Negative feedback... can I refund instead of sending item.

[no-one76]

Hi

I run two accounts on Ebay... I have no problems with buyers and my business acct but selling through my personal account seems to open a whole can of worms!

I've sold some clothes... they buyer wanted to pay in a weeks time and I said very nicely through an email that payment was due within 3 days and I would give them another 2 days to pay. (too many people aren't paying me at the moment). Wished them a nice day etc...

Anyhoo.. payment came through today - I left positive feeback... then she wrote "I am appalled at how rude this seller is. Never again."

I don't really want to send the item as I'm sure she is going to complain about something... can I just refund the item through paypal straight away and block her and be done with it?

cheers

Sarah

[digital*ghost]

You should be able to get the negative removed - not necessarily easily, but if at first you don't succeed, keep trying until you get to talk to an eBay rep who understands the following things:

The buyer asked for something outside of your terms of sale

The request was refused (they will be able to see the messages, so should be able to see it was a polite refusal)

Buyer then did not comply with terms of sale

Buyer left a negative because you wanted them to comply with your terms of sale

Anyone who does not meet the sellers terms of sale is not permitted to bid on or buy an item, which means you are within your rights to refund and refuse to send. 

The neg is unjustifiable (if it was based purely on the fact that their request was politely refused), and quite frankly I would rather people were encouraged to respect their trading partners and any stated, allowable terms - which payment timeframes are. This whole "but eBay gives..." thing is almost the opposite of that. 😞

[briaftrisam]

After 3 days would naturally, logically and to most people mean on the fourth day.

Sellers terms + conditions specified 3 DAYS!!!

No, you have not addressed any of the questions that I have asked.

You have in fact personalised this post, as you do with most of them.

Conjecture does not allow for a good, constructive, non-personal argument!

I will maintain my original point/argument that it is and it should always be up to the seller to set their own terms and conditions. If you can not meet your obligations as a buyer and have a "BUYER BEWARE" common sense don't Bid.

My advise to the seller is to REFUND ASAP AND DO NOT POST.

Buyer actions - leaving negative feedback should not be looked upon lightly, as it is a retaliatory action (of someone that has an emotional maturity of a 5 year old.)

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the person that has reported my previous post!

[tstore]

It is technically exactly on the 5th day (not 4th) or exactly 96 hours, 1 second (5th day) after the listing ended.  In other words after the 4th day not 3rd. 

[the_great_she_elephant]

After 3 days would naturally, logically and to most people mean on the fourth day.

Sellers terms + conditions specified 3 DAYS!!!

These may be your terms, but the fact is, they are not enforceable under Ebay's policy.

No, you have not addressed any of the questions that I have asked.

You have in fact personalised this post, as you do with most of them.

Conjecture does not allow for a good, constructive, non-personal argument!

Ebay's policies are not open to conjecture. 

I will maintain my original point/argument that it is and it should always be up to the seller to set their own terms and conditions. If you can not meet your obligations as a buyer and have a "BUYER BEWARE" common sense don't Bid.

You can maintain whatever you like. It won't alter the fact that demanding payment within three days is a waste of time as it is not enforceable. under ebay's policy.

I believe there is an option with Buy It Now to require instant payment, but that is a completely separate issue as in that case the item remains available for sale until payment has been made.

[digital*ghost]

This has all been argued before.... Eventually the result is that people will have to agree to disagree, more than likely, since it's unlikely that eBay will step in and say something.

-But-

The fact remains that eBay do not have a policy about payment time frames a seller is or isn't allowed to state.

They do state that a seller needs to make their terms of sale clear, and that buyers who do not meet with a seller's terms are not allowed to purchase an item.

With my best impression of the Bill & Ted version of Keanu Reeves' face on... What if I said that it's not that eBay "give buyers 4-8 days to pay" but that eBay prevent sellers from doing anything about it for that long? To a lot of people maybe it doesn't make a difference, but the difference, however subtle it might seem, is a difference none the less. 

For all the reasons already stated, I do believe it's impractical, especially for businesses, to state unenforcable terms, and I agree with the previous comment about being flexible fostering good customer relations, but I also believe that just because a seller's terms aren't enforcable, doesn't mean they should be disregarded. If they are not breaching eBay policy, and do not contravene consumer rights, then a seller's terms should be respected and complied with, regardless of whether eBay gives seller's the tools to enforce them - there are a LOT of situations where a seller's terms can't be enforced by eBay, some of them involve legalities (eg the posting of seeds to WA, TAS etc), others just involve things like "pick up only" etc, every single time someone says a buyer should dismiss a seller's terms because the seller can't enforce them, they are doing all sellers a disservice.