Further EBay Shenanigans

[Old Horse Murphy]

So here's one for you:

7th Feb- Sold a Sax on EBay to a lovely lady  on a Best Offer

13th Feb- Sax received by lovely lady

14th Feb- feedback left for me "great item, fantastic communication. A pleasure to deal with." Bless. 

All good. Two happy campers.

Until today...basically I had an email from the lovely lady saying (paraphrasing) "you sold me a Sax described as perfect condition. Due to COVID lockdown I have only just had it set up and was told that the Sax had taken a bump at some stage and some of the keys needed realigning. You sold the item as being perfect. It cost me £50 to get it sorted. Are you willing to contribute to the work?"

By my calculations, there were 33 working days including Saturdays from receipt of the Sax, to Boris' announcement re lockdown. That, and a glowing piece of feedback straight after delivery.

I've chosen not to respond. The brass neck of some people staggers me. 

Is this some sort of record?

[Maude]

7 minutes ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

The brass neck of some people staggers me. 

Is this some sort of record?

A dented brass neck now by the sound of it. 

And this is a record, 

I know, no help at all, but I do think you're right in just ignoring her, some people will try anything on. 

🙂

[dmccombe7]

I'm no sax player but surely she would have spotted any irregularities in the sax when she first got it.

Right to ignore her. Perhaps report her to ebay ? not sure if that's an option tho

Dave

[Old Horse Murphy]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm no sax player but surely she would have spotted any irregularities in the sax when she first got it.

Right to ignore her. Perhaps report her to ebay ? not sure if that's an option tho

Dave

I think if she contacts me again I will report her. 

Saxes are funny things and if there are keys misaligned, you know all about it when you play it and you certainly wouldn't wait 4 weeks to send it to a repairer or indeed not bother to contact the seller to report an issue. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Old Horse Murphy

[dmccombe7]

Lockdown didn't start until Mon 23rd Mar i think. I do recall it was just after my birthday on the 21st.

More than enough time to check the sax herself and as you say get in touch with you to say something isn't quite right with it.

Some shady people around.

Dave

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I'm not an eBay expert, but it may not be as plain sailing as it would seem from your point of view.

I won't bore you with the details, but I had a similar experience recently (+ve feedback received and then a message of complaint after some time - slightly less than yours).

I spoke to eBay in person and they indicated that if the buyer were to take it further and demand a refund that they would probably get it as 'item not as described'. I was not a happy bunny.

As it turned out, the seller didn't take it further, partly due to my insistence that the defect was caused by them. I managed a small victory with eBay with the agreement that if the buyer did take it further and they refunded them that ebay would then also refund me as a gesture of good will (I was seething during my initial phone call). This was a fairly low cost item though and eBay wanted to keep everyone happy. I can't see them going that far for the price of a sax though. 

I really hope it doesn't end badly for you. We all know you're a decent chap and you certainly don't deserve this crap.

[LITTLEWING]

To be fair, she could have been a first time player like myself a couple of years ago. For Father's Day my two amazing daughters bought me sax lessons as I'd always fancied a try as there are a few darn good sax solos recorded over the years and thought I could go up that path of musical adventure.

However, on the strength of that I bought a cheapie off a site on the interweb and to cut a long sort short, taking it to this teacher guy he checked it over putting a rope light down it's length (ooh missus!!) and the whole damn thing glowed out of nearly every key hole. It was totally sh*gged and not worth a light. (Pardon the pun). 

I spoke to the seller and as it happens got my money back as they were also unaware of it's condition. 

Needless to say I didn't feel like going any further after all that even though I did have a few lessons with the amazing teacher. 

[BassTractor]

Whatever you do, DO respond.
Just my take.

She may be a bit this or a bit that, but still:

- Can you guarantee that the sax was perfect?
In case, I'd say: handle her politely. You have quite som convincing power as she was very, very slow in this. Try to avoid an eBay case.

- Could she be right?
In case maybe do a bit of diplomacy and agree on sharing the costs? Try to avoid an eBay case.

Other than that I'd say:
Try to avoid an eBay case. 😁
Good luck!

Edited June 19, 2020 by BassTractor

[sammybee]

I'd offer an opinion, based on me selling a 'lot' on eBay. The seller is well within the time limits to file a item not as described case.... and based on what you have said above, is likely to 'win' that case. Outcome will be - case found against you.. [1] she can return the item AT YOUR COST to you for a full refund (note she may damage it/have damaged it, and you will have no comeback). [2] she keeps the sax, and you will have to give her a full refund (this is likely to happen if you do not co-operate with the process). As BassTractor says - do respond, and try and placate her - offer her half the money. If you 'fight' this, you are 99.9% likely to lose.

[Dom in Dorset]

A while ago I sold a scratchplate on ebay , three months later the buyer gets in touch saying something like " I've been too busy to do anything about it but the colour didn't look the quite same as in the picture, I was so disappointed with it that I gave it away to a friend. I want a partial refund."

Edited June 19, 2020 by Dom in Dorset

[Geek99]

You only get a month and you have to return it. End of.

[Newfoundfreedom]

EBay almost always sides with buyers. They can get away with murder. That's one of the reasons I stopped selling on there years ago. As a seller you have almost zero protection. 

[Geek99]

Not any more - it’s better now 

buyer must return to get refund

biyyer has to give you a chance to fix problem, or their neg is removed 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by Geek99

[skidder652003]

who told her the sax was imperfect? Was this "person" a qualified sax repair whatsit? Where's the receipt and a list or work carried out? I'd ignore it.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

You only get a month and you have to return it. End of.

I don't think that's right mate. I have items in my purchase history that still have the 'return' tab available. My oldest one is from 21/4/20.

I think it may well be 60 days.

[Woodinblack]

I have just got over my one - I have been lucky, not too many of those sort of people.

Sold a Microsoft surface, as I had a new one. Put it up on an auction with a high BIN price just in case, a woman contacted me to see if I would lower it, so because you can't do that, I edited the auction and she bought it right away (like the second I told her). Was 48 hour delivery, she bought it at 11pm on friday, told her I would pack it up the next day. End of saturday she asks if I posted it, I said, no, booked it and it is being picked up tuesday. She asks me every day.

Turns up wednesday. That evening I get a 'request to return non functional item'. Bearing in mind the surface is basically a sheet of glass with a metal back, I packed it really carefully and I know it works. I asked what was wrong, as I knew it was working, she said it wouldnt' boot. I said it had  all been fine, and I couldn't see what could go wrong if it got there in one piece, She posted a bunch of 'microsoft tech conversations' which she said indicated it was broken (it didn't), told us how experienced she was with computers and attached a photo of the windows 10 'cant find my operating system' screen telling me she would do the courtesy of not calling me a liar, so I replied and asked her why a fully working computer sold (and listed) with windows 8.1 pro on it was somehow now showing a windows 10 screen. Either it was another laptop or she had tried to install window 10. She then stopped talking to me. My wife spent a few hours on the phone to eBay, who were understand but saying that the rules are I have to accept (and pay for) a return, and afterwards I can dispute it. Being in a grump I decided to ignore it for a week.

after the weekend, my wife tried to contact her to ask her to put it in its original box (so we knew how big it was for the postage). no reply. left it a bit longer and tried again, nothing. Finally decided we would just have to assume it was the same size to book the package and got a notification she had dropped the return! No explanation, nothing.

I guess she got a cleverer friend to install window 10 properly.

Almost put me off eBay, but what is your choice?

[Woodinblack]

7 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I don't think that's right mate. I have items in my purchase history that still have the 'return' tab available. My oldest one is from 21/4/20.

I think it may well be 60 days.

https://pages.ebay.com/ebay-money-back-guarantee/questions.html

• Seller’s return window: Review the seller’s return policy and return window before you make a purchase.
• If you did not receive the item, or the item is not as described, you have 30 days from your actual or latest estimated delivery date to open a request, under the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

6 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

https://pages.ebay.com/ebay-money-back-guarantee/questions.html

• Seller’s return window: Review the seller’s return policy and return window before you make a purchase.
• If you did not receive the item, or the item is not as described, you have 30 days from your actual or latest estimated delivery date to open a request, under the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

I just flippin' searched for that and couldn't find it 😂. Well done mate.

Mine was just under 30 days. Far too long in my opinion and even then and it didn't come to anything fortunately.

Looks like @Old Horse Murphy can tell her to do one - officially. 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Did she pay via Paypal? Their help pages state 180 days to raise a dispute. I wonder if that's what confused me?

[Roger2611]

I had issues recently with a 1986 Telecaster I sold to a guy in Cornwall, it was described by me as "the electrics can be a bit hit and miss but everything works fine but it needs a bit of switch cleaner from time to time" It was brought at the Buy It Now price and shipped to the buyer, I get a message the day after it arrived saying the bridge pickup doesn't work and he wanted a refund of £50.00 to replace the pickup!.....I said to him that it needs a bit of switch cleaner and please don't start chopping out pickups as the guitar is totally original!

Next thing I know he has filed a claim to return the guitar saying the electric are not original and various other things are wrong with it, I spoke to eBay who advised me that he had the right to return it at my expense... so I am forced to accept the return claim and end up paying out for a return label

2 days later I get a message of apology from the buyer saying he had taken it to a shop who had confirmed all it needed was switch cleaner and that the guitar was completely original and was indeed a really nice example! He cancelled the request to return! But that is it for me with eBay, I can't be doing with the hassle and stress involved, I have ended any items I had for sale and will not sell through them again. 

It's a shame as it was a good selling site but sadly spoilt by idiots trying it on, I sold everything else via Facebook pages, once you have seen off the "I'll give you £50.00 for your £500.00 guitar" idiots, all sales went really smoothly! 

[Woodinblack]

4 minutes ago, Roger2611 said:

He cancelled the request to return! But that is it for me with eBay, I can't be doing with the hassle and stress involved, I have ended any items I had for sale and will not sell through them again. 

It's a shame as it was a good selling site but sadly spoilt by idiots trying it on, I sold everything else via Facebook pages, once you have seen off the "I'll give you £50.00 for your £500.00 guitar" idiots, all sales went really smoothly! 

That is how I felt too but after a bit of calming down, it is a good platform, but people are a pain, trouble is there are people everywhere!

[Guest]

I won’t sell anything on eBay. It just a waste of time nowadays as every other punter is a scammer. PayPal also sides heavily with the buyer, which only adds to the risk for the seller. I only buy small value items from known business sellers, or if something pops up I really cannot get elsewhere I will collect, but will not pay via PP until I’ve seen the goods - it’s the only way to be sure you’re getting what you’ve paid for, and you see the seller in person and know where they live (or smell a rat if they’re dodgy).

[Hellzero]

Having sold a lot on eBay and having to fully refund a scammer once, I started another process for everything I sell wherever it is. It's a simple one : tons of photos in huge resolution of the item proving its real condition and photos of the packing. I then upload everything to Google Drive (or whatever you want) and send the link to these photos to the buyer just after having sent the parcel with insurance and tracking number. I sometimes even add and invoice stating that the condition is known by the buyer.

Problem solved for years now.

And if a video is needed before concluding the sale to prove the real condition, I'll make one.

Call me paranoid : no simply knowing the human deep nature and protecting myself.

Scammed once, not twice.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

That is how I felt too but after a bit of calming down, it is a good platform, but people are a pain, trouble is there are people everywhere!

I agree.

I get a little nervous when I have something decent for sale on there, but for the most part, after 1000's of transactions, I've had very few serious issues. Less than 10 I would say.

My feedback is getting up towards the 2000 mark, but because of the complete apathy of 95% of buyers, my feedback doesn't reflect the amount of transactions I've had. I have 42 items awaiting feedback at the moment and I'll be surprised if more than a couple bother. 

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

You only get a month and you have to return it. End of.

Was just going to add that.  

Solve problems – Step by Step

Problem with your purchase?

Contact the seller within 30 days

No luck? Just let us know

If you're not satisfied after 8 days, ask eBay to get involved (do not wait more than 30 days)

eBay sorts it out

We'll get back to you in 48 hours – If your case qualifies, we will quickly issue a refund.