I recently sold a used film developing tank. This was a very sturdy plastic item designed to withstand temperatures well above boiling water. One of my selling points was the excellent, unworn closing system. This was well displayed in the photographs accompanying my listing. Receipt of the tank was signed for at 11.40am on a Friday morning. The buyer claimed that on the next evening, he noticed that the tank would not close properly. The tank has a rim which was perfectly circular when I closed the tank and packed it with ample bubble wrap in a cardboard box. The buyer sent a picture of a tank with a deformed rim. Such deformity could only be caused by substantial heat. The tank pictured was exactly the same type as the one I sent but with a no longer circular rim, it did not look like the same item. The buyer suggested that the damage may have occured in transit and I should claim from the courier's insurance. When I asked the buyer to provide photographs of the package, inside and out, I was told that he no longer had the packaging. I insisted that the tank was in excellent working condition when despatched. Considering the level of heat required to distort it, if happening during transit, there would have been a fire. The only conclusions I can come to are that (a) the buyer had a damaged tank and wanted to replace it (b) the buyer edited his photograph to mimic distortion or (c) the tank got damaged while in the buyer's possession. All of these are possible options but it seems that ebay give no credence to such possibilities. In this respect, the Resolution Center is not to threre to consider disputes. It merely exists to endorse the buyer's right to return anything and everything they chose to. In my view, when alleging damage, buyer's should be required to provide pictures of packaging as well asshots of the item. They should also be required to examine goods immediately after they are signed for. I have been fortunate in enjoying buying and selling on ebay for many years. Photography has been a passion of mine for a long time. Ebay provided me with a wonderful opportunity pass on my treasured equipment. It mostly went to fellow enthusiasts who could value and appreciate it as much as I did. Having just experienced the lack of ebay protection for sellers, I have sadly decided to bring an end to those experiences.
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