She damaged a designer gown and now wants a refund....

[ackj4]

I don't usually post on these boards but I am just so angry I have to vent.

I have bought and sold quite a bit on eBay over the years. Particularly designer dresses that I only ever wear for functions once. So I recently sold a Lisa Ho gown, which was beautiful, for $120. An absolute bargain.

The buyer paid, I sent it. The day I sent it I received an email from the buyer asking if she would receive it by the weekend because she wanted to, and I quote "show it off to her friends".

Anyway a few days later a receive an email telling me that I had misrepresented the dress in the listing as it has at least 20 holes in it! Including a couple of very large ones!

Now I know the dress had no holes in it when I sent it. 2 other people looked it over before I listed it. Not only that, I wore it once for a few hours, had it dry cleaned and then stored in a vacuum sealed bag. I am 100% positive there was nothing wrong with this dress.

I asked for photo's and she returned some saying, and again I quote "it looks like someone has put their foot through it". And she's right. It does. But it certainly wasn't my foot.

I am so irritated. I did some searching and it looks as though eBay always side with the buyer in cases like this. Especially seeing as I don't have photos of every inch of it. So it's her word against mine.

Has this happened to anyone else? And what advice would you give?

I feel as though I have little choice but to offer her a refund - for a dress that is now worthless. I could cry.

[jerryman12a]

 it's your word against hers . If you have any photo's of the dress of the part pre-damaged maybe you could contact PayPal and ask them how to proceed .

[j*oono]

I am wondering whether you received the complaint before the weekend or after it.

I would fight her on this and insist that the dress was dispatched in a clean and undamaged condition. Let her know something like 'Unfortunately you do not refund on clothing as some buyers have been known to "borrow" a dress and then deliberately damage it for a refund after the event.  Not that you are accusing her of that of course but it does state on your listing that you won't accept returns.

I am hoping that if she does dispute it with Paypal that they will see it objectively.  

[thecatspjs]

Paypal does not always side with buyers. IMO they base their judgement on the evidence that is presented by both parties in the dispute.

What does help though as you have mentioned having several clear photos of the item being described from several angles and detailed listing description that includes mention of the most minor flaws.

Has the buyer sent you a photo detailing the exact area of damage to the dress ? if so, use it to compare against the area that shows in your photos, magnifying if necessary.

Are there any signs in the buyers feedback left by other sellers of questionable buying ie history of leaving negatives, feedback revisions

IMO paypal may also take into consideration previous dispute claims history of buyer and seller. 

You need to weigh up the evidence that you can gather to defend a paypal claim and if you are willing to put care into writing out your paypal claim to outline these factors in a considered way.

If you don't think there is any evidence you can present to cast some doubt on the buyers claims then you may be best to refund.

Personally I would fight any claim in this situation where I was confident that the goods were undamaged, however I would be happy to wear a negative if I lost the claim, other sellers would refund to avoid a negative. 

[sewells_of_victoria]

I think the buyers email about "showing it off at the weekend" would be evidence along with the email claiming damage (if it was after the weekend).

I don't know how people can live with themselves doing things like this.

It would be interesting to see if you can see her facebook photos.... now that would be interesting evidence to give to paypal.

I wish you all the luck for a favourable resolution, and hope you keep us all updated as to how it turns out.

[thecatspjs]

Great points sewells.

You could also organise the two people that you know that saw the condition of the dress prior to sending to complete stat decs, and attach those to defend a claim.

[perth_wholesale]

I was also going to suggest a Facebook search to see if she has her photos public.  That would be perfect evidence for you.

[sewells_of_victoria]

Following on from Catspjs...

Do you have a good relationship with your dry cleaners? If so I am sure they will keep a record of damage done before and during dry cleaning so they may also be willing to stat dec the condition of the gown when dry cleaned. 

[missbrown1978]

Hi there! I feel for you! This has happened to me a couple of times. 

The first time it was over a so called stain and when the jacket was returned there was no stain. PayPal sided with the buyer as they said I have the jacket and I could re-sell it and recover my costs.

The second time is more like what has happened to you. The buyer claimed that the dress had been ripped. Which of course it had not. It was in perfect condition.

My advise to you:

First thing block the buyer!!!

Second phone, don't message PayPal. I called PayPal and spoke to a lovely lady that looked over my listing. My photos showed that there was no such damage. 

In my case PayPal did side with me as my photos showed the damage was not there. In your case I think it may be a little harder to prove as you don't have very clear photos of all angles of the dress. More than likely PayPal will side with the buyer and the dress will be returned to you. If that is the case then you only really have 2 choices. 1. Refund the buyer or 2. You can send PayPal a statutory declaration that the dress was not returned to you in the same state that you sent it in.

If it was me I would stand my ground and send through a stat dec.

Fortunately I have never had to go that far so I am not sure what the outcome will be for you. However I strongly suggest you call PayPal ASAP and speak to someone. 

I hate the fact that both PayPal and eBay make it so hard for sellers. There are so many dishonest people out there! Best of luck and hopefully after you speak to PayPal and explain everything to them it will work out for you.

Hoping for the best outcome for you, best of luck.

Winnie.

P.S. I agree with the above ladies a little Facebook snooping wouldn't go astray.

[thecatspjs]

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@missbrown1978 wrote:

Hi there! I feel for you! This has happened to me a couple of times. 

The first time it was over a so called stain and when the jacket was returned there was no stain. PayPal sided with the buyer as they said I have the jacket and I could re-sell it and recover my costs.

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My advice to all, is that the time to dispute a claim is BEFORE it is returned for the exact reason you lost that dispute.