Since a decent number of you may have more experience than me on eBay, I thought I would seek guidance in this unfortunate scenario:
A buyer on eBay purchased three of my cards a few days. I packaged all of them into one envelope and shipped it to him. This morning, he/she responded that only two of the items were in the package and is now inquiring the location of the third item.
…What is the best approach to take? At this point, I foresee an unfolding conversation where my word would be up against the buyer’s word of what was actually in the package. Unfortunately, if it resorts to this, I fear eBay will side with the buyer because of their Buyer Protection policy.
I had this happen to me once. The person was already getting on my nerves as they were haggling on the price of multiple auctioned item, kept messaging me with different excuses for why they couldn’t pay, and didn’t even pay till I opened a non paying buyers case.
When they said they were missing items I knew I knew they were lying. So, I just sent them a bluff message claiming that I always videotape my packaging and that I would check the video in an hour or two and get back to them. Almost immediately they messaged back saying they found the item in the box. (I now actually do this for most of my sales)
I know I’ve seen other members here have this problem once before, but I don’t remember the outcome. Hopefully one of them will chime in.
Unless you have photos or video of the cards being packed, it will end up being your words against his words and if it leads to a dispute, eBay will more likely side with the buyer. Unfortunately this is what sellers like us have to deal with. I know this doesn’t help but I just want you to know you’re not alone. In some instances, you just cough up the refund just to protect your rating. Keep us posted. Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback everyone! The buyer is still adamant that the card was not part of the package, unfortunately.
I thought about taking pictures of my packages in the past, but realistically, an ill-willed seller could abuse this form of documentation and nullify any credibility. Would eBay actually consider these pictures though?
Doesn’t matter if you’re seller or buyer, taking pictures right before shipping / right after receiving item is a great insurance if something has gone wrong during delivery.
I recently had my first bad deal on ebay, noticed right after unboxing that one very expensive card was total crap, not mint as mentioned in description. Took photos, send them to customer service and they agreed that I’m justified to send item back to seller + get refund. Everything went better than expected.
If you tell your side of the story and you have photos to back it up, eBay will consider it. Nowadays, before I ship an item to a buyer, I always take photos of the item and the actual package. There’s no telling when those photos will come in handy.
Thanks for the comments everyone, I will definitely take pictures of my transactions in the future since, if anything, it really could not hurt.
Vodka - I am sincerely hoping that my situation concludes in your scenario, but I think these decisions do not happen very often (from what I have researched so far). The buyer himself responds like a child so when coupled with his lack of evidence, I am hoping that eBay will at least recognize that I should not be at fault for this incident.
Not Zelda Gilroy - The buyer has double the feedback as mine, but he has 99.2%. I am at 100% (as of right now…) so I have been debating whether or not to risk for the possibility mentioned by vodka, or absorb the loss (which is relatively substantial) to protect my feedback score.
yea he was acting the same way and would not send the card back but at the end of the day he got both but I won too, ;D if hes acted that way it SHOULD go in your favour, hopefully
This situation is EXACTLY why I do not combine items from multiple auctions. If someone asks about combined shipping, I decline saying that separate auctions need to be kept separate. If they are previous customers/traders I may offer to make a future special auction (1 auction) containing the different items they want.
