Buyer decided she bought the "wrong" edition and wants a return?

[ckaus2014]

I put a textbook for sale and not only did the buyer create a hassle with wanting to cancel the order then decided to actually go ahead with the order soon after, but a few days later she now tells me she bought the wrong edition and wants a refund.

Here's the thing...

I had "no refunds" on the listing of the product, and this is my first time selling so I have no idea what to do.

She's offered to post the item back and I refund her.

But is it not her fault?

What do I do?

[horizon1907]

ckaus, With things the way they stand at the moment, you have to refund her the money. No Returns is not allowed. She seems to know how to use the system. When she  was wanting the cancel the transaction, you shoild have made her say Buyer has changed her mind. All would have been sorted then. The process would have gone through and you would have got you fees etc. As things stand now, she has the trump card. You have to refund her back the money, or she will turn on you like a Viper and leave you a Negative.  Play by her rules and all should hopefully end up Ok. Make sure the Book is in the same condition as you sent it etc. Keep all messages, so if things yurn muddy, you can let ebay sort it out. Be polite and hope for the best. Once all this has happened, whack her on you BBL.  She sound lovely, NOT !! hope all goes well

[clarry100]

Well I see it as a change of mind. Under that condition you are not obliged to accept a return.

But of course if you don't then you run the risk of a cranky seller who might leave you a big red dot for your troubles and of course with that comes a defect.

If she has offered to post it back (at her cost) then I would probably go with that and refund when you get it back in the same condition as you sent it. 

Under these new money back guarantee rules whatever conditions you put in your listings can and will be over-ruled by ebay anyway.

[harley_babes_hoard]

i would say that is change of mind. She changed her mind from wanting to cancel to then going ahead with the sale and now no happy she bought the wrong one. I don't agree you should just roll over and refund her. The more sellers do this the more and more buyers are going to keep trying.

[joxamara]

You are only oblidged to accept a return if the item is proven to be not as described - this isn't the case, so it is up to you if you decide to accept the return. 

As your policy/listing stated there is no return on the item you could end it there, however, this doesn't stop you from allowing a return in this circumstance.  so if you do, make sure the buyer pays return postage with tracking, and don't refund until the item is back in your hands.

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/buy/return-item.html

j

[clarry100]

All true Jox.

But the seller runs a big risk of a NEG from the buyer by standing her ground.

I agree with the notion that we all should stand up to this bullying but at what expense to yourself.

We tried it a while back against an obvious scammer and despite our pleas with ebay & paypal we still suffered the red dot and the associated defects. And they would not remove them. They have now fallen off the defect radar but the NEGs are still showing (on another ID).

So we will just roll over and move on now as it's less pain to our business.

Unfortunate that it has to come to this but that's the field we play on now.

And if the OP's posting ID is also her selling ID then with that low score she really cannot afford a NEG right now.

[harley_babes_hoard]

i think ebay would only have to look at the messages to see this is a buyer who has changed her mind whther a dot was left or not and it ruined feedback, starting a new ID is no biggie.

[phorum_junkie*]

It is a good idea to have a returns policy, in the correct place, not in the description, which covers all eventualities. I offer a full refund plus return postage if an item is not as described, photo or some othe proof required. I offer a refund of item price only if the item is as described.  I have had this policy in place on all my selling ids so don't really have to change anything to comply with ebay returns policy.

As for getting a neg I would rather have a red dot on my computer screen than be out any money!

[black*poppy]

You don't have to return the item. If the emails clearly indicate a change of mind, then any negs relating to this would be removed by eBay. I've done this successfully. I don't know though if the buyer is a bit more savvy and gives a neg for some other vague reason. I would still rather have the neg than be considerably out of pocket.

I would only consider a return if the buyer agrees refund of the item only.

[thecatspjs]

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@clarry100 wrote:

All true Jox.

But the seller runs a big risk of a NEG from the buyer by standing her ground.

I agree with the notion that we all should stand up to this bullying but at what expense to yourself.

We tried it a while back against an obvious scammer and despite our pleas with ebay & paypal we still suffered the red dot and the associated defects. And they would not remove them. They have now fallen off the defect radar but the NEGs are still showing (on another ID).

So we will just roll over and move on now as it's less pain to our business.

Unfortunate that it has to come to this but that's the field we play on now.

And if the OP's posting ID is also her selling ID then with that low score she really cannot afford a NEG right now.

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Look at my feedback on this ID - where are the negatives ???

When I had no returns, I always stood my ground and declined to accept returns, as do many other sellers.

I don't think the OPs buyer is a scammer by the sounds of it, they are just a tricky buyer to deal with who was not sure of what they wanted in the first place. 

Just because a buyer wants to return something because it does not suit their needs or they made a mistake does it make them a scammer - nor do sellers have to accept returns in those cases if they have a no return policy.

Buyers are not the enemy, lol eBay is