sold a new item in the box - buyer claims parts missing, ebay sided with buyer and will be returned

[myroflcopter]

ok, recently i have had to clear out our warehouse and have a lot of items that are new in box but might be a few years old. A recent sale there was kit sent out, was new and unopened. buyer claimed it was missing parts - i have loads of spare parts at our warehouse i was offering to send out free of charge, the buyer didnt respond... i sent multiple messages without a response. ebay has sided with the buyer and when i get it back with the parts missing i have to refund in full.   not sure how sellers avoid this one? ideas please!

[tazzieterror]

See the reply from digital*ghost here. 

Also, have a look through the buyer's feedback - both received and sent - and see if there's any indication of them doing this kind of thing previously.

[twyngwyn]

might also be a manufacturing error?

[tazzieterror]

The fact that the customer isn't responding to messages is likely indicative of a simpler explanation.

[kopenhagen5]

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@tazzieterror wrote:
The fact that the customer isn't responding to messages is likely indicative of a simpler explanation.

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I agree. Needed parts, freebies are better.

[11dustyattic]

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@myroflcopter wrote:

ok, recently i have had to clear out our warehouse and have a lot of items that are new in box but might be a few years old. A recent sale there was kit sent out, was new and unopened. buyer claimed it was missing parts - i have loads of spare parts at our warehouse i was offering to send out free of charge, the buyer didnt respond... i sent multiple messages without a response. ebay has sided with the buyer and when i get it back with the parts missing i have to refund in full.   not sure how sellers avoid this one? ideas please!

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There's nothing you can do, unless you open all brand new boxes to check, but even that wouldn't stop the thieves. It's sad. I don't know how they sleep at night. They have zero concern for you losing money, how that affects you and your family. They make me sick. 

[11dustyattic]

I lose a lot of sales, a lot of money, purely because I can't list high risk or more valuable things, even things that aren't hugely valuable but have high postage. I wonder if some sellers aren't aware that you lose postage each way. The buyer initially pays for postage, which is ultimately refunded, but we can't then recoup our postage from AP, so out of pocket there plus return postage and the sale amount. If you then get a damaged item back and can't resell it (which was my recent experience) you can stand to lose a lot of money. 

If Ebay had any clue just how much money they're losing, not just us, they would assess each claim on it's merits, as is the way it should be. It's so open to abuse and the serial scammers (thieves, let's not sugar coat this) know exactly how to play the system. The only sellers who have any luck winning cases are those who expose the injustice on social media, not even always successful then but Ebay will sometimes help just to save face. They know they have us over a barrel, this website has exposure like no other.

And that is the problem. Too much power. No competition

[padi*0409]

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@11dustyattic wrote:

The buyer initially pays for postage, which is ultimately refunded, but we can't then recoup our postage from AP, so out of pocket there

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There's nothing to recoup there (except eBay fees on it) since the buyer paid for it not the seller.

[springyzone]

It certainly sounds like fraud to me. As a buyer, I know that if a package had a part missing and the seller offered to send the part asap, I'd jump at the chance, be rapt. No way would I ignore a message like that.

Not sure how you can do a lot to avoid this, to be honest, especially if the parts were small or didn't weigh much. You can take photos etc when you pack but they don't prove to a third party that the parts were definitely sent.

Ebay is in an unenviable position here as they have no way to know who is right or wrong. Unless they packed all goods themselves under CCTV footage, there is no way for them to be 100% sure.

You would think on the balance of averages that an unopened new pack would be complete but ebay probably has to give the benefit of the doubt to buyers. Best you could hope for if you did have photos of what you packed might be for ebay to refund the buyer without penalising you.

Shame there are so many scammers around.

[11dustyattic]

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@padi*0409 wrote:

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@11dustyattic wrote:

The buyer initially pays for postage, which is ultimately refunded, but we can't then recoup our postage from AP, so out of pocket there

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There's nothing to recoup there (except eBay fees on it) since the buyer paid for it not the seller.

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Let's do the sums.

1. Buyer pays postage

2. We go to the PO and pay that amount over the counter (with the buyer's money)

.......so far it has cost us nothing, money paid for postage and money used at the PO to post

3. Buyer wins the case and we then refund that postage amount. 

......we are now out of pocket that amount because we can't get a refund from AP for the amount spent