What would you do? Ebay question

[cheese]

I got a notification that a case was opened against me today. It's about a carburetor I sold to someone. It was new old stock and sold as such. His message says "this item is used i took it apart and it was dirty inside but i used this one with mine and made a good one." He wants a replacement. Now, I have sold several of these with no problem. I think if he saw any dirt in it, it was from sitting on a shelf, but I can give the benefit of the doubt and refund or replace. Problem is, he has admitted to taking it apart and swapping parts with his old carburetor. If I ask for it back, you know what I'll get. His old one. I thought about offering a 50% refund. When something like this comes up, I try to put myself in their shoes and assume they are telling the truth or something close to the truth, and see what I think would be an acceptable resolution from that side of the transaction. I think I would be okay with that, I mean, he said he got it fixed using my carburetor, so why would he need a replacement anyway? In the end, I want to be fair and be treated fairly, and to avoid feedback issues.

 

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[Garbagebill]

It would depend on the amount we are talking about. $50? $100? $200? Me personally, I'd offer and 50% refund explaining he did use my carb also. If he don't agree then refund him and block him from ever purchasing from you again and call it a day. Again, it would depend on the price. If it's enough to feel the pinch then I'd fight it all the way. But if it's under $100 I'd give him what he wants and be done with him. Hope it works out in an agreement that works for you. There are people out there that so this trying to just get over. Best of luck cheese.

 

[deserdog]

How did he contact you? Through Ebay's messaging system? If he did, there is a record of it. If he took apart the item, and used parts of it, he cannot return it, because it is not the same item.

 

[jerseyben]

This is a TOUGH one.

IMO, the minute he started taking things apart without contacting you FIRST, he gave up any right to ANY refund.

You might have to just take the negative on this one...

 

[Baltimore]

This is a TOUGH one.

IMO, the minute he started taking things apart without contacting you FIRST, he gave up any right to ANY refund.

You might have to just take the negative on this one...

Agreed. It's like opening a can of soup, not liking it, adding salt and pepper so that you do like it, but then telling the grocery store you want a refund anyways. Not on my watch.

 

[vwayne1]

This seems like an obvious one to me. Tell him you have his statement of use of your item. Let's take it all the way with eBay. He Will probably back down completely or take a very small partial refund. No more than 10-20 percent. Play it by ear. Don't back down. Don't yell scam, because it's not. It human nature to try to take from our fellow human beings. Just stand up to him with the facts ( no threats) and if need be, take the negative. I usually hover around 93.8 percent on my feedback and it has never hurt me. Good luck.

 

[Nickleanddime]

Agreed. It's like opening a can of soup, not liking it, adding salt and pepper so that you do like it, but then telling the grocery store you want a refund anyways. Not on my watch.

Well if its walmart brand or save alot brand you can lol.

 

[cheese]

Well, so far (knocking on wood) we have not one single negative feedback after years of selling on the bay. I'd hate to get my first on an item under $100, especially when it might have actually not been a working carb that I sent. Maybe he had a problem with it and needed his equipment running, so he did what he had to to get it going. I might have done the same thing, so I can sympathize with that. I guess what I'm trying to do is the right thing, regardless of what ebay permits and doesn't permit. It's as easy to assume he's trying to pull one over on me as it is to assume he actually had a problem with the carb and I didn't send him one matching the description (I don't open the carbs up before sending them, I bought them from a shop that closed up... they were in the parts department on the shelves). But I don't want a tampered with carb back in the mail... I won't be able to sell it anyway. I decided to offer him a partial return, not specifying how much. We'll see how it works out. Here's my reply to him:

Hello,


Sorry you had a problem with the carb. I had several of these that were taken off the shelf of a small engine shop that closed down. I guess maybe they put one on something and took it back off and put it back on the shelf. Anyway, since you took it apart and used parts of it and your old one to make one good carb, I assume you don't need another? That, and I don't want one back that has been taken apart and pieces used out of it, so how about if I refund part of the purchase price? Sound fair to you? Let me know.

 

[Baltimore]

Well if its walmart brand or save alot brand you can lol.

Haha true, I guess that was a bad analogy. I think my point was made though.

@ cheese, that message seems perfectly reasonable to me, let us know how it works out.

 

[diggummup]

I don't see where you answered whether or not he messaged you before taking the thing apart. If he didn't and he wasn't satisfied with the part then he should have contacted you before taking apart the item you sent him. At this point I think the reply you gave him was fair and honest and one that he should be more than willing to accept.

 

[RustyGold]

I use ebay and I realize that it is FB driven. So you need to be very careful in the way an item is listed. We all don't want a simple transaction to degenerate into anything negative. With that said then absolutely NO refund or payoff of any kind! That's extortion!
If you have offered a refund then have him send it back as sent out. Obviously he can't or won't do that because he has taken it apart and reassembled into something he likes!
If your FB score and everything you've done is positive no way are the twenty something guys at ebay going to not see he is trying to extort something from you. Check out his history, FB score, etc. No way!
My apologies but as a guy who works hard at maintaining 100 percent positve FB, I can understand your position! So can the ebay people that look at all the varibles!
It lights me up that everyone is so afraid of -FB. When you go to a garage sale, flea market, craigslist etc. or even the store you don't usually leave feedback!
My apologies again!
Best of Luck!
RG

 

[cheese]

diggummup, no, he never contacted me other than the case opened and the message I posted in the original post. He already admitted to taking it apart before I ever knew there was a problem.

RustyGold, I get what you're saying, however, put yourself in his shoes. What if you bought a carb and had problems with it. You were needing that piece of equipment running to do a job, so you decide to take your chances and take the carb apart to make a working carb. You get the job done, but you know you didn't get what you paid for, so you seek some compensation. Seems reasonable enough to me. I can refuse and he hasn't really lost anything other than time and labor, or I can work with him and compensate him for it. That's assuming he's telling the truth, which I must.

My main struggle is how to handle it because he was asking for a replacement. I don't want to send a replacement. I don't think I owe him a replacement now since he has successfully used the item I sent him, but I think I might owe him something... just not sure what.

 

[cheese]

Good grief, now I have another guy who bought a lawnmower belt from me and says it doesn't fit his mower. I listed it by belt number and manufacturer and made no claim to what it fits and it was sold with no returns. He determined it was the belt he needed on his own and bought it. I think he's just stuck with it. If I let him return it, I am out the free shipping I offered, and I'll probably get a greasy grimy belt that he tried to put on and couldn't. Not my fault any way you slice it.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

-
I believe the wBay buyer is just looking to get a discount on the carb. The carb was most likely sold to someone just switching out parts trying to figure out why his engine wasn't running right, and the carb didn't solve his problem, so he returned it to the shop.

Personally, I would play hardball with the buyer and tell him to put every single part back on the carb and send it back. And then you tell him that you will inspect all the parts in the carb before sending a refund. The buyer will realize the hassle that will entail and just tell you that he will keep it. DON'T GIVE IN TO SCAMMERS!!

 

[diggummup]

diggummup, no, he never contacted me other than the case opened and the message I posted in the original post. He already admitted to taking it apart before I ever knew there was a problem.

RustyGold, I get what you're saying, however, put yourself in his shoes. What if you bought a carb and had problems with it. You were needing that piece of equipment running to do a job, so you decide to take your chances and take the carb apart to make a working carb. You get the job done, but you know you didn't get what you paid for, so you seek some compensation. Seems reasonable enough to me. I can refuse and he hasn't really lost anything other than time and labor, or I can work with him and compensate him for it. That's assuming he's telling the truth, which I must.

My main struggle is how to handle it because he was asking for a replacement. I don't want to send a replacement. I don't think I owe him a replacement now since he has successfully used the item I sent him, but I think I might owe him something... just not sure what.

No you don't owe him a replacement since he used parts off the one you sent him. If he wanted a replacement he should have never taken a single thing off the one you sent him, immediate necessity or not. I'd offer him half his money back and be done with it. If he doesn't accept it, then let it run it's course. Ebay has all communications between the two of you. By him admitting that he tampered with the part by removing pieces to suit his needs should negate a full refund.

PS- There is no such thing as "no refunds" when it comes to ebay. They will refund someone in a heartbeat regardless of what the seller's policy states. Buyer protection trumps that. All someone has to do is open an "item not as described" case.

 

[cheese]

PS- There is no such thing as "no refunds" when it comes to ebay. They will refund someone in a heartbeat regardless of what the seller's policy states. Buyer protection trumps that. All someone has to do is open an "item not as described" case.

Yeah, that is true. Had it happen once before. I sold a cash register as not working and for parts or repair only. I showed the pictures of it and said that the drawer catch was not working. The buyer got it, decided he didn't like it, and then got ebay to refund the money before I ever got the item back. They said inside the cash drawer was dirty and the drawer didn't work. DUH. Ebay sided with them anyway and made me eat the shipping as well (they refunded the entire purchase price plus shipping to the buyer without even consulting me). This was before you could "open a case". I almost quit selling that day, and I had a long talk with some young guy at ebay. I did get the item back and resold it later.

I asked the young guy at ebay "Why do you give the option to sell an item with no returns if you're going to force me to refund it anyway if they don't like it?" He basically said it means nothing. He said people buy things without reading the description and they want to protect those people. Whatever.

 

[jerseyben]

-
I believe the wBay buyer is just looking to get a discount on the carb. The carb was most likely sold to someone just switching out parts trying to figure out why his engine wasn't running right, and the carb didn't solve his problem, so he returned it to the shop.

Personally, I would play hardball with the buyer and tell him to put every single part back on the carb and send it back. And then you tell him that you will inspect all the parts in the carb before sending a refund. The buyer will realize the hassle that will entail and just tell you that he will keep it. DON'T GIVE IN TO SCAMMERS!!

You have absolutely no way of knowing that.

With an attitude like that, you are gonna have one heck of a time selling on ebay.

 

[jerseyben]

Good grief, now I have another guy who bought a lawnmower belt from me and says it doesn't fit his mower. I listed it by belt number and manufacturer and made no claim to what it fits and it was sold with no returns. He determined it was the belt he needed on his own and bought it. I think he's just stuck with it. If I let him return it, I am out the free shipping I offered, and I'll probably get a greasy grimy belt that he tried to put on and couldn't. Not my fault any way you slice it.

Any time you are selling stuff that requires customer installation, there is significant risk. I would never want to run an automotive parts company for this exact reason.

 

[RustyGold]

Maybe we should start freeBay and run it like a garage sale!

 

[vwayne1]

Freebay already exists. It's called craigslist.