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Attempted abuse of the return system and cancellation after shipping: how should we proceed?
Summary: The discussion started by teckwarehouse* concerns an attempt to abuse the return and cancellation system after a shipment. marioelegio responds but does not provide any further specific details.
Good morning everyone,
I’d like to share a surreal situation I’m dealing with with a buyer and ask for advice on how to definitively close the case.
A buyer contacts me to purchase a product worth €1169, asking for a discount for shipping to Poland. We agree on a total (item + shipping costs) of €1200, but I ask for a bit of time to adjust the price on the listing. He insists on going ahead with the order and then being refunded the amount over €1200. After replying twice that I wasn’t available for this kind of arrangement, he goes ahead anyway and buys the item at full price, asking me to refund him the excess. Even though I insisted that I had explicitly asked him to wait, I issue the refund out of fairness, since I had accepted a lower offer. Having therefore completed the sale, I proceed to purchase the shipping label (insured shipping paid €68) and mark the order as shipped, complete with the shipment tracking code.
After about half an hour, the buyer starts asking questions about the product, inventing issues about the authenticity of the item and claiming that the item (listed as new and sealed) had been opened and then resealed by me. For the record: the sealing of the item’s packaging is guaranteed by the manufacturer’s label, on which the product information is printed (serial number, model, production date, QR Code, etc.), so it would be very difficult (and illegal) to reproduce a label identical to the original. In any case, I still tried to explain and show him that the label is authentic and intact and that he would therefore receive what is stated in the listing: a new, sealed, original product.
Nothing worked, even after providing him with further photos (in addition to those already in the listing) and the purchase invoice, complete with the serial number corresponding to what is printed on the label and stated in the listing. He insisted that I cancel the order and refund the €1200 paid to him.
As I mentioned, however, the shipment has already been paid for and I can’t get a refund if I cancel it, because the courier’s terms and conditions don’t allow it. I explain to the buyer that I can refund him the total minus the shipping costs I incurred, but he won’t hear of it and, while on the one hand he expressly tells me not to send him the item because he doesn’t want it, on the other hand he threatens to open a dispute and obtain a full refund for item not received.
Has any of you ever obtained from eBay an off-the-record closure of a transaction in the presence of explicit threats of retaliatory feedback or abuse of the protection system?
I contacted eBay support to ask for clarification, but I was simply told to ship the order as if nothing had happened and then if the buyer makes a fuss they will step in.
I’m thinking of issuing a partial refund (total - €68) with the reason: cancelled by the buyer, but I don’t think that would protect me 100% because I still believe the order would remain pending shipment and not be cancelled, and I would still be exposed to the risk of having to return even the €68 paid for shipping.
Honestly, I don’t want to risk losing shipping costs and the item for a dishonest buyer and a rather slapdash customer service, what do you advise me to do?
Thanks
Nick
marioelegio
Mentore3 months agoEmettere un rimborso parziale ora non servirebbe a molto, se lui non accetta saresti poi costretto a pagare anche tutto quello che ora trattieni.
Considera le due possibilità:
Spedisci e attendi un'eventuale reso per una pretestuosa non conformità, se lui apre una controversia, devi fornire anche un'etichetta per il reso e rischi che ti spedisca l'oggetto aperto o danneggiato.
Attendi la richiesta di rimborso per oggetto non ricevuto e ci perdi i 68 euro, ma sei sicuro di avere in mano l'oggetto nelle sue condizioni originali. Se hai acquistato la spedizione su ebay, in caso di mancato utilizzo viene rimborsata da Packlink.
A volte bisogna accettare la soluzione che comporta meno danni, anche se la consideriamo ingiusta.
ciao
mario