Hello everyone. How do I manage a dispute over a partial refund about an expired perfume?

[lilies82]

I would appreciate some help with this one as I haven't experienced this before. 

I bought a new/unopened perfume but when it was delivered and  I tried it on it stank! It had obviously gone off.

The seller disputed my claim and said there was nothing wrong with the perfume, it couldn't be off and the codes on it showed it couldn't be off.

It was definitiely off. I looked up the codes myself and it was made 8 years ago.

She got it from someone who bought it second hand recently so who knows how it had been stored. 

She had never tried it on (as far as I know, but the cellophane wrapping was old and almost open so it's possible she had tried it and knew how it smelt).

She accepted the return but said I would have to pay her back the difference in price because I'd opened it and had reduced it's new value.

I disagree with this, it is not worth reselling and I want to prevent some other poor sucker from ending up with a rotten perfume and going through this.

How do I dispute the partial refund/repayment? 

Is there any way I can report the product/seller for reselling an unfit product?

Thanks for your help 🙂

[shoppingbag*]

If it was me, I would be glad to get any money back. It is something that would be hard to prove that it has actually gone off. I have had perfume that I loved and others hated, so it would probably be misinterpreted as just that despite you being 100% correct in what you are saying.

[imastawka]

Have you actually opened a dispute in ebay?

Disputing the item with the seller is not the same thing.

If you open a case for Item not as described, you will probably get all your money back.

Seller is responsible for return postage in that case.

Ebay don't handle partial refunds.

It's all or nothing.

[fixnwear]

Hi lilies82,

With this dispute you are probably "floggong a dead horse" as they say!

You will almost certainly not win on your opinion alone that the perfume has "gone off".

It may very well gone off (unlikely  though, if it was still in it's box with  cello over it) - but  it'll come down to just being your opinion, not a fact.

There are testing places that can test it for you, you'll need to wait almost a month for the results and the fee  is thankfully not much, only about $65. But at least then you'll know for sure one way or another.

We knew someone in a similar situation - and both Ebay as well as PP didn't want to know! Nor accept their word for it, of course - as it wasn't "an official expert opinion". They lost the case, but did the test anyway just to see if it was worth keeping it or chuking it out.

Negative f/back that was left was removed literary 2 min. after they left it!
PS. Fragrance was not stale or gone off - that was the test result. 

[tazzieterror]

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@fixnwear wrote:

Hi lilies82,

With this dispute you are probably "floggong a dead horse" as they say!

You will almost certainly not win on your opinion alone that the perfume has "gone off".

It may very well gone off (unlikely  though, if it was still in it's box with  cello over it) - but  it'll come down to just being your opinion, not a fact.

...

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If the perfume is 8 years old there's a very good chance it would have gone off, especially if it hasn't been stored properly.  It doesn't matter if it's been opened or not, though an open bottle will go off sooner.

[lilies82]

Thank you for your helpful feedback. I see the seller's point and I'll let them decide for themselves as it has been returned. 

I do agree it would be better to get something than nothing. 

[lilies82]

I did open a dispute too so I have ebay backing over the return and refund. 

The seller said she'd send it back to me if she decided it hadn't gone off. I don't know if she can do that....especially if it has to be refunded within two days of receiving it back. 

It looks like that would be very hard to prove if it was off or not, and for the money it might not be worth it. It's to be expected there might be less quality of scent with some discontinued perfumes.

I just didn't think she should sell it again for the same price after asking me to seal it back up again, especially to resell it without even checking it first. 

I'm still waiting on the outcome from the seller. 

Thank you all very much for your support and insight ^-^