Seller has just brushed me off

[tulip*place]

Recently purchased 2 x vintage dishes and paid 2 charges for the postage as seller didn't combine postage.

Received items and they were packed in the same box.  There is a problem with 1 of the items not being in

excellent condition as described.  Contacted the seller and sent pictures of the marks on the dish.  They responded

saying "sorry I didn't notice these marks."   No mention of returning for a refund.  

The other item is ok, therefore only want to return the 1 dish.  

I don't want to pay for the return postage therefore if ebay gets involved will I be able to return just the  1 item. tia.

[4channel]

I couldn't open it. What's it about. Said Phills?

Not Dr Phil is it?

[fixnwear]

tulip*place,  Just wandering about the marks on the smaller dish

Maybe they are negligible, if the seller told you after the complaint that they didn't see them

It couldn't have been obvious "in your face" otherwise they would have noticed them

If it's a second hand item - according to Cons. Aff., PP as well as Ebay - items are allowed to have minor imperfections, due to them not being brand new

After reading these board for ages now, I can't help but notice that buyers on Ebay (nowhwere else, just here) jump up and complain about the tiniest, unimportant  details that most sellers wouldn't even think of mentioning (if they see them in the firast place)

Also, in your dish, was there anything in the photos to show the marks? Or do the photos look like they were deliberately taken from the angles to hide the marks?

That is what you have to decide before opening the dispute - as you may not win  if the marks are either negligible or are showing in the pictures.

None of this has any reflection on you or your judgement, only asking as I somehow don't believe (from your opening letter content) that seller knowingly sent you marked dish with intent to cheat.

Maybe you should just point out to the seller the difference in postage paid by you as well as them and ask for that and only proceed with the return claim if the marks are considerable. But, you would be the best judge of that!

[springyzone]

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@tulip*place wrote:

Recently purchased 2 x vintage dishes and paid 2 charges for the postage as seller didn't combine postage.

Received items and they were packed in the same box.  There is a problem with 1 of the items not being in

excellent condition as described.  Contacted the seller and sent pictures of the marks on the dish.  They responded

saying "sorry I didn't notice these marks."   No mention of returning for a refund.  

The other item is ok, therefore only want to return the 1 dish.  

I don't want to pay for the return postage therefore if ebay gets involved will I be able to return just the  1 item. tia.

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Definitely follow what tazzie (and jellybird) advised in various posts and open an official ebay claim.

If you bought under your tulip place account, then it is looking as if you are fairly new to ebay as you have zero feedback.

The seller could be counting on you not knowing how the system works.

I didn't like this bit  Seller has advised to they will accept return as long as item arrives in the same condition as it left.  Also mentioned their policy is no returns but will make exception for me.   Do I request a return label?

In other words, they are telling you to post it back at your expense and they will have a look at it and they may or may not refund you the price of the item, depending on what they think. If they suspect you did any damage yourself, you can be pretty sure there would be no refund and what's more, maybe you would have kept no proof to show you even sent it back. They definitely are not offering any refund on the original postage for that item either, just a refund on item price.

Their policy may be no returns but that does not apply in shops or on ebay for items that are found to be faulty in some way.

So do as others suggest, open an item not as described claim, get that return postage label and you will get not only the return postage paid but you'll also get the original item cost & postage back.

It doesn't matter how the parcel was originally sent. Ebay is not privvy to that. As far as ebay is concerned and as far as you paid, it was for separate purchases so it is an easy refund if they decide in your favour.

[tazzieterror]

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@fixnwear wrote:

...

None of this has any reflection on you or your judgement, only asking as I somehow don't believe (from your opening letter content) that seller knowingly sent you marked dish with intent to cheat.

Maybe you should just point out to the seller the difference in postage paid by you as well as them and ask for that and only proceed with the return claim if the marks are considerable. But, you would be the best judge of that!

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The only problem I see with this suggestion is that a sceptical seller might then view the whole return request as simply a ruse to pressure them into refunding some of the postage, and become completely uncooperative from then on. It's ultimately not likely to make much difference to the result, but it really is the wrong end of the transaction to be negotiating postage rates.

Again, I'll state that I don't agree with the way the seller has handled the postage thing, but trying to do anything about that now just makes the buyer look manipulative.

[digital*ghost]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

If the seller had combined the postage the OP would have had to return both items for a total refund.

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I just wanted to note that this isn't actually the case, as you can open a request on an item whether it was the only one in an order, or if there was 10 items, and the case will only be for that item (if you want to return all ten items, you have to open ten separate requests). 

When it comes to the postage part of the refund, I can't guarantee how eBay will treat it because I charge a flat rate and only know how eBay treat that - eg let's say my flat rate is $10 postage, no matter how many items are in an order. If they buy one item and pay $10 postage, they'll get $10 refunded on an INAD return. If they buy ten items and return one, they'll get a $1 postage refund.

It may be different if there were individual postage costs just added together without a discount and you make only one payment (if that is indeed what happened). eBay may refund that item's individual postage, or they may split the total in half like they do with mine (i.e. the refund for postage via an INAD dispute in this case will either be the original $18.50, or $20.25 as half of $40.50). 

[fixnwear]

Tazzieterror,

You misunderstood slightly my post.

 There is no way that buyer would look manipulative - it's a simple discrepancy in postage paid, only pointing it out to seller messag, NOT opening a dispute for it!

As the buyer is not blind, they can clearly see how much the postage was on the boz, as well as they know how much they paid for it in the first place (considerably more!)

I also said unless the buyer is sure that seller intended to cheat  somehow with not disclosing some marks - unless they are obvious not to bother with any dispute at all.

[digital*ghost]

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@4channel wrote:

Hi and thanks for the reply tulip*place. So this seller charged you an extra $11.50 for post.

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I'm not involved in this transaction, but I do feel quite confident in just saying no, that's not right. 😛 

Sellers charge postage costs, which include all costs associated with shipping items, so it's simply wrong to only ever look at the 'stamp' cost of postage and judge the costs and any discrepancies between what a buyer pays the seller, and what the seller pays the post office. The seller is not selling you postage at wholesale, they are charging for the service of packing and posting the item(s) you buy. 

If you really have to assess stuff like this, you then have to start with what the seller actually receives - from a $40.50 payment, they'll immediately lose around about $5.50 to fees (a little more if they don't have a store, a little less if they do, so I chose a round-ish average). That means the seller receives $35 for postage. Were there packaging costs? A box, bubblewrap, tape, label printing costs? Unless the seller is obviously using recycled stuff that would have cost very little, and handwriting all labeling, this is where you can only have a wild guess at costs, but the seller got about $6 to cover all of this stuff, not $11.50. 

[tazzieterror]

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@fixnwear wrote:

Tazzieterror,

You misunderstood slightly my post.

 There is no way that buyer would look manipulative - it's a simple discrepancy in postage paid, only pointing it out to seller messag, NOT opening a dispute for it!

As the buyer is not blind, they can clearly see how much the postage was on the boz, as well as they know how much they paid for it in the first place (considerably more!)

I also said unless the buyer is sure that seller intended to cheat  somehow with not disclosing some marks - unless they are obvious not to bother with any dispute at all.

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If the buyer has already gone through the back and forth they've described in requesting to return the marked dish, has had the seller (reluctantly) agree to its return, and now asks about a postage refund for what was already paid, it's very much going to appear that is the underlying grievance.

At least in returning the marked dish the postage situation is corrected, as the buyer will end up with a single dish that they've only paid a single lot of postage on.

[imastawka]

I'd also like to point out that combined postage is exactly what this seller did - they combined the items into one parcel.

That's different to discounted postage.

People seem to think combined postage means discounted postage - which it doesn't.

You can always message a seller to ask for combining the items for a discounted postage.

[tazzieterror]

I've always taken the (admittedly unpopular) view that if a seller is happy to accept two separately charged postage fees for two separately purchased items, then the buyer has the right to expect two separately packed and sent packages. That is, after all, what the buyer has paid for.

Most people understand that the point of combining is to consolidate items to minimise costs for both the buyer and seller. If a seller wants to be pedantic enough to rely on specific definitions of words so they can save themselves some expense without compensating the buyer who is funding it, I'm fully supportive of the buyer applying the same degree of pedantism and insisting they receive their items as per the specific services paid for.

I place it on the same scale as sellers that advertise and charge for an item to be sent in a large pre-paid satchel, but actually send it in a small one. If you're gonna make me pay for the big one, then that better be what I get.