Difficult buyer

[nevillesdaughter]

Just a quick one for the "Special List". Had a buyer over the weekend who bought and paid for a brand name item and for Express postage, THEN starts peppering me with emails questioning its authenticity (8 emails from her). I responded that as far as I knew the item was authentic but that if she found it not to be, I would immediately refund.

Over the following torrent of emails - during which time she reminded me that if I was wrong "People could die!' - she sent me  links regarding fake skiwear and tried to get me to provide a personal guarantee. Given that she couldn't even spell "Gore-Tex", I probably would have been safe!

However, I once again explained that although I believed it to be genuine, the only guarantee I could give was that I would refund if she had it proved to be a fake. I also offered repeatedly to cancel the transaction if she was so concerned. Finally, late at night she insisted that she wanted to go ahead with the transaction, so I wrapped the parcel, addressed it, allocated an Express tracking number and put it in the posting pille for the next day.

Upon checking the computer first thing in the morning I find another email asking me to cancel the transaction because her friend said it looks like a fake.

I took a deep breath, sent her a request for mutual cancellation and when she agreed, refunded her money and very promptly added her to my own special list.

I now find she has left me feedback - Positive - saying something along the lines that it all worked out okay in the end.

Not happy - it makes it sound like I tried to pull a swifty but she sorted me out!   Tomorrow I'll be making a phone call to see if I can have it removed, but I thought fellow sellers might like to learn from my experience first.

Happy selling.....

Marina.

[lyndal1838]

Nice idea Marina but the buyer's ID is now hidden in your feedback so no other sellers can add her to their Special Lists.

[green-gifts-mkd]

All we can see is:

If you wrote a reply such as: buyer's ID, so glad we were able to assist you (or whatever), we'd know the name. Hopefully, the buyer has not 'dinged' your stars. In the rare instances where I have cancel a transaction, I ask the buyer not to leave any feedback for it. I have learnt the hard way when I my DSRs have been 'dinged' shockingly because no item was sent, so buyers couldn't judge, resulting in 3's or lower for the transactions.

[*crikey*mate*]

Marina, if you ask for the comment to be removed, it will have the comment "feedback removed by eBay" and IMO, that will look worse, as it looks like you are trying to cover something up.

In a few transactions, that comment will be off your front page and lost in the sea of all your other green dots.

Personally, I wouldn't even draw attention to it by leaving follow up and making it stand out. (How many pages of positive feedback to people scroll back through and analyse?

But if you want to follow up, just summarize factually, your view "buyer changed mind so I refunded....."

remember that they too can respond again, so don't leave yourself open for a contradictory follow up feedback iykwim,in case the buyer writes something like item looked fake.

[green-gifts-mkd]

Good point--probably best to leave it be...

[phorum_junkie*]

 I responded that as far as I knew the item was authentic

Not good enough and could get you into serious trouble! Unless you can prove by way of a receipt from an authorised re-seller or an independant expert that it is genuine you should not list it, selling it or indeed owning it if it is not genuine can have serious consequences

[nevillesdaughter]

I have been selling this gear for nearly 10 years and some of these fakes are so good that even licensed dealers of the items are unable/unwilling to say either way, especially with second hand gear that may be more than 10 years old.

I have taken items to ski shops for authentication (or otherwise) in the past - in cases where I couldn't tell - and have not been able to have the issue resolved. Obvious fakes I can detect myself, it's with the good ones that the problem lies. To date, I have never had an item returned as a fake and nor have I ever been accused of peddling them.

I have a friend who is a manufacturer in China, and he said that often the items are coming out of the same factory, made by the same people, usually out of excess fabrics etc from an original order, and then in a charming expression "sold out of the back of the rickshaw". Still illegal, but very difficult to pick as a fake.

I buy a lot of used items in bulk lots and am happy to write off the odd obvious fake as a cost of doing business (I usually cut them up for the clips and buckles etc to do repairs), but using your logic I should have every single item authenticated, or only buy when original receipts are included. After all, how can anyone be sure that any used item is genuine?

I bought a pair of jeans in Singapore a while back and after trying them on and saying I'd take them, the shop lady asked me what brand I wanted. I said "these ones" and she shook her head in frustration and indicated the myriad of rolls of labels - Levi, Wrangler, Calvin Klein etc. She just added them to the jeans you wanted on the spot! And this was in a shop in a large shopping centre, not a market or a back street shop.

The instances that I refer to are few and far between. I rely on my own experience, natural caution and a willingness to refund immediately if proven wrong. In this particular case, I had no doubts about the item (and still don't) but without original receipts I can't be sure. Requiring original receipts on used goods would make selling as I do impossible - I never have them!

The realities of dealing in used items make such a requirement impractical. I am registered business and carry appropriate insurances (costs me $3000 pa) -  a money back guarantee is all I can really do.

Marina.

[thecatspjs]

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@nevillesdaughter wrote:

The realities of dealing in used items make such a requirement impractical. I am registered business and carry appropriate insurances (costs me $3000 pa) -  a money back guarantee is all I can really do.

Marina.

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Whilst the requirement may be impractical, it is nonetheless the law, and it does not make good business sense to ever list a single item where there is doubt enough that you would refund if questioned by a consumer. 

Insurance will not cover you for the hefty fines that apply for trading in fake brand items.

[sisterireland]

I too have had an uncomfortable experience with a buyer who left unfair & UNTRUE feedback after I did all the right & reasonable things, also offering a full refund if dissatisfied or disappointed.

It has impacted on my rating which is very annoying given that I'm probably the most honest person on this planet!

It seems very unfair that buyers can simply write what they wish(..probably after having a bad day!)

Can you advise on how one might go about getting some justice as I feel totally at a loss?

Is there a facility or forum that can reverse this?

[nevillesdaughter]

I have just made a celebratory cup of tea after spending rather a long time on the phone with eBay because this lady also left 1 out of 5 stars (for item as described) for a transaction that didn't go ahead, and a garment that she has never seen or touched.

The first person I spoke to sympathised but said they could do nothing because a) she left a green dot and didn't really say anything that contravened feedback policy, and b) there was no facility to remove DSR ratings.

I asked to speak to a supervisor and 20 minutes later both the feedback (including the dot) and the low DSR rating were gone.

Perseverance, a calm manner, and firmly stating your position can work wonders. Having all your ducks lined up also helps. In my case I only had 4 other feedbacks left since I had run my last report and every one of them left a comment to the effect that the item was as described so it wasn't too hard to see where the bad one came from! The supervisor had the damage repaired in about 5 minutes of the call ending.

In a similar vein, I noticed on that pop-up page that appears when you go to your dashboard relating to the new rating system, that I allegedly had 4 cases of cancelled transactions for "Item out of stock or sold to someone else". I sell second-hand goods and oddments - I don't have "stock" as such and only sell on eBay. The main reason I cancel transactions is that some people don't read the measurements I always provide, find something doesn't fit ("I'm always a size 12 at K-Mart!"), then want their money back and I oblige.

I phoned eBay who said I must have put the "run out of stock" excuse in when I cancelled the transaction. I said "Bull manure - I don't have stock as such, please check that." Another 20 minutes on the phone listening to music and she came back and said "You APPEAR to be correct - I checked your cancellations and they were all for size issues or the customer changed their mind. We'll see about fixing that up and will confirm that by email later this evening".

I also took the opportunity to ask this lady about the new DSR system that will no longer be anonymous - she very quickly started babbling about how that was not at all set in stone, and was still under discussion as to how it would "impact on the buying/selling experience".

Sorry to be so long-winded about all of this. I've felt on the verge of tears several times today, and I'm sure my blood pressure medication has worked its socks off, but feel that I had a couple of (small) wins. EBay seem to be in such a state of flux at present......

Cheers,

Marina.