Refund - Buyer broke zip and blames me.....

[justkidzbiz]

Sold a Teens Jacket. Zip was in perfect working order as you can see from pics.  Buyer received item, breaks zip and claims it was already broken.  Could not possibly have already been broken as it was zipped up prior to posting. As you can see from my 3 images, zip and zip teeth are all intact. Her pic (No.4), shows broken zip and teeth missing.

What to do......(I think I already know the answer)

[kopenhagen5]

Check buyer's feedback to see if there are any signs of this being a habit.

Have you sent a professional message explaining that you only accept returns if damage is done prior to receipt of item ?

Unfortunately could be the child that has broken the zip and is now lying to mummy.

I have bought a few times from you and I know you're very particular how items are packed and sent. 

[countessalmirena]

Hmm... you don't have a photo which shows the zip teeth without the pull tab blocking the view. But from your photo no. 1, clearly the zipper is at least done up, which wouldn't be possible if the teeth were missing as in your buyer's photo.

You may need to pre-empt this buyer.

A buyer who claims that a zip was broken on arrival, when you as the seller know that it was no such thing, is a buyer who will have no qualms lying in an eBay MBG claim.

I would suggest contacting eBay right now, using eBay's "Have us call you" option, is probably the best thing to do. (You have until 10 pm.)

Make sure you're in a calm state of mind, and be incredibly polite. Have highest resolution of photo #1 ready to upload (or point the rep to that image in  your listing) before you say anything further, and nicely explain, "As you can see, the zipper shows that the garment was fully zipped up and there is no damage to the zipper. It couldn't possibly be done up if there were missing teeth in the zipper, and it would show on the photo, of course. However, the buyer now claims that the zipper is so badly damaged that the garment can't be done up. Such damage was clearly done by the buyer. The buyer has sent me a photo of the damage, and I am really surprised that she would try to make a fraudulent claim against the eBay Money Back Guarantee since it's so obvious that the damage in her photo could not possibly have been present in the garment sent to her. May I show you the photo so that you can see what I mean?"

In other words:

• get the CS rep to agree with you that your photo shows no damage (CRUCIAL step);
• immediately consolidate that agreement to an implicit agreement that you sent the item in the condition showing in your photos;
• then move quickly to explain that the buyer is claiming damage to an area you have already got the CS rep to agree was undamaged;
• make sure you confidently put forward the point that the garment couldn't have been zipped up if the teeth were damaged;
• without making heavy weather of it, see to it that the CS rep travels with you to the conclusion that the buyer must have damaged the item, given the previous points;
• lightly refer to "fraudulent" in reference to the eBay Money Back Guarantee - you will be speaking the CS's language here and hopefully setting a conclusion which the rep will mirror;
• helpfully (and definitely not smugly - smug tone would ruin everything you've achieved so far) demonstrate happiness to provide the evidence sent by the buyer which shows the damage which, all things being favourable, the CS rep should see is more likely than not to have been done by the buyer.

If your buyer hasn't already opened a claim, then you want to ensure that the CS rep makes notes of everything discussed, so that once the buyer DOES open the claim, you can ring up again and with the lightest hand possible, just go over these points again.

If your buyer has already opened the claim, then you want to ensure that the CS rep considers that your evidence of the garment not having a damaged zip at the time it was sent is more convincing than the buyer's contention that it was damaged when she received it.

(You can also point that you are meticulous in your description - that you included mention PLUS photo of "small mark on one sleeve"; hence you can be considered the sort of seller who does not avoid mention of any issue when you list garments. Perhaps gather a few examples from other items as well where you mention small flaws. This should establish a pattern of consistency against which it becomes less likely that you would list a garment that had a broken zipper without mentioning such a thing.)

[justkidzbiz]

Pic 3 shows the same section of the zip with all the teeth intact. 

Good points though.

ive just given her a full refund. I guess at the end of the day ebay will most likely side with the buyer as has happened before even when one buyer sent a totally different item back.

i always try to list honestly and accurately and would never sell anything that was knowingly damaged or faulty without pointing out any flaws in the listing.

[justkidzbiz]

Aww thanks Kopes. I try 🙂

[kitty-kat-kollection]

I just find this so annoying when buyers do this. The few times I've given refunds have been when Australia Post has screwed up.

I've had 2 buyers lodge claims that an item had a "loose thread" and thus they wanted a refund, including all postage costs. I said I don't take returns and I did not note a loose thread upon either photographing the item or when posting, and with all due respect I did not consider a loose thread to warrant a full refund. Especially as one of them had already left positive feedback. They both became angry and yelled in caps. I responded that I would not be engaging with them directly at this point due to their manner and would await ebay's decision. Ebay sided with me both times.

I had someone (actually a nice buyer) say that a part of some jewellery had broken. 7 weeks after she had received it. I posted it back in early December. Received positive feedback. I said that this was unfortunate but the item had been out of my possession for 7 weeks and thus I could not possibly know what had happened to it in that time, so could not take responsibility for it. The case did not proceed.

Another buyer who bought a face cream from me in mid November, paid the following day, then left positive feedback the next week, lodged a Paypal chargeback almost 3 months later (how convenient) without messaging me or lodging an ebay claim, and said their account was compromised at the time of purchase. HMMM. I don't think. I was pleasant in my response to paypal but basically said no; that I felt the buyer was not being honest in their statement. Had their account been compromised not only when they purchased the item, and the next day when they paid, but also still the next week when they left positive feedback? I also said IF the account WAS compromised, then that was unfortunate but that it was not MY responsibility to parent that account. And the case was refused to the buyer and awarded to me.

So anyway, my point of all that babble was that ebay DOES side with the seller sometimes.