Buyer wanting full refund for second hand dress after the colour runs while washing

[chloe1baby]

A buyer contacted me today wanting to return a second hand dress that she has washed and the colour has run. I have hand washed the dress before in cold water with no problems. The dress was in perfect condition when sent but the buyer is insisting that it is a fault in the dress and would like to return. I have advised that out of good faith I will refund 1/2 price of the dress to her.

Please advise your thoughts on this and if as a seller you would offer a full refund for a dress that has had problems when washed. Once again but remembering that the dress is second hand and has been washed previously with no problems.

[losbrolis2012]

If she go to an opp shop and buy a dress they will NO REFUND, why could you? it's a a used item, no new, so, I could say sorry but no refund!

[designerarticles]

apart from it being 2nd hand, the buyer washed it and then complained about a fault in the dress... how are you to know if the fault wasn't caused by the washing instructions not being followed?

[chloe1baby]

Yes that is what I would of thought and thinking from a buyers perspective, I know I would not expect a refund from the seller if this happend to me.

[putney32]

i agree with the others, you washed it prior to selling, no problems, so obviously she didnt follow the instructions or didnt wash at a low enough temperature for a coloured item.

sorry there would be NO refund from me

[chloe1baby]

Unfortunately the care label had been removed but it was a beautiful George dress and I know that no matter what the instructions say I always cold hand wash all my dresses individually unless they require drycleaning of course.  This dress definately did not but require drycleaning.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@chloe1baby wrote:

A buyer contacted me today wanting to return a second hand dress that she has washed and the colour has run. I have hand washed the dress before in cold water with no problems. The dress was in perfect condition when sent but the buyer is insisting that it is a fault in the dress and would like to return. I have advised that out of good faith I will refund 1/2 price of the dress to her.

Please advise your thoughts on this and if as a seller you would offer a full refund for a dress that has had problems when washed. Once again but remembering that the dress is second hand and has been washed previously with no problems.

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My thoughts are:

I would find out if it is illegal to sell an item of clothing that does not contain care instructions. (From memory, there are 4 requirements - material, care, country of production, and......??)

but I think that it may be illegal to sell an item that does not have care instructions, especially in a situation like eBay where the buyer cannot see the item and inspect it themselves and thus your description did not include this information in the listing.

How is the customer supposed to know how to wash something if there is no label? Just because you know how to wash differing fabrics etc, doesn't mean that everybody does.

[howie696]

its a second hand dress

[designerarticles]

I just googled and the info from product safety australia says it's illegal for MANUFACTURERS to sell without the care labels... new stuff sold by the people that made it... not second hand sold by a consumer.

[*crikey*mate*]

According to eBay's used clothing policy

Used clothing (except underwear, swimwear and certain athletic garments) may be listed on eBay as long as the clothing has been thoroughly cleaned according to the manufacturer's instructions. Listings that contain inappropriate descriptions or images will be ended.

If there are no manufacturers' instructions on the items, then how can a seller show that they have abided by this?

Little Monsters: What good is there in providing us with information about new items? Isn't the garment in question with regards to a second hand item? What does the law say about the sale of second hand items?

Howie, I don't make the law, I just do my best to follow it, ok?

If the seller tries to win a case when she herself has broken a law/policy or guideline, things probably won't end so well for her.