Item arrived damaged

[spaven6710]

I posted 2 china beakers which were delivered and signed for on 17 July, The buyer has contacted me today 30 August to say that she has only just had time to open the parcel and one of the beakers is cracked

I'm not relaly sure what I should do, I don't want negative feedback but feel reluctant just to refund, could someone offer any advice?

Thank you

[john1297576 · Accepted solution]

You have no obligation to do anything. It is too late for the buyer to open a Not As Described Case, and if you did refund,you would not get the selling fee refunded so you would be very much out of pocket for something you do not need to do.

You could of course offer a refund less all your expenses, Ebay Fee, Paypal Fee and Postage, but I would avoid this as it could get messy.

I would tell her that the Ebay Money Back Guarantee is only valid for 30 days and risk the feedback. You could always appeal if a neg. was left referring Ebay to the messages and being out of time to open a case.

[spaven6710 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your help.

I contacted ebay who said the same as you and that I shouldn't refund as she had left it too long. I messaged the buyer and explained the situation but she replied to say that she had been on holiday for 6 weeks so couldn't open the package and said that she would leave negative feedback if I didn't refund.
I took some time to read feedback that she had left for other sellers and low and behold she had left several feedbacks for items that had arrived well after the one that I sent was delivered so this is clearly suspicious.

The buyer immediately left me negative feedback so I contacted ebay again who very kindly removed it for me.

All well now and I've blocked her.

[*guinevere*]

Ask your buyer to open a Faulty/Not as described  case and you'll get the option of paying for a tracked return label if you want them back, or you can choose to refund without getting them back.

You will get your selling fees credited once refunded.

You could ask for photos of the damage so you can assess whether it's worth getting them back.

ETA: Sorry just realised this was July.

Too late for them to open a case now so it's up to you what you do. Buyers have 60 days to leave feedback but I would be wondering if they had been using the beakers and had damaged them themselves.