topic Re: quality ? on sold item in Selling

quality ? on sold item

shirts_n_more — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 05:23:05 GMT

I have sold an item, only about $8 , so not a huge problem. but it has raised questions for me. I am selling off add things from around the home. I am a crafter and have a rather large hoarde to get rid off. I sold a rubber stamp; that I purchased brand new ages ago but had never used. I sold it as New. The buyer is complaining about the quality and that it does not stamp a good image. Some stamps are better than others, and a lot of time it also comes down to the talent of the person doing the stamping. She wants a refund so I suppose I will have to oblige.

My question is; if you are selling items that you have not used and that are basically new; who is responsible for the quality of the item? The listing description was fine and did not make any untrue claims. What if I sold a vase made by Wedgewood, but it was not a particularly good vase as Wedgewood vases go? Am I responsible for a refund if a buyer finds its quality is lacking?

I do not purchase wholesale to resell, but have a lot of items I have purchased but never used. If they are in their original packaging I sell them as NEW. I also have items that are unwanted gifts that I will be selling as new. How do you warant quality on your listings and is it the responsiblity of the seller? Thanks in advance

Re: quality ? on sold item

imastawka — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:02:21 GMT

My understanding is that items purchased retail and then resold - even if unused -

are second-hand, not new. If you list it as new, do you want to be paying gst on

an item that you have already paid the gst?

Someone else may have a better understanding of the situation, though

Re: quality ? on sold item

amber-eyed-girl — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:12:17 GMT

Hi there.

Have you read through this?

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/providing_item_condition.html

It has information on how to describe items. If your stamp was unused, in any original packaging, it would be "new".

If it's like you would buy it in a store.

It is up to the seller to describe items as honestly as they can, including the quality if relevant, but occasionally a buyer may disagree on a description. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

If the stamp was brand spanking new, you can refund if you would like the buyer to be happy.

It's good will; particularly if you have lots more stuff to sell...so think about a refund policy too.

(1) are you generally going to be happy to accept items back for change of mind, for example? the buyer should pay return shipping if it's change of mind

(2) would you pay the return shipping if items are definitely faulty/not right? personally, I would do this

If you have a couple of clear points on returns in your listings that can be a good thing, so buyers know that you will look after them if there's an issue.

But you don't have to write it in, I like it when sellers do though...

In terms of quality, if items have a brand name, you should tell the buyer that in the description, then they can assess the quality based on that and any pictures you provide.

You use Wedgewood as an example; say the vase is numbered, that implies "better quality" through being a limited edition.

But the quality of any item is normally captured well in clear pictures too, as well as the written description.

On this stamp, yes, some are better than others. It really is up to you on this one.

Re: quality ? on sold item

amber-eyed-girl — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:19:30 GMT

imastawka, lots of goods can be sold as new or new with tags by private sellers. For example, say I buy a dress at a sale. I take it home and think "what the h*** was I thinking?"

If I haven't cut off the tags, or done anything to it, it could be listed as new with tags. Or if I'd been really excited and cut off the tags, it would be "new" 🙂 as the condition is as if you'd buy it in the shop yourself.

Same with handbags etc. Things with original packaging if it had any, etc.

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/contextual/condition_2.html has the conditions for items to be listed as new.

On eBay, I believe your turnover has to be quite a bit to have to be registered for GST and charge GST on the items.

Re: quality ? on sold item

amber-eyed-girl — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:32:37 GMT

Here's the GST page:

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/seller-gst.html

If a seller is required to collect GST, the GST must be included in the price; it looks like annual turnover is 75,000$ as a rule for GST.

Re: quality ? on sold item

imastawka — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:42:56 GMT

Thanks for that. I sell vintage paper collectables so was unsure.

Re: quality ? on sold item

amber-eyed-girl — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:44:39 GMT

🙂

Re: quality ? on sold item

shirts_n_more — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:57:00 GMT

HI Amber

Yes, I thought I was labelling it correctly; I purchased it retail but then changed my mind. I'm sure I a not the only woman who has bouth something and thought "WT heck?" and then thrown it in a cupboard. Time for a big clear out for me.

I am registered for GST for my business, but these are not transactions of my business they are personal selling such as a garage sale and therefore have not GST to be collected or paid.

I'm just concerned about people's perception of quality. It was a good stamp from a reputable company and was sold for less than 1/3 its retail price. I'm selling other as new items and really it all comes down to personal perception. I can put all the photos in the world up and describe in great detail in the listing, but if they think it not up to scratch when they get it in their hot little hands, who knows?

I have an old camper van up for sale at the moment I have included the 12 photos and tried to be very accurate in the listing details and have advised any bidders to inspect first. It is only $2500, but what if they expect the interior of a brand new Jayco for their money? In a couple of listings I put up last night i stated "No returns; please ask all questions or inspect prior to bidding". I am more than happy for people to inspect, especially on some of the higher value items I hope to list.

It's just a pain in the ar** to go through the complaints and refund route. I will try and ensure I cross all T's and dot all I's before I receive a winning bid!

Re: quality ? on sold item

zelly888 — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 07:05:12 GMT

The problem with rubber stamps is that if they are not used in a long time they tend to dry out and not stamp properly,this is why I think the buyer is complaining about the stamp.

Re: quality ? on sold item

shirts_n_more — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 07:27:17 GMT

I'm aware that rubber can perish, but that is not the case with this stamp. The red rubber appeared in as good as new condition and I am still using most of my stamps that were purchased 15 years ago. This stamp was not that old.

Her claim was not that it was damaged or perished, rather that the detail was not intricate enough for her. It is a very detailed stamp and if you ink those sorts of stamps too much or press too hard, you are not going to get a good impression. It is actually from a range artists use collectively to stamp landscapes. I bought a whole lot of them intending to stamp my own backgrounds but find I prefer to use other stamps to colour with my Copic markers.

So, the questions is, how do you handle a person's perception of quality when you are not actually the person initially responsible for the quality of the item; ie the manufacturer?

Re: quality ? on sold item

digital*ghost — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 07:42:03 GMT

The alternative when listing items you have had for a fair while but have never been opened / used, is to state that they are 'new old stock', which is a fairly common term for items that can be several years or even a few decades old but never removed from the packaging - this allows for the possibility the items may have degenerated in some way purely through age.

It does sound more like the buyer isn't quite using it correctly, though.

Re: quality ? on sold item

peppers-tree — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 09:04:17 GMT

Yes to all above...and.... rubber can deteriorate in time.. Maybe thats what has happened... Make sure you get the item back before you pay up though... Could be a scam...Happened to me only a few weeks ago... turns out the buyer had the item, wanted to keep it and wanted me to give her her money back... I asked her to take picks of the damage and to send it back to me and I would refund her her payment plus postage ... Never heard from her again... Block block block.!.. Gee there are some nice people out there... They all want whatever you have for free..!

Re: quality ? on sold item

amber-eyed-girl — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 13:18:43 GMT

Definitely get the stamp back first if you issue a refund.

Stamps can dry out, but from your description it sounded like the buyer just isn't happy with the image.

Quality is best addressed by stating the brand name (if things have one). Then an honest item description/pics.

It's then up to the buyer to think about it, say Armani versus a home brand shirt to give an example.

In this case, you could have compared it to stamps sold by Office supply retailers I guess, to give a relative quality point, but let's face it, it's a stamp...

If you have it in new condition, with a clear pic of the stamping surface, the buyer can see if it's in good order or not.

You're not responsible for the manufacture, only for giving a true listing, unless of course you will sell homecrafted items 🙂

Do you think it's worth asking the buyer to try using it in a way that you think would give a better result?

Then if still not happy, send it back to you for the refund.

Re: quality ? on sold item

digital*ghost — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 16:33:29 GMT

@shirts_n_more wrote:

So, the questions is, how do you handle a person's perception of quality when you are not actually the person initially responsible for the quality of the item; ie the manufacturer?

I thought I'd answer this bit - as these are items you use yourself, you'd be able to include pertinent information aside from condition, per se, and I think a brief review as part of the listing description might go a long way.

It doesn't have to be highly detailed or long, just a couple of sentences that more describe usage, durability or anything you think is relevant and other than condition. If you were planning on selling such things long-term, for example, I'd suggest maybe having example of use pics, which could show the results of pressing too hard, inking too much, and one perfect one, but for one-off items, just a quick couple of lines eg "I found these worked best when XXXX", "For best results, store [this way]", etc.

Re: quality ? on sold item

phorum_junkie* — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 23:17:24 GMT

I would ask for a photo showing how the stamp performed and if it looked as if it had been over inked or whatever explain that to the buyer and ask them to try again. If they refused to do that then I would either just refund if I thought their claim may be valid or I would ask them to return it and assure them if it did turn out to be faulty I would pay them back for the return postage.

Re: quality ? on sold item

i-once-was-bump — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 10:02:20 GMT

I think it best to describe any craft items as secondhand, I have never had a problem with selling items and I am still getting the price I would get if I were to describe them as new or new old stock.

After an item has been stored in my cupboard for a year or two I couldn't possibley describe the item as new, it just doesn't seem right.

Re: quality ? on sold item

chameleon54 — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:13:26 GMT

Sellers are required to register for GST as soon as thier turnover goes above $75,000 in any financial year. ( as stated earlier ) You can choose to register for GST purposes if your turnover is less than this figure. Some ebayers that sell to large GST registered businesses do this as thier clients expect to recieve a tax invoice with thier purchase and claim the GST back. One way around this if you look like turning over more than $75,000 is to start a new ebay account in a partner or family members name. ( yes I know about ebay rules regulars, just being practicle ) If the regulars want to be pedantic, you could use a business or joint partnership name and still allocate the biggest share of income to the silent partner, thus meeting all of ebay and Australian tax laws to the letter. You can then use the second account for income splitting purposes. Any ebay business that returns a profit should really be registered for tax and if you turn over more than $20,000 ebay is required to pass your information on to the tax office. As for "new items", I sell quite a few of these and label them as New Old Stock, as some other members have mentioned. I explain that they have been stored for a period of time and may have some imperfections from storage. This seems to work well as I have never had a complaint about NOS items yet.