Still no way to fight against unfair return request?

[tradingcat888]

Hi there

I sold a dress to a buyer in UK and posted on the same day, then one day later, buyer sent me a message saying she doesn't want the dress anymore.

Well, parcel was already on the way, too late to cancel the purchase, right? It's not my fault that she changed her mind anyway.

Buyer didn't reply to this "bad" news.

2 weeks passed, buyer sent me another message, saying the size of the dress was totally not as described, if I don't give her full refund she'd open a return request.

She used a lot of big words, this Law and that Act, if I don't give her money then escalate...etc, obviously trying to be intimidating and aggreesive.

Isn't that too suspious? I think everyone can tell what she is doing, because I couldn't cancel her order, now she decides to abuse return process to get money back.

I replied her and asked for picture evidence, nothing received so far. 

It was not the first dress I sold, I know for sure that its sizing was just as described in my listing; if size was truely wrong, how hard could it be to show some evidence?

I then contacted ebay about this, twice, unfortunately those "robots" didn't seem to care nor have any common sense, they just kept telling me repeatedly that "buyer reported a problem", and I should "work it out with buyer".

Same old non-sense.

So, if buyer does open a return request later saying item was not as described, but fail to provide any evidence, is there still anything I can do?

Obviously I cannot provide a return label since she is in UK, therefore after some days she can just escalate the case to get money back and also keep the dress.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to fight this BS?!

We sellers have been bullied for too long now, it's insane.

[clarry100]

I think you will need to wait and see if/not she opens a formal case.
Did your original listing state all measurements for the dress? Or just the size?
If it had full measurements then you should be able to contest a case for does not fit. Otherwise you might try to get an eBay CSR to read the message from her 1-day after you sent it. You might need to call more than once to get an understanding CSR.
But try to keep a cool head during the call ad you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar as it were.
Good luck.

[springyzone]

I think you're being 'had'. The woman changed her mind & is trying to find a way to get out of it & get back at you.

A change of mind refund, assuming you even allowed such a thing, would mean she had to pay return postage so that of course is why she's going for the 'not as described' option.

Some of it is going to depend on how clear your photos were in the ads & what you had in the description. Did you have a clear photo of the tag? If so she won't be able to claim it wasn't the size as represented.

If you gave measurements, she might be able to lay out the frock in such a way it looks like it is out a couple of Cm or so, which could win her the case.

I think you'll need to do as clarry suggests & ring ebay to talk to someone. Hopefully someone who can look at the messages & see what she is doing. You might have to be persistant but even then it could well go in her favour. You can only try though.

Quite possibly your best option might be to say you will accept her return for change of mind but the fact the frock doesn't fit her does not mean the sizing was not accurately shown because it was. If you can get an ebay rep to classify it as a change of mind return, then I think she has to pay the return postage. You'd still have to refund her the item cost but at least you'd have it back.

good luck.

[enigmabear]

Best of luck

I agree, I think I sense a great big scammer

Might be worth having a look at her feedback left for others as well. It might just show a pattern of her doing this as a matter of habit 

[*sparklz*]

Even if they put photos there ebay do not take them into account with a dispute.

I just had my first ever dispute in my 11 years of selling with a buyer claiming the item was damaged and cost was more than it should have been.

I told her she chose to buy at the advertised price and now had buyers remorse and I asked for photos and every photo sent showed different damage in the same spot so she was doing the damage herself.

She wanted a partial refund knowing the damage she had done was repairable and the item could still be used for the intended purposes.

She ended up opening a dispute as I refused to refund given the photos showed different damage to the same spot.
I rang ebay and said the buyer had done the damage 

I told ebay the photos prove she was doing the damage as each photo showed different damage to the same spot and this was now nothing more than buyers remorse as she said it was too dear so after a partial refund and keep the item knowing it can be fixed and still used.

ebay staff told me that ebay do not look at the photos anyway as they can be altered so photos was not proof .

Buyer escalated the claim and was told to return for a full refund

I spoke to a different rep the next day who said he can see it was buyers remorse after reading her first message about the price and it should not have been found in her favor and he would send the buyer a message to advise of this, so I asked him to send a message to me via ebay messages with the details he just told me and I was going to copy that and send it to the buyer so she would know what was said after calling me a liar

After 4 more calls and finally speaking to a supervisor the case was closed and I kept my money BUT they refunded her out of their own money.

So this was another way a buyer can get a refund and keep the item and ebay think this is ok to scam sellers to get things for free.

So this buyer now gets the item for free, fixes the damage she did and still uses it with no problems.

Sad part is this buyer is also a seller and makes me think she knows how to work the system to get free stuff 😞

[melinachristina]

 "she might be able to lay out the frock in such a way it looks like it is out a couple of Cm or so, which could win her the case."

I'm so pleased I'm not in clothes. Dishonest buyers have more angles than a billiard table.

eBay (this time around) has been a real education for us, although last time, we weren't involved in the forums, so probably were well insulated in our lack of knowledge and the modus operandi of some buyers. Sellers too I guess.

Its pretty disappointing and disheartening. Human beings can be such treacherous sods! I guess that's why I've got some beautiful dawgies. My furkids help to balance things a bit.

Good luck OP. 

Melina.

[digital*ghost]

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@tradingcat888wrote:

2 weeks passed, buyer sent me another message, saying the size of the dress was totally not as described, if I don't give her full refund she'd open a return request.

She used a lot of big words, this Law and that Act, if I don't give her money then escalate...etc, obviously trying to be intimidating and aggreesive.

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The "refund or I'll open a request" bit is weird, in that she chose to threaten this rather than just do it - perhaps she's aware that she will have send the dress back and pay return postage, and is trying to avoid that (i.e. this indicates a reluctance to follow through - hopefully that's a good thing in this case).

The law or act she was referring to is likely the Distance Selling Regulations, which applies in any country that's a member of the EU, which still applies to the UK at present. 

The DSR's stipulate that a buyer can change their mind for any reason, cancel the transaction, and receive a full refund of the original payment, including any outgoing postage if the purchase was already posted. (There are exceptions to this, but clothing - unless custom made - isn't one of them). The buyer is responsible for returning the purchase, though the last time I read through the regulations, the refund was owed to the buyer within a shorter timeframe than was given to them to return the purchase (from memory the seller gets 2 weeks from the cancellation notice to refund, while the buyer gets something like 30 days to return, I read it a couple of years ago, though, so things could have changed - I would hope they have, anyway, because as a seller that posts to most countries in the EU, it was alarming to see what kind of expectations of sellers they may have). 

It's highly debateable whether or not these regulations can legally be applied to a seller outside of the EU, but eBay will generally uphold them regardless.

[masterstroke.eng]

Let her open a return case , she will have to pay return postage as you cant provide a return shipping lable for overseas sales. Pay Pal will refund her postage once it is delivered and signed for (they may deduct it from you account later ) but at least you get the dress back  I had a similliar issue with a chinese seller got me intial purchase price and postgae back   but still waiting on the return  postage refund $54 !

[springyzone]

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@melinachristinawrote:

 "she might be able to lay out the frock in such a way it looks like it is out a couple of Cm or so, which could win her the case."

I'm so pleased I'm not in clothes. Dishonest buyers have more angles than a billiard table.

eBay (this time around) has been a real education for us, although last time, we weren't involved in the forums, so probably were well insulated in our lack of knowledge and the modus operandi of some buyers. Sellers too I guess.

Its pretty disappointing and disheartening. Human beings can be such treacherous sods! I guess that's why I've got some beautiful dawgies. My furkids help to balance things a bit.

Good luck OP. 

Melina.

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Since I have been on the forums, I have read of buyers who have made claims based on the fact clothes or shoes have been fractionally out (according to the buyers) in the measurements given & have won cases based on that.

I have to say it was an eye opener for me too as I used to sell these sorts of things many years ago but would hesitate to now, for the simple reason that even if the sizing is 100% accurate, you can still get buyers who won't be happy with the fit & might try for a refund any way they can.