Pulled apart item by buyer and now wanting refund.

[donnacastillo]

Hi EBay members. Im righting to ask what to do. This person has let someone open and temper with an Omega watch that they won on bids. I feel that i have the right not to refund this person because of this reson. Please. What are my right as a seller on this case. Kind Regards, Donna. PS. They sent me an Email saying that they alowed someone to do so.

[curraone]

It might come to down to  your returns policy - is it an item with no returns accepted?

[enigmabear]

Basically they have misued and broken the item, personally I would refuse the refund BUT please keep a copy of the message they sent, if they are wiling to act this way,no doubt they will open a case to try to force you to refund. You may need to end up phoning ebay and advising them

[curraone]

And there's the ebay's own policy:

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/return-process.html

If you choose not to offer returns, bear in mind that eBay Money Back Guarantee still applies and your seller standard may be affected when the buyer requests a return because the item didn't match the listing description.

We ask the buyer to send the item to you within five business days of starting the return. We ask the buyer to pack the item carefully and return it in the same condition as it was received.

Returns accepted if very significantly not as described – email seller first to discuss any problem using the  “contact seller” button.  

Consumer guarantees don't apply if you: 

(a) Have simply changed your mind, found the product cheaper elsewhere, or decided you don't like or need the product;  (b) Misused a product and have caused or contributed to the failure of the goods, for example, by damaging or misusing the goods.    

In these cases no refunds will be made or returns accepted.

[davidc4430]

returns are an area sellers seem to come off second best most of the time.

your message from the buyer admitting they or someone they gave the watch to damaged it is your only hope of winning here.

call ebays customer service and ask for a supervisor if you feel your getting fobbed off.

when contacting ebay arrange a 'call back' so your not sitting waiting for the rest of your life.

[lyndal1838]

Is it the watch you sold back in February?

In the listing you mentioned that it worked when you shook it but stopped again and that it was a watch for someone who knew what they were doing.

To me this would mean that the buyer was expected to have work done on the watch.  If it still did not work then I believe the buyer should be entitled to a refund....they only did what you indicated was necessary.

[five_eyes]

I would very much like to hear the other side of this story.

I am a fully qualified watchmaker with over 50 years experience at the bench.  I was also an authorised Omega sales & service agent for many years.
This post intrigued me, so I had a look at your current listings...
What I saw there raised my eyebrows, so I also had a good look at your completed listings from the last 15 days.
Oh my goodness!
Almost all the gold plated watches are, or have been, listed as 18ct gold.
You have stated on your current listing for an 18ct gents Omega Geneve automatic date that it is 18ct gold and has a solid 18ct gold crown and dial. This ref. 166.0168 Geneve model NEVER had any component of 18ct gold.  It was in the lower price range of Omega models of the time.
The only Omegas which had solid gold crowns and very rarely solid gold dials were a small number of super top end Constellations plus a very few Gents & Ladies dress models (all of which really did have solid 18ct cases & bracelets).
Looking at your completed listings, 14 out of 42 are listed as 18ct in the title and one as 14ct, a few also are stated to have solid 18ct crowns, hands, dials or dial numbers.
EVERY ONE of these watches is GOLD PLATED, the plating being 20 microns or less.
An average human hair is 40 - 50 microns, so the plating on these watches is half the thickness of a human hair.
NOT ONE of them EVER had ANY solid gold crowns, hands, dials or dial numbers.

Nowhere in the listings do you state that these watches are only gold plated.

Every one of your listings with 18ct in the title has been either deliberately deceptively described, with a vague reference to microns buried in the description and worded so that it does not make sense i.e. "Omega micron", or you have NO IDEA about what you have listed and have not made any effort to find out.

Most people have no idea what a micron is, or that it relates to the depth of the thin layer of gold plating on an item.

Since you have photos of a number of watches opened up to show the movement inside, it would appear that you have some familiarity with watches, so I would be interested to hear which of the two alternatives above are the cause of all of these deceptive listings.  

[*tippy*toes*]

Ahhhh, the plot thickens! I'll bet a months wages the OP doesn't come back. They've been outed, so will do a very rapid Harry Holt I think!

[davidc4430]

makes all the difference when we get the whole story and not just the edited version.

i take back my previous advice.

looking into the crystal ball all sellers have i see negs, lots of negs for our original poster.

[clarry100]

Thanks five_eyes for the insights.

This is the kind of seller who should be instantly removed and banned from ebay.

I would feel quite sure that if Omega themselves were made aware of the situation here they could make a complaint against this seller under the VERO program. Ebay take these complaints very seriously.

They are in effect (going by your assessment) selling fake Omega watches.

Do you still have appropriate contacts within the Omega company?