Are fruitcakes running rampant on eBay lately? Selling, buying, listing, feedback, etc...

[ED-209]

2 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

 It only takes one arsehoIe to take you down.

Maybe... if you dont sell enough to have enough reputation. If you go down to 99% you wont get "taken down". I buy of people with 99 percent all the time (If you have other neg reps to your name then maybe u'd better play ball.

Edited August 23, 2018 by ED-209

[Furious_george]

Haha yeh , bit dramatic.

[neeon82]

4 hours ago, Zelgazra said:

The really awkward part about this sale, is the set wasn’t mine. I sold it on commission for a colleague at work. So the refund would be coming from my commissioned portion, at it would be well more than half my earnings. It would obviously get really messy if eBay sides full SNAD.... (how could they though, really.....ffffff eBay!). Ugh. Appreciate the insight guys. What an unfortunate pickle.

 

I guess however it shakes down, I can hold on to the silver lining that I got to build this extremely rare beauty at zero purchase cost. If only that felt like enough.... hehe.

I had a buyer do something similar. In their reason for cancellation they openly admitted it was a case of buyer's remorse, but eBay took all of a few minutes to decide in their favour. It's not a battle that you are likely to win, maybe offer $60-70 as a refund. Although if they reject that, then you are again at the mercy of the eBay overlords

[mizeur]

5 hours ago, Zelgazra said:

I sold it on commission for a colleague at work. So the refund would be coming from my commissioned portion, at it would be well more than half my earnings.

If it's true commission and you didn't have to buy the set up front, even less reason to send it to ebay. Make a counter-offer and live with whatever the buyer finds reasonable to be done with it.

[exracer327]

9 hours ago, mizeur said:

Unfortunately, without having specifically pointed out the defect, you're at the mercy of the customer service gods here. How lucky are you feeling?

I'd probably figure out how much of a haircut I could afford then send a polite message thanking them for getting in touch with you about their dissatisfaction with the purchase, saying you did your best to represent the set in the listing. As a courtesy to satisfy their concerns you'll offer either a return for full refund (your call on +/- shipping cost) or keep the set for a partial refund that's 50% of your own acceptable max haircut.

My thinking is that while going to ebay has the potential to let you keep all your money, there's also more risk. Yeah, if the buyer accepts your offer you're out a bit of money but less than the buyer asked for and ebay might grant. And if the buyer doesn't accept, then at least you might have loaded the dice a bit in your favor.

 

Question re: the OP and your response.  If the set is listed as "used," which is what the OP stated, then wouldn't that mean the cellophane is missing or at the very least torn open?  

Thinking back to when I was a kid and those sets that had a plastic cover, I can't recall the plastic cover ever surviving being opened up.   So how could the missing plastic cover for a "used" set be a "defect"?  I would quite frankly expect it would be missing.  But then again, maybe I'm just reasonable.

I'm not trying to give advice, I'm honestly curious for my own understanding of how to respond to such a buyer.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

eBay rule #1... DON'T sell other people's stuff if you can help it, get them to open their own selling account. There's often a reason why they're not selling it themselves as opening an eBay and PayPal account is free and fast (or at least it was back in my day). I've had 4 negatives in over 25,000 sales on one of my accounts and 3 of them was from other people's crap.

With the likes of websites with say, Trustpilot reviews, a score of 4.5 out of 5.0 is pretty damn good where as 45 positives and 5 negatives on eBay is a disaster.

[Darth_Raichu]

6 hours ago, Zelgazra said:

The really awkward part about this sale, is the set wasn’t mine. I sold it on commission for a colleague at work. So the refund would be coming from my commissioned portion, at it would be well more than half my earnings. It would obviously get really messy if eBay sides full SNAD.... (how could they though, really.....ffffff eBay!). Ugh. Appreciate the insight guys. What an unfortunate pickle.

 

I guess however it shakes down, I can hold on to the silver lining that I got to build this extremely rare beauty at zero purchase cost. If only that felt like enough.... hehe.

Was the word "complete" anywhere in the ebay listing for this item ?   If it is, then your best bet is negotiating the partial refund with buyer

[mizeur]

1 hour ago, exracer327 said:

Question re: the OP and your response.  If the set is listed as "used," which is what the OP stated, then wouldn't that mean the cellophane is missing or at the very least torn open?  

Thinking back to when I was a kid and those sets that had a plastic cover, I can't recall the plastic cover ever surviving being opened up.   So how could the missing plastic cover for a "used" set be a "defect"?  I would quite frankly expect it would be missing.  But then again, maybe I'm just reasonable.

I'm not trying to give advice, I'm honestly curious for my own understanding of how to respond to such a buyer.

There are a bunch of sets that have transparent plastic panels which don't get completely destroyed if the box is opened with care.

Let's be clear, the buyer is being ridiculous about this and is probably just trying to get a margin to resell at a profit for themselves. I'd assume they were planning to pull these shenanigans in the first place. The problem is the deck is generally stacked in the buyer's favor, moreso here because the defect wasn't explicitly noted.

[Grynn]

15 hours ago, Zelgazra said:

What grounds do I stand on? Am I a fool for wanting to bring ebay into this? Do I have solid footing to win it?

 

Looking for advice. 

I've said it countless times before and will say it again. Caving in for fear of eBay automatically siding with the buyer is nonsense.

True, you may have a hassle on your hands if you fight it. But not enough sellers doing this is much of the reason it is so difficult for the rest of us.

I've won more cases than I've lost against buyer nonsense. You may have to keep calling and politely demanding to speak to different people. They will tell you there is nothing they can do, quote policy, blah blah - but once you find a rational person in the escalation department, they can handle it however they want.

That said, I would think carefully about how you listed it. "Complete" may be open to interpretation when it comes to packaging, pictures may be seen as contradictory. You may be better off negotiating the partial refund if you can accept giving back a lower amount. That's what I would do, and if they won't agree to a reasonable amount, I'd fight it.

[Zelgazra]

I've said it countless times before and will say it again. Caving in for fear of eBay automatically siding with the buyer is nonsense.
True, you may have a hassle on your hands if you fight it. But not enough sellers doing this is much of the reason it is so difficult for the rest of us.
I've won more cases than I've lost against buyer nonsense. You may have to keep calling and politely demanding to speak to different people. They will tell you there is nothing they can do, quote policy, blah blah - but once you find a rational person in the escalation department, they can handle it however they want.
That said, I would think carefully about how you listed it. "Complete" may be open to interpretation when it comes to packaging, pictures may be seen as contradictory. You may be better off negotiating the partial refund if you can accept giving back a lower amount. That's what I would do, and if they won't agree to a reasonable amount, I'd fight it.

To those asking, yes, I list all my used sets with a 100% inventory as “100% complete” in the listing title. For anyone that buys LEGO, this is valuable info. So I guess I haggle.
@Tabby He has an eBay account; he works in the bike industry, testing gear for review. His history and feedback is all related to cycling gear. My entire profile is nothing but LEGO. He thought it made sense as did I.

[mizeur]

1 hour ago, Grynn said:

True, you may have a hassle on your hands if you fight it...You may have to keep calling and politely demanding to speak to different people. They will tell you there is nothing they can do, quote policy, blah blah - but once you find a rational person in the escalation department, they can handle it however they want.

Hassle costs time. Time is valuable. eBay's paying peanuts for the CSRs to handle this and it's built into their business model. The buyer only spending a few minutes to potentially get $100.

A seller's potentially going to spend more time arguing with eBay than they spent listing, packing, and shipping the order. Diminishing returns. And that's why I said the first thing to do is figure out how much it's worth to pay the buyer in cash to not have to lose more time dealing with it.

[Zelgazra]

Quick update for anyone involved in giving feedback. I shot him a message and gave my (truthful) sob story about the commission situation and how the portion he's requesting is a vast portion of my earnings. Turns out he's human, and has changed his request to $50. Still wants a refund for a nonsense reason, but it's digestible now anyway. Going to run with it, my time and 100% feedback is more valuable... can always make $50 on the next sale.

Again, thanks for the feedback everyone.

[stackables]

So what is the best way to protect yourself from first time buyers? I just sold a cell phone and didn't realize the buyer just joined ebay the day before and I already printed the shipping label.   I had a buy it now price and they paid right away.  I sent them a message to confirm that knew the phone was locked to a carrier.  Haven't heard anything back.   Any steps I can make to prevent getting scammed?

[Val-E]

34 minutes ago, stackables said:

  Any steps I can make to prevent getting scammed?

Cancel the sale?

You could also put all the buyer requirement filters to the max but you can´t block 0 feedback buyers. Everyone has to start somewhere.

You could also use bank transfer instead of Paypal but that means losing sales too.

 

 

[stackables]

4 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Cancel the sale?

You could also put all the buyer requirement filters to the max but you can´t block 0 feedback buyers. Everyone has to start somewhere.

You could also use bank transfer instead of Paypal but that means losing sales too.

 

 

I think I will wait for the buyer to respond to my message.  I printed the label but haven't sent anything yet.

[southendsox]

Why not just use signature confirmation and insure the package.


Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[stackables]

1 hour ago, southendsox said:

Why not just use signature confirmation and insure the package.


Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

Already printed the label.  Phone is being shipped priority so it has some insurance already.  I am thinking this is a guest account.  The address jives with the buyer's name.

[LegoMan1212]

5 hours ago, stackables said:

Already printed the label.  Phone is being shipped priority so it has some insurance already.  I am thinking this is a guest account.  The address jives with the buyer's name.

Am I on the Phone Picker website again?  I get lost in the wee hours of the night.  

[Sandwraith]

14 hours ago, stackables said:

So what is the best way to protect yourself from first time buyers? I just sold a cell phone and didn't realize the buyer just joined ebay the day before and I already printed the shipping label.   I had a buy it now price and they paid right away.  I sent them a message to confirm that knew the phone was locked to a carrier.  Haven't heard anything back.   Any steps I can make to prevent getting scammed?

Every few years i upgrade my phone, and i always sell the old one on ebay. Most of the time it's to 0 feedback accounts, never had any issues. It could be just a bunch of new people buying around this time since tis' the season for new iPhones, so lots of people selling old ones. As others have said; signature confirmation and insure it.

As for making sure he knows it's carrier locked - if you have it specified as such in the listing he can't use that as a reason to open INAD case at least.

[stackables]

8 hours ago, Sandwraith said:

Every few years i upgrade my phone, and i always sell the old one on ebay. Most of the time it's to 0 feedback accounts, never had any issues. It could be just a bunch of new people buying around this time since tis' the season for new iPhones, so lots of people selling old ones. As others have said; signature confirmation and insure it.

As for making sure he knows it's carrier locked - if you have it specified as such in the listing he can't use that as a reason to open INAD case at least.

Phone wasn't that expensive only $100.  Next time I will get signature confirmation.  I sent it out today.  Fingers crossed.

[lazuli16]

So I sold a set and the buyer added a note asking me to attach a note/birthday card for their granddaughter.  They obviously have never seen my handwriting.

[mizeur]

1 hour ago, lazuli16 said:

So I sold a set and the buyer added a note asking me to attach a note/birthday card for their granddaughter.  They obviously have never seen my handwriting.

Comic Sans?

[gregpj]

2 hours ago, lazuli16 said:

So I sold a set and the buyer added a note asking me to attach a note/birthday card for their granddaughter.  They obviously have never seen my handwriting.

That's brave... "Happy Birthday and please thank your grandma for paying secondary market prices for me."

Stupid people.

[MarleyMoose]

3 hours ago, lazuli16 said:

So I sold a set and the buyer added a note asking me to attach a note/birthday card for their granddaughter.  They obviously have never seen my handwriting.

I did the same a few years ago.  I  bought a nice card for "Max" and even gift wrapped it. Grandma never left me feedback though.

Edited September 14, 2018 by MarleyMoose

[Sandwraith]

8 hours ago, MarleyMoose said:

I did the same a few years ago.  I  bought a nice card for "Max" and even gift wrapped it. Grandma never left me feedback though.

Always seems to be that way... the people you go above and beyond for leave you nothing. The buyer you spend 2 minutes buying/packing a quick flip item for 3x MSRP leaves you glowing reviews and 5 stars... ?