mkdevo

Hi all,

Looking for some advice here. I had someone win a week-long auction for a motherboard last week that was in perfect condition. At the end of the auction, he sends me a message saying he's not going to pay for it because "the funds were no longer in his paypal account". I told him that the auction is a binding contract and he needs to pay for it or I would be filing a non-paying bidder case. So after a couple messages back and forth, he pays for it.

Fast-forward to today, when low and behold, he wants to return it, claiming a bunch of pins are bent and it must have been because of how I packed it. I know this is 100% untrue, that he did the damage himself, and I really saw a problem coming with this.

He claims "The Motherboard socket has multiple bent pins and looks like at least one completely broken off, the Motherboard was shipped without a actual cpu cover and there was a bag that was taped down onto the bubble wrap that looks to have applied pressure to the cpu socket causing the bent pins" <-- there is no possible way the bag containing a couple small motherboard attachments caused this damage. None.

My question - is there anything I can do to have eBay side with me on this? All of the messages back and forth are in eBay, and I have photos of the motherboard out of packaging, as well as photos of it as I packed it. What can I do?? The email from eBay says "You can ask us to step in and help if there's a problem with the buyer's request.", but I don't see a way to do that.

Pics are at this link - mine first, along with the pics from him (the last three).

http://imgur.com/a/wEEDI

stingermck

Anytime. Anyyyyyytime a buyer wants to back out of a transaction, do it. Buyers have way too much power these days. And you can always make a 2nd change offer to the 2nd place buyer and be done.

Oh yeah, and you're screwed.

God I couldnt imagine selling electronics on eBay. Too many potential problems.

mkdevo

Not what I wanted to hear, but what I figured. Fucking shitbag. Ugh.

movieguru

Agreed. If they request to cancel, just cancel it or it will be a headache. You'll end up sending it to them and then they'll pull the "not as described" scam so they can return it. You'll be stuck paying shipping both ways and might get a damaged product bsck. Just cancel and relist.

Trevor

When I get the urge to sell something on ebay, I just give it, and $10, to someone I dislike. It's cheaper and less time consuming that way.

But also seriously, you're screwed. Next time, if you fail to follow the above advice, just back out as soon as a buyer expresses any problems or issues. We all would have told you this was coming after that first exchange.

LurkerDan

yeah, don't know why you would try to force an unwilling buyer to pay, and then ship to them, this seems an obvious result. Treat it as a lesson learned. Tell him you'll refund it if he returns it.

mkdevo

Definitely lesson learned. I have to pay for return shipping too it looks like?? Jesus.

Accept the return
You pay for shipping and can send our return label or your own. Wait to get the item back before you refund the buyer.

D.Pham5GLTE (>60GB)

Buyer is responsible for return shipping,or has that changed.

PayPal also will refund the buyer the return shipping if they activated that service.

You might be able to repair the pins... Depending on the damage. Not sure how much the Mobo was but could be worth it if it was expensive.

Otherwise not much to add... Everyone else is right... If they don't want it, cancel and sell to the next highest bidder, or relist if desired. Doing otherwise is asking for trouble.

mkdevo

Looks to me like he not only bent, but also pulled a pin or two out. Really really shitty.

It sold for $67 so it's not like it's a huge amount of money, but I offered free shipping, now have to pay for return shipping, and have to pay all the fees. So probably going to be around $100 once all is said and done. Still not the end of the world, but it definitely stings.

Just amazes me that anyone can just go on eBay, buy something they don't want, break it, and then return it all at the seller's expense.

mkdevo

Thinking about it more, I may just issue the refund and be done with it. Cut my losses. Since I would have to pay for return shipping on an item that is now useless, it's just adding to my misery if I get it shipped back.

Why So Blu?

You also have to have an ironclad listing, because prospective buyers may try to pull one over on you if they see weakness in a listing.

Troy Stiffler

Yet another Ebay transaction problem...

*yawn*

1. Apologize. It was your fault.

2. Take it back or just send a refund and let him keep it.

3. Don't use Ebay.

D.Pham5GLTE (>60GB)

Standard policy is buyer pays return shipping. But if you agreed to pay return shipping and the mobo isn't repairable then I would just issue a full refund and be done with it.

movieguru

This has changed a long time ago. If the buyer files a "not as described" the seller has to pay return shipping.

D.Pham5GLTE (>60GB)

Wow, didn't know that but I stopped selling on eBay years ago. So now, unscrupulous buyers will just claim whatever they want to return as not as described so they aren't stuck with the return shipping charges.

movieguru

Yup. Luckily most people are honest and it's a small percentage that are unscrupulous. Many eBAY sellers are small though so one bad transaction can hurt. I sell enough on here that one bad sale isn't going to kill me but I'll still be pissed off. I've learned to avoid selling in the areas that I'd expect to be troublesome; ie, cell phones. video game systems, etc.

Even selling Region 2 DVD's are an issue now because people are idiots and don't read. See my thread here:http://forum.dvdtalk.com/store-forum...l#post13146612

james2025a

I have a solution. Say you will refund as soon as he ships it back and arrives in the condition you sent it out in. Once it arrives, snap it in two, take photos then email him saying that the piece is broken and not in the condition you sold it, that it couldnt have received this damage in the mail and that you will send the pieces back to him, but the sale is done. Fuck him.

james2025a

Oh, and fuck eBay. I stopped using them years ago.

Michael Corvin

4. Profit

Troy Stiffler

Pretty much. The OP is going to be at minus $10 or $15. And he might also lose the product itself if this escalates into a real issue (he denies return, it turns into a credit card claim). Or he's going to receive a damaged motherboard back, because the motherboard was purposely damaged by the buyer so they had an excuse to return. If those pins weren't bent - they are now. The buyer isn't going to say it has bent pins, and then return it without bent pins.

I still recommend people buy stuff on Ebay. But try to do it from businesses that fully comply with Ebay's suggested policies. Amazon forces sellers to comply with policies. Ebay still allows people to adjust theirs a little. I don't know how to say it ... but you're always going to be let down by personal buyers/sellers dealing with an item here-and-there. Except in rare cases. More likely, it's always going to be store return merchandise. Or a non-functional motherboard take-out. Or a pair of headphones that have a lose cord and fade in and out.

Here's how I see it... What you describe - people rip off Wal Mart, etc. all-fucking-day-long. They just absorb it, as a cost of doing business. There's always going to be people like this who take advantage. I remember the old days in the Bargains forum - you guys would argue an ad with a Target employee, until they cave in and take a few dollars off a DVD. That kind of abuse is so common in retail. But when you're one guy, selling one product, in a transaction on Ebay - it really fucking sucks to be abused. But by doing that transaction on Ebay, you're opening yourself up to that abuse.

I sell 100+ products a month on Ebay. Anywhere from $6 to $3000+. I left them for awhile, but then returned. This abuse happens. The heartbreak happens. Someone will buy, say, a rebuilt tool from me. Say it's a heavy-duty pipe cutter. They'll take off the good cutter wheels, put on their trashed/chipped wheels, say that we shipped a bad one, and return it. We're out $40 because we have to buy new cutter wheels. Another thing, is people will buy our tools, use them for an install job, and then return them under our 'satisfaction guaranteed' warranty period.

It's just the kind of stuff you have to deal with. And if you think you can argue your way out of it - you can't. And if you don't like it, you shouldn't be selling online.

There's a bad stigma associated with pawn shops. But they're actually a great outlet for getting rid of products like yours. If you sold that motherboard for $100, a pawn shop would have probably paid you $20 to $40 cash for it (it varies so greatly, depending on the shop, how much business they've had, etc.). Even at $20 - it's cash on the spot. No Ebay fees, no hassle, no stress. I've found that a lot of people simply don't like walking into pawn shops, thinking they're low-class and slimy. And many of them are. But probably half of pawn shops just buy that stuff (or pawn it), and it gets posted to their Ebay account. Especially when you have easy-to-sell products, like a pair of skis or something. Those guys are always happy to have easy-to-sell merchandise coming in and out.

Bronkster

^ Good input.

Troy Stiffler

Here's another thing that I don't like to bring up, but will... Dealing with people that don't have money suuuuuuucccccckkkkkksss. If I had to guess, I'd say that half of my returned Ebay sales are from people who low-balled us on pricing, and we still sold to them. Let's use the pipe cutter example again... Someone will offer $200 on a $300 pipe cutter. We'll take it, and then it's more likely to turn into a return. You know who's less likely to be trouble? The person who just comes in and pays $300 without asking any questions or offering any lower on the price.

Likewise, we've experienced similar results when dabbling with "auctions" on Ebay (as opposed to fixed price/barter).

It's a somewhat predictable pattern. If someone opens a return, I bet I look at the details of the transaction, and it was an item that we accepted a relatively low offer on.

movieguru

I also find the ones that lowball don't always pay for the item as well. For example, I had Anna Nicole Smith advertising posters on eBay a few years back listed for $100. I've had one peson straight up pay the $100 and never heard from them once during the transaction.

Then I get a person that messages me and asks if I'll take $20 with free shipping to Canada and that it's for their dying relative who just loves anna Nicole and blah blah blah. I told them tht I couldn't sell it for $20. I think they offered $40 a week later. They accepted the offer but then never sent payment for the item. Usually the ones that never contact you first or send any messages are the best customers to deal with.

Troy Stiffler

Yea. It's impossible to guess which transactions will be returns/problems. But when a post-sale return or problem pops up, it's not impossible to guess that the transaction started on a bad foot (like settling for a low offer, or being asked what our return policy is - even though it's clearly posted in the listing).

Sonic

So did Ebay sided with the buyer after you showed all the evidence/pics?