center and as a reply to the buyer's claim, i sent a request in a more official capacity for the buyer to return said item for a full refund.
I then filed a second report of missuse of ebay buyer protection against this buyer " i had filed one already two days ago as I suspected this would happen"
and wrote this in the second report.
As I had reported two days ago here, this buyer is indeed abusing your buyer protection policy and has filed a case #5013514041 against me for this transaction. In the case filing, the buyer claimed that the item wasn't as described because it smelled like smoke and was not described as such. First of all, as I am a smoker, I do not put in my items description that my items come from a smoke-free home as non=smoking sellers will so the item is actually as described as a loose figure complete with all accessories.
Secondly, the buyer claims that I have contacted them and am not working with the buyer to resolve the problem.
on the 13th, i sent the message to the buyer offering a full refund if the buyer sent the item back. the buyer responded stating they didnt feel like they needed to pay for the return shipping and would prefer a $5 partial refund. I responded on the 15th that I would even refund a cheap rate of return shipping for the item. So, as you can see, I have been working with the buyer to resolve the matter.
The buyer's response to my latest message was to file this case against me.
Since the buyer doesnt want to accept a full refund, even with the return shipping cost refunded, and since the buyer has made two false claims in relation to this case, obviously, the buyer wants a partial refund for the item and is willing to instigate a buyer protection case against me to bully me into giving it to them.
As i am sure you are aware, there has been an increase in buyer protection cases and fraud around those cases here lately due to the poor economy and this window of opporitunity that has been left open to buyers to exploit the sellers with. As I have pointed out in the past, the removal of the seller's ability to leave negative feedback for the buyers is more than likely to have caused this outbreak of dishonesty in the buyers as they feel they have nothing to lose. I have no doubt that if this particular buyer does not get his or her way that they will leave me negative feedback and bad DSRs in their vengance of not getting their way which will inspire me to file a feedback abuse report.
Since I am tired of all of the dishonest buyers out there and what they can get away with, I am making this particular case a little more public and am posting all of the details about it in the collecting site that I moderate for. There, we have several threads that discuss what we have to sell, what their is to buy, ebay policies, and anything else about ebay that is interesting enough to talk about. I even have a thread about buying and selling on ebay to serve as a guideline for the site's members to follow.
I am titling the thread that follows this particular case "buyer protection abuse or fraud on ebay" and if you are curious and want to read it, just drop me a note and I will be glad to send you the url.
In the meantime, if the buyer escalates this case, I hope that you make the right choice as the buyer is clearly in the wrong in my eyes and, I suspect, in the eyes of the majority of my site's members and shouldn't be allowed to get away with fraud.
clint
