Damaged Item

[3827wilson]

We’ve just received a message at 3.45am from a buyer saying one of items sent has arrived damaged.  The item was delivered, by Evri, 6 days ago to an address in the UK.  The photo provided by the buyer shows a mobile phone with Chinese writing on it and the time of 10.45am.  China is 7 hours ahead of us.  The box at the side of the damaged item is not the box we used to send the items in.  The extent of the damage is also obscured by bubble wrap.  How should we handle this?  Any help would be really appreciated.  

[tressygirl]

First of all send the buyer a polite message asking them to make sure they have the correct seller as from the photos it does not look like the phone or the box you sent.

Hopefully,  they'll agree and go onto find the correct seller, but if they do open a case for item not as described, it's all automatic, no point challenging it at that point with no human contact.

You need to accept it within 3 days,  pay for that fully tracked return postage if you want your item back first,  do not refund until it's back with you,  you then have 48 hours to fully refund.

Stick within those timelines,  and your seller performance is not affected.

Then,  if you wish , you can appeal the decision for the refund.  Link below explains the process.

I won't lie,  it's not easy,  as eBay do not see the item in question so not easy to judge who is telling the truth, and they do usually,  believe the buyer.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/appeal-outcome-case-seller?id=4369

@3827wilson 

[jckl1957]

You don't need to do anything until the buyer opens a return stating that the item arrived damaged.

It is possible that the buyer is based in China - is their account registered there? - and the item was sent to a freight forwarding address.

That would explain the repackaging and the different box.

If the buyer does open a case, but you posted to a third party who has forwarded the item to them, they are not covered by the Money Back Guarantee.