Sellers wanting to offer small refund for selling faulty Goods

[lotzrgood]

I have bought 2 items that have been clearly not as described, and/or faulty. Both from Aust based companies but I fear are overseas based, as they have no grasp of English (which I only find out after problem).

First purchase - bought item for $35. Totally not as described and utterly useless. Seller offers a $3 refund - against future purchase. I said no, stuck to my guns, got full refund. Item went in bin, didn't even get to op shop.

2nd purchase - bought for $25. Faulty - will not work. Seller offers me a $3 refund, and to keep item. I say no. Then offers $5 refund, and keep item. I want to send it back.

It's getting so much harder to buy genuine, real items that DO work, and ARE as described.

[sandypebbles]

Did you open not as described cases for either of these after contacting the seller or just contact the seller ?

Does their feedback page show

a) that they are registered in Australia  (unlikely)

b)Does their feedback show this is common practice for them?

[digital*ghost]

Sellers offering minimal partial refunds to start with wouldn't have much to do with a specific buyer's issue I'd say, and everything to do with placating / weeding out people who are after a post-sale discount for one reason or another; or the hope it will be enough to end the issue one way or another. 

It's also actually reasonable (and fully compliant with ACL) to offer a refund just for the loss in value on an item if it has a minor fault, so you'd likely be getting replies not from someone who has read and fully taken into account your complaint and order etc, but the initial copy/paste reposnse sent out to all similar inquiries. If their English isn't perfect, it's probably just standard procedure for them until they offer enough for the buyer to be satisfied. That's not great, as it surely comes across as a bit like "what's the least amount of $ and / or effort I can expend to get this to go away", and maybe in some cases that's exactly the rationale, but usually if I get that kind of reply I try to cut through the BS and just say outright a return / refund is the only acceptable solution - generally works, though I've not had to try and negotiate on this with an eBay seller for a few years.  

A discount on a future purchase is a bit rude. I've never had someone offer that, but have had sellers offer to send replacements on a missing or faulty item "with my next order", which I find equally distasteful, despite the fact that I am a regular buyer. 

[countessalmirena]

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@lotzrgood wrote:

[...] Both from Aust based companies but I fear are overseas based, as they have no grasp of English [...]

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What led you to believe that these were Australian based companies?

If you are going by "Item location", that is not automatically generated from the seller's physical location, but rather it is filled out by the seller. The seller could put down "Timbuktu" if they wished. Although sellers are supposed to fill out this information honestly (and in fact there's an eBay policy on this!), in the case of Chinese sellers (or other overseas sellers) using Just In Time Fulfilment, they are able to claim that the item location is (for instance) Dandenong, Australia, or Chullora, Australia, or Sydney, Australia, or Darwin, Australia, or [somewhere in Australia], Australia - purely on the basis of the item possibly being on the way to Australia.

It's to do with logistics companies, Chinese deals, and what I consider to be shonky wobbly definitions.

Read this post by digital*ghost explaining Just In Time Fulfilment, and also this post (also by digital*ghost).

Conclusion

Even if the seller says that the goods are in Chullora NSW, they might very well not be. In my terms, it's a lie. In eBay's terms, it's an acceptable way of saying "The goods might not be in Chullora right at this very moment, but they are on the way from China to a warehouse in Chullora, or they're getting ready to be shipped out from China to the warehouse in Chullora, or they're often stocked in a warehouse in Chullora and if you order them the seller in China will get onto it right away to ship them out to Chullora in NSW", or any variation on that theme.

A better way to know about seller location / item location

If you click onto the seller's feedback percentage, in one of their listings, you will be taken to the seller's feedback profile page. There you will see where the seller is registered. If you see something like:

        Member since: dd-mmm-yy in China

... then irrespective of where it says the item is, it's Lombard Street to a China orange that it's probably in China, coming from China, made in a Chinese factory from the cheapest possible raw materials even if those raw materials are not to spec and are insufficient for the item's purpose.

[springyzone]

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@lotzrgood wrote:

I have bought 2 items that have been clearly not as described, and/or faulty. Both from Aust based companies but I fear are overseas based, as they have no grasp of English (which I only find out after problem).

First purchase - bought item for $35. Totally not as described and utterly useless. Seller offers a $3 refund - against future purchase. I said no, stuck to my guns, got full refund. Item went in bin, didn't even get to op shop.

2nd purchase - bought for $25. Faulty - will not work. Seller offers me a $3 refund, and to keep item. I say no. Then offers $5 refund, and keep item. I want to send it back.

It's getting so much harder to buy genuine, real items that DO work, and ARE as described.

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I can understand in some cases, a partial refund might be a good solution for both buyer & seller but I have to say, if I provided evidence to a seller that an item was totally not as described or broken and unusable or whatever, I would be absolutely livid if they offered me a $3 refund against a future purchase.

In fact any refund at all that was dependent on a future purchase is unacceptable if the reason for the refund is the original item was faulty.

In that situation, I would swing straight into an ebay claim. No more private negotiation. As they sold the items as Australian based, then if they wanted them back, they could provide a postage label and pay for the return postage too.

But I think your best bet if any seller starts up with back and forth negotiations when you have made it clear the item is totally unusable is to launch a proper ebay claim.

You say it is getting harder to buy real items that work and are as described. I haven't actually found that on ebay at all and usually I am buying smaller, lower cost items too. Perhaps it depends a lot on the type of items bought, I am not sure.

All I can suggest there is to check out the ads and feedback very carefully, as well as where the seller is based, not just where the item is located.