A buyer has differing reasons for asking for a refund

[carolinebennett]

I sold a fountain pen to a buyer who received it a few days ago. On the date of tracked delivery they contacted me to say that the lid would not stay on & they would like a refund. Then again saying that the clip would not work, then again saying that they could not get it to write. 

I initiated a refund but I think I've been had.

With that in mind, can I still send the buyer a return postage label so that I can see if anything was actually wrong with it?

Caroline

[curraone]

Just to be clear, I hope you haven't refunded yet.

[carolinebennett]

Ah heck....I started the refund this morning....

[carolinebennett]

I feel so stupid but I was afraid of getting negative feedback

[curraone]

So probably you would be out of pocket for the return label as well;  so I wouldn't.

Someone else may be able to offer a better suggestion.

[carolinebennett]

Out of pocket yes....I wanted to see if there actually was anything wrong with it. I'm 100% sure there was nothing wrong with it but its very frightening to think that people can just lie about something and end up getting it for free, as well as affecting the buyers reputation?

[davewil1964]

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@carolinebennett wrote:

Out of pocket yes....I wanted to see if there actually was anything wrong with it. I'm 100% sure there was nothing wrong with it but its very frightening to think that people can just lie about something and end up getting it for free, as well as affecting the buyers reputation?

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You chose to give it away for free, and there is no guarantee you won't get a neg anyway.

Very few sellers have no negs. I have 2 accounts, one with thousands of sales, that have never been negged, but that would be unlikely to be the norm.

[carolinebennett]

I don't understand what else I could have done?

[jellybirddesigns]

You could have told them to return it for inspection and then you would have ascertained what, if any problem there was.

Everyone gets a neg sooner or later, but I would hardly stop trading on that basis. If you live in fear of your buyers, then you're always going to be an easy target.

[instylecollectables]

$53 I would have followed ebay's process for a refund and sent a return label so I could see for myself but then on the other hand what would I have received back either another used/broken pen or the actual pen?

I hate dishonest buyers and I don't understand why they try and scam sellers, perhaps because they can.

I feel that your buyer had second thoughts of paying that much for the pen and thought why did they pay and now are trying to get it for free.

Take this one as a learning lesson and follow the correct procedure next time if it arises.