What do you do when you get an 'item not as described' on eBay

This was my first time. As a seller I know it can happen, I send the wrong item to the wrong person and well when it was brought to my attention I would fix it. No big deal right?

Well the spouse found these golf clubs on eBay thought they were a fantastic deal, tells me the ID number and I purchased them.  Sent the money quickly and it was a done deal.  He did a search by the UPC code of the item, which is how he found it.  Since he searched by the UPC the description and title was based on that particular UPC code.  How could it be wrong?  Guess the price was too good to be true.

Well the item finally arrived and he was excited like anyone would be when they get an item.  Within seconds of opening the box he tells me the item listed is not what he got.  Of course I was upset and shocked. So here it goes: This listing says they are TaylorMade Golf Clubs RocketBladez set of 8 clubs - What he got were TaylorMade Golf Clubs RocketBallz set of 8 clubs. Did you read that right?  They are in fact two very different items.  Yes they are both clubs and they are both from the same manufacture but what the listing says is not what was received.  This killed any faith he had in eBay.

So I first contacted the seller mentioning this little issue. I believe they were a fairly new seller with a feedback score under 50.  I thought about it not being a big issue but it was advertised as a particular item, its like getting a blue one when you wanted black. They are close but its not what you wanted. The price was decent for either item but this buyer was a jerk from the start.

First he accused me of making this deal with them before purchase, then he tells me to get off my high horse and tries to blame eBay for modifying the listing after the fact! OK sellers, if you list an item as black and sell it as black and send the buyer a blue one, you will get in trouble!  I don't want to think you should just open a case when things happen, sometimes its just an honest mistake.  

SELLERS:

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT THE DESCRIPTION SAYS!

I emailed the seller twice, the first time letting know about the error and the second time was to let him know he's got me confused with someone else. He agreed he made an error but still blames eBay. I don't know what I was expecting but had it been me as a seller I would have offered a discount if they wanted to keep them or provide a return label.  Well this guy offered nothing, I had to put in a request thru eBay to authorize a return. I printed the label yesterday, expecting to have to pay return shipping but I didn't have to. Guess when an item is 'not as described' the seller is responsible for return shipping.  This is the package was shipped to me as 'parcel post' and the return label was 'Priority Mail' thru the USPS.  Im positive the return rate is double the parcel rate since this was an 'odd' sized package.   

EBay emailed me with tracking info, letting me know where the package is and according to their emails I should get a refund in 6 days! Thats pretty quick. This was a very high dollar item so I am hoping this goes thru without a hitch and Ill get a full refund. 

Work it out via email

Whats with people these days opening cases on eBay? Is this a new feature? No its been there forever! So why is it when there is an issue people are quick to open a case instead of sending an email and say 'hey! you messed up'  NOOOOO

The number of cases opening is crazy! This should be something to resort to when there is truly an issue or when the seller does not respond or when an agreement is not reached not as a first resort.

eBay should ask those questions before allowing someone to open a case. Why does eBay have to be in the middle of an issue that can be corrected by a simple email?  If I send the wrong thing just email me, say hey I got the wrong thing can you fix it?  Or if something happens upon receipt, say hey this item is cracked or broken can you send a replacement.  Nooooo.... the first thing they are doing now is using eBay to open a case, I guess I should be glad that they are not holding my funds!

Someone has opened a case against me... now what? Amazon or eBay

We have had our share of cases. Most of them unfounded and in our favor anyway. Many of them used improperly.

The first thing is not to panic. There are many times of 'cases' that can open against you. Ill start with Amazon first.

On Amazon someone can open an A-Z Claim or a Chargeback.  A Chargeback is usually when a buyer complains to their credit card company about a charge not being theirs. So its a 'fraudulent'. In the past 3 years we have seen 2 chargebacks on our account. Or rather we have noticed there were 2.  These usually happen in behind the scenes, sometimes they will ask you to provide details to help with the case but since everything is done online you are really protected especially if the item was marked delivered.  Both cases were escalated in our case but they were dealt with by Amazon. We proved they were shipped and received by the buyer and Amazon decided to refund the buyer on their own, we were not held responsible. Unfortunately there are a few dishonest people out there.

An A-Z Claim is when a buyer is disappointed with a product or it was damaged, defective or wrong, or non receipt.  We have had about 3 of these over the years. The most recent was a buyer claiming they did not receive the item. Turned out it was sitting in the post office! They never picked it up or answered the door since it need a signature, Amazon immediately refunded the buyer because the item truly was not delivered, rightfully so. So at that moment I contacted the post office over there and told them to return it to me. Which they did at least I had the product back.

We had one case years ago where they buyer claimed they were over charged shipping. Its one of those where the buyer does not read the listing and selected two day shipping for an item and yells at us telling us it was supposed to be FREE... you know what Im talking about.  Needless to say we won that case but not without getting a nice big fat negative on our rating.  We are starting to call them battle scars lol.

I get a kick out of it when a buyer says they were never informed of the prices! I mean Im actually not a big buyer online but I know that Amazon and eBay show you the prices of the item and shipping MANY times over before you say send payment. Amazon also gives buyers 30 minutes to change the order! So they get an email and they can see the order in front of them!

On eBay buyers can open a case with eBay or Paypal. Most cases with Paypal hold funds on your account until the item is either returned or the buyer escalates the issue and Paypal refund them.  We've seen that happen only a handful of times. When someone opens a case with paypal they never expect that they have to return the item. I ALWAYS  say they have to return the item before we will issue a refund.   We had one were there was a chargeback. I was totally shocked as they buyer ordered a personalized item and we had a complete conversation with this buyer! Not only that they lefts us positive feedback the same day they received it! I had to upload the conversation to paypal and in the end they found in my favor and they dealt with the credit card company.

There are these other 'cases' buyers are opening on eBay. Ive had two in the past month. They work a little differently. The buyer says the item is not described and eBay says we have to 'work it out' perhaps until the buyer is satisfied or closed the case. Not exactly sure what happens on their end.  But what gets me is when they use the wrong thing. Example: The one I got today said the item was not as described, but then it says they want a replacement as its broken. So which is it?  Last one said same thing... but I fixed that. Apparently we shorted an item so we sent them out and they got it. So how does sending one to little mean item not as described?  These cases dont hold funds against us but it still makes me wonder.

What I dont get is why people are so quick to open a 'case' against us when they can just send an email telling what the issue is.

We once had a buyer accuse us of listing the wrong color.  Im like its blue you got blue how is that wrong?  Buyer says the picture is light blue, the item is dark blue, or it may have been the other way around I forget but Im like seriously?  Its not like you got it in red, now thats a wrong color. Disclaimers started becoming a staple in our listings.

Why are you still selling on eBay?

Someone just asked that today.  With all the potential problems why are you selling on eBay when you can do so much better on your own website.  Im not so sure.


The other day I about this buyer breaking an item, want return money and claiming cancer. It annoys me to no end when I get these complaints, because of the 'cancer' but you can be on any platform and get these complaints.  Im sure you can relate, someone in your family has dealt with cancer and we manage to move on.  If I went around telling people I have a nerve issue in my elbows and I can not carry your item to the post office I would have been kicked off eBay a long time ago for not delivering!   I still manage and I dont go using it as an excuse, how do I know this person is telling the truth?  We had a gal in the area claim cancer and she received tons of donations for a dream wedding a few years ago. She was just convicted of fraud and has to pay back over 13K cause she lied!

As for still selling on eBay, Ive been an eBay member since 1999 and selling since 2002 selling anything that wasn't bolted to the floor.  I only recently started doing it seriously as a business, I am power seller, I have the top seller badge and all that jazz, Im at 99.7% feedback, and I know EVERY negative Ive gotten, while they do fall off after a year.   I sell on eBay cause - when you tell someone you sell online they automatically think eBay. Every time I need something I look on eBay first and then Amazon, I rarely purchase from a personal website.  With all the potential scams out there its scary to me, yes you can be scammed by someone on eBay but I believe the chances are lower then from some random website.  Not only that the number of websites selling the same product is enormous, with no reviews sometimes how can you be sure? How do you choose one website over the other? 

I sell on eBay, on Amazon, on my website AND I have a physical brick and mortar store.  I also recently opened an etsy store and I am looking for more places to sell. Ive also sold on craigslist a number of time. You have to really put yourself out there in a number of locations to get the business you really want. Imagine how much you sales could increase by adding eBay as one of your selling locations.  I sell NEW retail items at retail and stick to my prices. My sales have increased over time which is great!  I know from years of selling there are different kinds of buyers on eBay and very different kind of buyers on Amazon.  I had an Amazon buyer actually call me saying she purchased this stamp that the ink spilled all over her and she wanted me to pay her dry cleaning!  I refunded her money for the item, sent her replacement stamp AND gave her money for dry cleaning! Maybe it was a little overboard but I was a nervous wreck and just did it, thinking about it now I wonder how the heck did she get ink on her shirt? Beside the ink would never have come out anyway, but she may have tried to get me to buy her a new shirt! 

They all have their positives and negatives and we have had various experiences.  But I wouldn't stop selling on eBay or Amazon because of threats, whiny buyers and complainers, I actually blog about them! LOL. I had my sister help me write a letter to this person that I wrote about, I have also reported that buyer to eBay and he has since left positive feedback for me, so I thought that was a little strange.  I have had eBay remove feedback when a buyer makes threats and Ive heard a few. I stand my ground every time.  I have not had many cases open against me but Ive stood my ground on those too.  Sometimes eBay and Amazon have refunded a buyer to appease them but never charged me for them. I think its a shame they do that but a credit card company would do that for you if you complained about a charge. 

A few weeks ago I had this buyer come into my store and ask me for a discount of this item cause she wanted 6 and the prices varied, she also wanted them put into gift boxes.  So I gave them all to her for the same price.  She calls me about a week later to accuse me of removing some parts of the item to 'devalue' them! I was shocked to say the least.  Lucky for me I had images of the items before she purchased them since they were listed in my eBay store and I could prove she was mistaken, these 'parts' did not exist and I never did that. She backed off but it still catches you off guard. You can have all kinds of notes, return policies posted, you break it you buy it message, and people still will accuse you of all kinds of things!  I have signs that say 'smile your on camera' and things have still been stolen from me in my store.

Its retail life. 

I feel victorious! Even with a new negative mark! Part Two

Well its been a few days and my 'Victorious' feeling is fading away.

I see the DSR ratings finally.  It takes time to post because its supposed to be 'anonymous' but when you consistently receive positive feedback its easy to spot who is leaving you low ratings.

Yes I knew it was going to happen but it still bothers me to actually see it. This buyer gave me a score of 1 for three out of four categories.  One is automatically entered by eBay since the item arrive in ONE day!  So in item description, shipping charges and communication I received a score of 1 from the buyer.

Ebay needs to modify this way of scoring since most people that dont get their way will automatically give you low scores even if you did everything correctly.

I wrote to eBay and reported this buyer. Im praying the will remove it especially since everything is documented within eBay they can see this buyer was never over charged shipping fees, the difference is well under 50 cents! They can see I 'communicated' with a reply to every email the buyer sent and quickly too! They can also see the letter from the manufacture backing me up about the item image, which I added to ebays messaging system, they can see I am 100% in the right.  

I know they are making 'changes' but its not fast enough. This DSR rating is hurting sellers and giving buyers all the power.

Once a reply is sent to the buyer the communication category should be automatic 5 stars even if the buyer does not like the replies. They see how much we pay for shipping and if the margin is with in a certain amount (say $2)  it should automatically give 5 stars as well!  Sometimes it will charge the buyer less then what I pay and the buyer can give me a lower score? What the hell!

Shipping time is still something that a seller nor buyer can control. Last time I check the postal service was owned by the government and all other shipping companies have their own rules. How is it our responsibility to control a third party?

Requested Feedback adjustment

While I do make mistakes with my listings I am quick to correct them.  I have listed items that have disappeared from my store, or miscounted a product, or returned something to the vendor and forget to remove the listing. Sometimes an item will sell in our store and again I forget to remove the listing.  This are all honest mistakes but there are some people that you cant please no matter what you do.

I mentioned a few days ago that someone left us negative feedback saying I never refunded them and I wasted their time.  I wasted a feedback revision request on this buyer.  All they did was change the wording around and left it negative!  How rude.

You know you do everything you can to help the buyer and they dont care. Wasted their time? You waste time when you sit at the DMV day after day and still dont get your business taken care of. Or when you have a 10AM appointment at the doctor and dont see the doc until 1PM thats wasting your time.  Oh when you order something from a catalog and find out weeks later they dont have the item in stock!  Not when your refunded within a few hours of your order coming thru!

Once we noticed that we did not have the item we immediately refunded the money and sent an email of apology.  What more could we do?  Nothing!  Its not the first time this has happened to us, but we do our best so it does not happen. When it does we correct it quickly. Sometimes people do not accept the cancellation of the order and thats OK, we lose on the selling fees.  Many people do not bother leaving negatives but there are some people that are just horrible.

Maybe I shouldn't talk since I was trying to sell something I didnt have.

Whats with eBay and Amazon siding with buyers in a dispute case

Ok so we have all had our share of buyers filing a claim. On eBay or Amazon someone gets something they are unhappy with or they claim to never have received the item at all and they file a claim.

This is nothing new but they both do the same thing. The total funds get placed on hold awaiting you to fill out your side of the story. I have come to a point where I refuse to issue a refund until the item is returned. We have the right as sellers to request that the item is returned. On both platforms you can request that. Then at least you would get the product back and lose out ONLY on the shipping fees. There are times when the buyer would 'escalate' the claim.

I had someone that basically threatened me and said I better do the right thing or they would leave the worst feedback I had ever received! I reported this person immediately.

So the buyer escalates the claim and they find in favor of the buyer but dont find you responsible! So the money basically comes from where? Not your pocket, should you care? YES!

These are cases that we cant do anything about once a decision is made. But it gives the buyers the impression that they can say what they want, keep the item AND get their money back!

The most recent claim came from a person on my Amazon store. They claimed the package never arrived but the tracking information says it was 'DELIVERED" the day before. Not only did this person go on and on harassing us about UPS this and FedEx that, both services did not have the package, they said it should be in their 'office' and it never showed up. I tried to assist, sometimes the packages are marked delivered and left next door, or tossed, or someone keeps it. Its happens!

Anyway, this buyer went on about their chemo treatments, being tired, needing to sleep and how they didnt not want to 'trifle' with such a small amount. (Total of $9.07) So image my surprise when the 'claim' came thru two days later!

Of course both platforms give you the option to issue a refund when these come thru. I have never just issued a refund. I always fill out 'my side' of the story. In the end they sided with the buyer but did not fault us at the same time. So the $9.07 came from Amazon and not my account. This person keeps the item AND gets a refund.

I once asked eBay about this method of dealing with customers and they said sometimes they do things to appease the buyers. It makes me wonder how many times they go around 'appeasing' the buyers with such small amount. When will they start 'appeasing' the sellers?