quality ? on sold item

[shirts_n_more]

HI

I have sold an item, only about $8 , so not a huge problem.  but it has raised questions for me.  I am selling off add things from around the home.  I am a crafter and have a rather large hoarde to get rid off.  I sold a rubber stamp; that I purchased brand new ages ago but had never used.  I sold it as New.  The buyer is complaining about the quality and that it does not stamp a good image.  Some stamps are better than others, and a lot of time it also comes down to the talent of the person doing the stamping.  She wants a refund so I suppose I will have to oblige.

My question is; if you are selling items that you have not used and that are basically new; who is responsible for the quality of the item?  The listing description was fine and did not make any untrue claims.  What if I sold a vase made by Wedgewood, but it was not a particularly good vase as Wedgewood vases go?  Am I responsible for a refund if a buyer finds its quality is lacking?

I do not purchase wholesale to resell, but have a lot of items I have purchased but never used.  If they are in their original packaging I sell them as NEW.  I also have items that are unwanted gifts that I will be selling as new.  How do you warant quality on your listings and is it the responsiblity of the seller?  Thanks in advance

[digital*ghost]

The alternative when listing items you have had for a fair while but have never been opened / used, is to state that they are 'new old stock', which is a fairly common term for items that can be several years or even a few decades old but never removed from the packaging - this allows for the possibility the items may have degenerated in some way purely through age.

It does sound more like the buyer isn't quite using it correctly, though.

[peppers-tree]

Yes to all above...and.... rubber can deteriorate in time.. Maybe thats what has happened... Make sure you get the item back before you pay up though... Could be a scam...Happened to me only a few weeks ago... turns out the buyer had the item, wanted to keep it and wanted me to give her her money back... I asked her to take picks of the damage and to send it back to me and I would refund her her payment plus postage ... Never heard from her again... Block block block.!.. Gee there are some nice people out there... They all want whatever you have for free..!

[amber-eyed-girl]

Definitely get the stamp back first if you issue a refund.

Stamps can dry out, but from your description it sounded like the buyer just isn't happy with the image.

Quality is best addressed by stating the brand name (if things have one). Then an honest item description/pics.

It's then up to the buyer to think about it, say Armani versus a home brand shirt to give an example.

In this case, you could have compared it to stamps sold by Office supply retailers I guess, to give a relative quality point, but let's face it, it's a stamp...

If you have it in new condition, with a clear pic of the stamping surface, the buyer can see if it's in good order or not.

You're not responsible for the manufacture, only for giving a true listing, unless of course you will sell homecrafted items 🙂

Do you think it's worth asking the buyer to try using it in a way that you think would give a better result?

Then if still not happy, send it back to you for the refund.

[digital*ghost]

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@shirts_n_more wrote:

So, the questions is, how do you handle a person's perception of quality when you are not actually the person initially responsible for the quality of the item; ie the manufacturer?

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I thought I'd answer this bit - as these are items you use yourself, you'd be able to include pertinent information aside from condition, per se, and I think a brief review as part of the listing description might go a long way.

It doesn't have to be highly detailed or long, just a couple of sentences that more describe usage, durability or anything you think is relevant and other than condition. If you were planning on selling such things long-term, for example, I'd suggest maybe having example of use pics, which could show the results of pressing too hard, inking too much, and one perfect one, but for one-off items, just a quick couple of lines eg "I found these worked best when XXXX", "For best results, store [this way]", etc.

[phorum_junkie*]

I would ask for a photo showing how the stamp performed and if it looked as if it had been over inked or whatever explain that to the buyer and ask them to try again. If they refused to do that then I would either just refund if I thought their claim may be valid or I would ask them to return it and assure them if it did turn out to be faulty I would pay them back for the return postage.

[i-once-was-bump]

I think it best to describe any craft items as secondhand, I have never had a problem with selling items and I am still getting the price I would get if I were to describe them as new or new old stock.

After an item has been stored in my cupboard for a year or two I couldn't possibley describe the item as new, it just doesn't seem right.

[chameleon54]

Sellers are required to register for GST as soon as thier turnover goes above $75,000 in any financial year. ( as stated earlier ) You can choose to register for GST purposes if your turnover is less than this figure. Some ebayers that sell to large GST registered businesses do this as thier clients expect to recieve a tax invoice with thier purchase and claim the GST back.  One way around this if you look like turning over more than $75,000 is to start a new ebay account in a partner or family members name. ( yes I know about ebay rules regulars, just being practicle  ) If the regulars want to be pedantic, you could use a business or joint partnership name and still allocate the biggest share of income to the silent partner, thus meeting all of ebay and Australian tax laws to the letter. You can then use the second account for income splitting purposes. Any ebay business that returns a profit should really be registered for tax and if you turn over more than $20,000 ebay is required to pass your information on to the tax office.  As for "new items", I sell quite a few of these and label them as New Old Stock, as some other members have mentioned. I explain that they have been stored for a period of time and may have some imperfections from storage. This seems to work well as I have never had a complaint about NOS items yet.