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.

[missbrown1978]

This article I just found online is an interesting read:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/11/ebay-buyer-complained-decide-against-seller

[thecatspjs]

Interesting article, but it is about eBay buyer protection in overseas countries and that does not apply in this case.

[thecatspjs]

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@missbrown1978 wrote:

I didn't need to make a written response. It was all taken care of by the PayPal rep I spoke to.

The first time it went in my favour and the second time as I said PayPal sided with the buyer. They said that was because if the jacket wasn't stained I could re-sell it to make my money back so tere was not an issue. I protested that I was still out of pocket on the postage but they didn't care. 

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I think this demonstrates the importance of following the dispute process as it is described on both eBay and paypal and that is to document your case in the dispute console.

That way you can be sure that Paypal has all the evidence in front of them when making  a decision.

If they make notes during your phone call to put on the record, one could never be sure that all aspects of the evidence have been included for consideration.

[digital*ghost]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

lol dg ... load of hooey ... spot on  !!! 

made me laugh as I haven't heard that saying for a long time 

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I'm kickin' it old school today. 

(I think there's a different thread somewhere where I can appropriately use criminy. 😄 )

[phorum_junkie*]

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.

They tried that with me but after a couple of phone calls going higher up the food chain I ended up with a discretionary refund in full plus the items which I resold for more than I got the first time round. Unfortunately the buyer got to keep the refund but was NARUd shortly after as she tried to scam buyers too.

[lithium78]

As a seller that has been through this process many times  I completely agree with MissBrown1978. It really makes no difference what you write in the PayPal case, All that matters is what the person assigned to the case thinks. You are always better off to call PayPal. I have never had a case go against me yet. I always call PayPal, I never respond via message beause as PayPal will tell you your message is only between the buyer and seller. PayPal really don't care. Make sure you phone them! Convince them on the phone you are right and the case will always go your way.

[thecatspjs]

I can see that you would need to do that as it appears that you do not understand how the paypal dispute console and how escalating a case for paypal decision works. 

Paypal messages between seller and buyer can only be generated in paypal when the case is in initial dispute phase.

When a case is escalated to a claim, that is when paypal reviews the case, at that point messages are unable to initiated directly between buyer and seller via paypal dispute console. 

If you lose a claim, you can appeal and information and the evidence you provided including attachments to the case such as photos / stat decs etc in the dispute console will be reviewed.

If you lose a further case, you can even take it to the financial services ombudsman and request they review the case.

If you rely on a paypal agent to enter the case notes over the phone they may not reflect all the matters you are presenting as evidence.

[lithium78]

I don't disagree with your processes (I completetly agree) I do disagree with you saying I don't understand them.

I completely understand them. As I said I have been through it many times and have not lost a case. I am giving advise from personal experience. Whether or not you think it's right doesn't really come into play here. Obviously it works, I have never had a case found against me.

Perhaps you do things differently and you haven't had a case found against you. If that's the case, fantastic! I'm just letting everyone know how I dealt with mine and perhaps an alternate way to deal with the situation.

[missbrown1978]

Right on, Lithium78. A phone call is the way to go 

Best of luck to anyone that unfortunately ends up in this situation. 

I would love to hear the outcome of cases such as these and also how the seller responded.

[thecatspjs]

I made my comment as IMO your comment is misleading in relation to the paypal dispute process - 

you wrote: I never respond via message beause as PayPal will tell you your message is only between the buyer and seller.

This is misleading, communication between buyer and seller only occurs when a dispute is opened.

After a dispute is escalated to a claim there are no messages generated between buyer and seller.