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Help please
Hi, last week I listed a 14 month old (barely used) condenser tumble dryer, in full working order. We are moving house and needed the space and had recently changed to a vented machine (more convenient for us). During the listing time I had a would-be buyer contact me directly (I already had a bid on the item) 2 or 3 times offering me cash for immediate collection. I felt pressured and said no, I wanted to go to auction. In the end, he won the bid and collected yesterday morning.. within a couple of hours he had messaged to say that towels weren’t drying quickly and what could he do. I explained that condenser dryers take longer and advised halving the load. 24 hours later (this evening) he has requested a refund from eBay stating that nothing was drying and the item was faulty. This is absolutely not the case - it just took longer. The item had been registered with Candy and was still in parts warranty. There had been quite a few bids, so was obviously desirable. I felt pressured (again) to offer a refund, which I’ve done. But, having looked at the seller, he appears to be some sort of trader (having sold over 1.6k items) and his reviews are all around his sales. I feel like this was a set up and he’s now got something for free to flog on for cash. I’m really angry about this, but not sure what to do next. Any advice, please?
john1297576
Mentor6 months agoBy refunding without the buyer having to open case, it does not even show on his records with ebay.
Too many cases being opened would show and ebay would take into account, but seller knows all the tricks to not show on ebay’s radar.
red_magpie
Mentor6 months agoIt isn't clear how you came to refund him before getting the dryer back. eBay can't have been involved as all this apparently happened within the last 24 hours, and eBay allows sellers three days to resolve matters with the buyer before they will step in.
You didn't have any alternative to offering a refund, as eBay generally takes the buyer's word for faults. But what you could and should have done was to have sent him a prepaid return label or arranged for the item to be returned by courier. You would not have had to refund the buyer until the item was tracked as returned to you.
I'm very sorry, but the impression I have is that you felt so pressurised by this buyer that you just gave in and refunded them immediately. If so, and you didn't require the item to be returned, as far as eBay is concerned the case is closed. Unfortunately, eBay won't even allow you to leave feedback to warn other buyers, as eBay would remove this if your buyer reported it.
*guinevere*
Mentor6 months agoAs you have refunded him already you can't really do anything I'm afraid.
The correct way to deal with this would have been for him to open a case for not as described, you arrange to have the drier returned and refund on return.
Too late now that he has the drier and the money. Anything you do now would be outside ebay, You could ask him to return it and send a courier label, or you could arrange to collect it from his house. But it is important to remember that ebay will not help you, as far as they are concerned the transaction is over.