How to deal with unpleasant ebay seller?

[vong]

So I bought a Fractal Define R5 as it was advertised and received an R3 . Contacted the seller and told them the wrong case was sent. They told me I should just accept it and it's 'practically the same'. I refused and opened up a return case. After some arguing the seller agreed to a return but wouldn't pay for it. I agreed to pay for half of the postage but they refused to send me half so I sent it via COD and the seller has told me they will not accept the return and it will be sent back to me. I've told them that I will not accept it either.

 

I've done everything I should have. Made contact, initiated a return and they agreed, they refused to pay return postage but I sent it anyway. I still have the receipt and form for the return. Made a dispute with paypal and escalated the situation. 

 

Who do you guys think is in the right here? The seller was extremely unpleasant about this whole thing and have even gone as far as using my email to sign up for a bunch of spam mail. Anything I can do about that?

[AshleyAshes]

Return shipping isn't guaranteed in an eBay deal and for cases that can get expensive. You shoulda negotiated for a partial or whole refund instead of a return.  eBays own policy enforcement would have likely concluded with a refund but I instead you decided to engage in a bizarre COD shipping war for some reason.

[vong]

Just now, AshleyAshes said:

Return shipping isn't guaranteed in an eBay deal and for cases that can get expensive. You shoulda negotiated for a partial or whole refund instead of a return.  eBays own policy enforcement would have likely concluded with a refund but I instead you decided to engage in a bizarre COD shipping war for some reason.

I sent it back for a refund. It's not what I bought and paid for. I didn't start any sort of war. I was willing to pay half of the return postage but they absolutely refused to do so.

I made my case with paypal so hopefully they side with me. It's been sent, there's tracking (of some sort) if she refuses it then it'll come back to me and I will refuse then it'll sit at a depot waiting for collection. Someone is going to lose and I sure as hell hope it's not me. I paid $150 for an R5 not an R3.

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, vong said:

I was willing to pay half of the return postage but they absolutely refused to do so.

I wouldn't even have offered that. Fuck that seller. Under no circumstance should you have to pay to send back the completely wrong item. 

 

[vong]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

I wouldn't even have offered that. Fuck that seller. 

They were very nice about the sale but after I told her that it's not an R5 this is what she responded with

 

" Well I'm sorry about that but I'm not going to accept a return. The design is almost identical and will suit your needs. I stated on the listing no returns and on top of that you convinced me to offer postage despite not wanting to.
I'm sorry to be harsh but this has happened to me in the past as well and you will just need to accept it. I am not willing to fork out an additional $42 postage to get back an item that I stated no returns.
Might I also add that if I had waited for your payment to clear from PayPal then you still would not have the item as it is still pending."

 

My response

" Guess I'll take thing up with ebay then if this is how you're going to react to this situation. I have the rights to return for a refund because I didn't receive what was in the lisitng. I don't care how identical they are, they're not the same.

I'll offer to pay half of the return postage if you agree to not have this escalate any further."

 

Then her again

" Excuse me, but I have every right to 'react' whichever way I want; and threatening me is just childish. I am trying to be accommodating to you, I lowered the price for you, posted the same day as you made the payment (despite not listing it for postage and NOTING I still haven't even received the cleared payment yet, how do I know that it isn't going to bounce!) and I even offered to include extra things.
This is why I didn't wish to offer postage for the exact reason of someone not being happy with the sale; but you need to understand that mistakes happen and you need to live with it.
Further saying "I don't care how identical they are", it has no impact on its usage and doesn't limit you in terms of hardware compared to the R5. Therefore, I will give you the full refund, but I will not be paying for return postage that will be your responsibility."

 

We had a little back an forth about the return cost then she said

" That's what I'm saying after I get it back in the mail you will be refunded. Now stop being hard to deal with, you have caused me enough issues over 2 less USB ports!"

 

I didn't trust her after all the whole thing and that last part just tipped me over the edge.

[79wjd]

6 minutes ago, vong said:

They were very nice about the sale but after I told her that it's not an R5 this is what she responded with

 

-snip-

Talk about a bitch. Luckily for you, the "not accepting returns" doesn't hold much water when they intentionally mis-represent the item they're selling. You paid for an R5 and got an R3. Ebay will 100% side with you because that's plain bullshit right there. She clearly listed it as an R5 hoping to get more attention and more money from an older case. 

 

Honestly, I would never have offered to pay any amount of return shipping on that. It was clear what her intentions were and there's no way I'd pay for someone else being a cunt. 

 

Out of curiosity, what pictures were listed on ebay? Was it of the case you got or generic pictures? 

[mmaatt747]

6 minutes ago, vong said:

 

 

If she really did sign your email address up to receive SPAM, she shouldn't be calling YOU childish.

[XenosTech]

8 minutes ago, vong said:

They were very nice about the sale but after I told her that it's not an R5 this is what she responded with

 

" Well I'm sorry about that but I'm not going to accept a return. The design is almost identical and will suit your needs. I stated on the listing no returns and on top of that you convinced me to offer postage despite not wanting to.
I'm sorry to be harsh but this has happened to me in the past as well and you will just need to accept it. I am not willing to fork out an additional $42 postage to get back an item that I stated no returns.
Might I also add that if I had waited for your payment to clear from PayPal then you still would not have the item as it is still pending."

 

My response

" Guess I'll take thing up with ebay then if this is how you're going to react to this situation. I have the rights to return for a refund because I didn't receive what was in the lisitng. I don't care how identical they are, they're not the same.

I'll offer to pay half of the return postage if you agree to not have this escalate any further."

 

Then her again

" Excuse me, but I have every right to 'react' whichever way I want; and threatening me is just childish. I am trying to be accommodating to you, I lowered the price for you, posted the same day as you made the payment (despite not listing it for postage and NOTING I still haven't even received the cleared payment yet, how do I know that it isn't going to bounce!) and I even offered to include extra things.
This is why I didn't wish to offer postage for the exact reason of someone not being happy with the sale; but you need to understand that mistakes happen and you need to live with it.
Further saying "I don't care how identical they are", it has no impact on its usage and doesn't limit you in terms of hardware compared to the R5. Therefore, I will give you the full refund, but I will not be paying for return postage that will be your responsibility."

 

We had a little back an forth about the return cost then she said

" That's what I'm saying after I get it back in the mail you will be refunded. Now stop being hard to deal with, you have caused me enough issues over 2 less USB ports!"

 

I didn't trust her after all the whole thing and that last part just tipped me over the edge.

This is why I'm skeptical about buying stuff from ebay.. I mean I want used stuff but ebay is so fishy at times that I just fork out money to amazon for something completely new.

[vong]

4 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Talk about a bitch. Luckily for you, the "not accepting returns" doesn't hold much water when they intentionally mis-represent the item they're selling. You paid for an R5 and got an R3. Ebay will 100% side with you because that's plain bullshit right there. She clearly listed it as an R5 hoping to get more attention and more money from an older case. 

 

Honestly, I would never have offered to pay any amount of return shipping on that. It was clear what her intentions were and there's no way I'd pay for someone else being a cunt. 

She thought it was an R5 the whole time she's had it. I even had to tell her to look up a review of an R5 to see the differences and that's when she sent that first response I posted. She said it's been sent in the original box, as soon as I saw it I immediately knew it wasn't an R5. It even says Fractal Define R3 on the box.

I only offered to pay half the postage because of this mistake but yeah she was being a huge bitch about it.

4 minutes ago, mmaatt747 said:

If she really did sign your email address up to receive SPAM, she shouldn't be calling YOU childish.

Right? I'd retaliate but I don't want to provoke her any further. I just unsubscribed from the spam.

[AG1233]

She is defentitly in the wrong here.Even if they are the same identical shit in the world I still wouldn't accept a R3 if I bought a R5.I am not familiar with eBay policies but I dont think you can lose this.

 

Something similar happened to me once with Amazon.I initated a refund and the seller didn't contact me until the due date.On the due date they message me they cant initiated a refund since deadline has passed.Filed a claim with Amazon.I got my 15 bucks back as well as got to keep the item. 

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, vong said:

She thought it was an R5 the whole time she's had it. I even had to tell her to look up a review of an R5 to see the differences and that's when she sent that first response I posted. She said it's been sent in the original box, as soon as I saw it I immediately knew it was an R5. It even says Fractal Define R3 on the box.

That raises so many questions.....Is she oblivious, just plain dumb, or lying to cover her ass? 

[vong]

Just now, AG1233 said:

She is defentitly in the wrong here.Even if they are the same identical shit in the world I still wouldn't accept a R3 if I bought a R5.I am not familiar with eBay policies but I dont think you can lose this.

 

Something similar happened to me once with Amazon.I initated a refund and the seller didn't contact me until the due date.On the due date they message me they cant initiated a refund since deadline has passed.Filed a claim with Amazon.I got my 15 bucks back as well as got to keep the item. 

Exactly I would never buy an R3 not even for $50. I opened a case with ebay but because I opened one with paypal as well the ebay one got closed automatically. So i dunno what's going to happen. It's false advertisement but I'm worried about the case not getting delivered as I'm sure paypal needs to know if she got it back.

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

That raises so many questions.....Is she oblivious, just plain dumb, or lying to cover her ass? 

Going from the responses I got I'd say she's dumb.

[AG1233]

4 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

That raises so many questions.....Is she oblivious, just plain dumb, or lying to cover her ass? 

I would say she is prob lying no matter how dumb you are.How can you not tell a R5 from a R3 being written on the box.Its not like its written on a corner in small font size.

[79wjd]

7 minutes ago, AG1233 said:

I would say she is prob lying no matter how dumb you are.How can you not tell a R5 from a R3 being written on the box.Its not like its written on a corner in small font size.

Some people are truly oblivious to everything that goes on around them though.....

 

The problem is, that either she bought it herself, in which case, she would know what she got. Or someone else bought it, in which case she'd have no idea what it was and would have to look it up/look at the box. So I'm far more inclined to believe she was just lying to get it to sell, but it is still possible she's an oblivious moron.

[vong]

3 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Some people are truly oblivious to everything that goes on around them though.....

 

The problem is, that either she bought it herself, in which case, she would know what she got. Or someone else bought it, in which case she'd have no idea what it was and would have to look it up/look at the box. So I'm far more inclined to believe she was just lying to get it to sell, but it is still possible she's an oblivious moron.

It seems like she bought it from some second-hand store as I saw some sort of label on the box. I'd say she didn't have much of a clue as apparently the invoice she got said R5 on it. 

 

It was ridiculous, her listing even had pictures of an R5.

[Tieox]

Have you an address? how many catalogues can you send with receiver paying postage? and not including a return address.

 

 

[dalekphalm]

No matter what a seller states in their listings, if they send the item not as described (Eg: The wrong item), then you are entitled to a refund.

 

Usually, you can get free return shipping, but not always.

 

@vong the only thing you did wrong was sending the return package as COD without getting her agreement. If she refuses to pay return shipping, you should have escalated it again back to eBay, saying you should not have to pay return shipping for her obvious mistake.

 

They likely would have agreed with you, and sided in your favour.

 

Now? I have no idea. You'll probably be on the hook for whatever fees the courier charges to return the package to you. After that, you might still be able to get eBay to force the seller to pay for return shipping.

 

You should have kept your cool and not jumped the gun. She had no requirement to accept the COD charges, especially since it wasn't part of an eBay dispute settlement.

[vong]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

No matter what a seller states in their listings, if they send the item not as described (Eg: The wrong item), then you are entitled to a refund.

 

Usually, you can get free return shipping, but not always.

 

@vong the only thing you did wrong was sending the return package as COD without getting her agreement. If she refuses to pay return shipping, you should have escalated it again back to eBay, saying you should not have to pay return shipping for her obvious mistake.

 

They likely would have agreed with you, and sided in your favour.

 

Now? I have no idea. You'll probably be on the hook for whatever fees the courier charges to return the package to you. After that, you might still be able to get eBay to force the seller to pay for return shipping.

 

You should have kept your cool and not jumped the gun. She had no requirement to accept the COD charges, especially since it wasn't part of an eBay dispute settlement.

Yeah I probably shouldn't have done the COD but she flatout refused to cover shipping and I wasn't really in the mood to keep arguing, I just wanted it gone. Ebay stated that the seller was responsible for shipping. I wasn't going to send it back with my own money because I didn't know how or if I'd get the cost back. I wish paypal would get back to me faster as I'm afraid the package might be gone by now. Think I'll drop by the post office to see if they still have it and cancel the COD.

[AshleyAshes]

25 minutes ago, vong said:

Yeah I probably shouldn't have done the COD but she flatout refused to cover shipping and I wasn't really in the mood to keep arguing, I just wanted it gone. 

Yeah, the smart money would have been to be calm and rational and await for eBays resolution system to make a decision.  Instead you condemned it to possible postal limbo and put a refund at risk.  I'm really baffled by what you hoped to achieve by sending it out without a confirmed receiver or anything.  You should have just been patient instead of acting recklessly 

[dalekphalm]

28 minutes ago, vong said:

Yeah I probably shouldn't have done the COD but she flatout refused to cover shipping and I wasn't really in the mood to keep arguing, I just wanted it gone. Ebay stated that the seller was responsible for shipping. I wasn't going to send it back with my own money because I didn't know how or if I'd get the cost back. I wish paypal would get back to me faster as I'm afraid the package might be gone by now. Think I'll drop by the post office to see if they still have it and cancel the COD.

If it hasn't left the post office yet, I would get it back, and wait for eBay to respond. If it's already on it's way, I would wait for eBay to respond about the resolution, and if they make the seller pay for return shipping, reply immediately with the tracking info for COD delivery.

 

Also, I hope to sweet god that the package has tracking AND insurance.

 

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Yeah, the smart money would have been to be calm and rational and await for eBays resolution system to make a decision.  Instead you condemned it to possible postal limbo and put a refund at risk.  I'm really baffled by what you hoped to achieve by sending it out without a confirmed receiver or anything.  You should have just been patient instead of acting recklessly 

This kind of thing happens all the time. People get frustrated or angry - or simply have the "the customer is always right" mentality - those ones are the worst. They don't think through the situation rationally.

[AshleyAshes]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

This kind of thing happens all the time. People get frustrated or angry - or simply have the "the customer is always right" mentality - those ones are the worst. They don't think through the situation rationally.

But eBay almost always sides with the customer.  She listed one thing, she sent another thing, if she wouldn't refund then you file with eBay and calmly wait.  Include photos of what she really sent as proof.  99% odds he'd have a full refund and a free R3.  Instead he decided to try and screw all of that up for some insane reason.

[XenosTech]

4 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

If it hasn't left the post office yet, I would get it back, and wait for eBay to respond. If it's already on it's way, I would wait for eBay to respond about the resolution, and if they make the seller pay for return shipping, reply immediately with the tracking info for COD delivery.

 

Also, I hope to sweet god that the package has tracking AND insurance.

 

This kind of thing happens all the time. People get frustrated or angry - or simply have the "the customer is always right" mentality - those ones are the worst. They don't think through the situation rationally.

But in this case the buyer is right (though he should have kept his cool about it) but honestly I'd be livid if I bought a case and got and older version of it... And at that point when they started being bitchy and signed me up for spam I would have accidentally doxed her, but that's just me.

[vong]

6 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Yeah, the smart money would have been to be calm and rational and await for eBays resolution system to make a decision.  Instead you condemned it to possible postal limbo and put a refund at risk.  I'm really baffled by what you hoped to achieve by sending it out without a confirmed receiver or anything.  You should have just been patient instead of acting recklessly 

Look man I got frustrated and wanted the damn thing out of my hands.

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

If it hasn't left the post office yet, I would get it back, and wait for eBay to respond. If it's already on it's way, I would wait for eBay to respond about the resolution, and if they make the seller pay for return shipping, reply immediately with the tracking info for COD delivery.

 

Also, I hope to sweet god that the package has tracking AND insurance.

 

This kind of thing happens all the time. People get frustrated or angry - or simply have the "the customer is always right" mentality - those ones are the worst. They don't think through the situation rationally.

Just went there and they said it's gone. I'm going to call around and try to get them to send it back to me before it leaves the state. I'll happily pay for that mistake.

[dalekphalm]

6 minutes ago, vong said:

Look man I got frustrated and wanted the damn thing out of my hands.

Just went there and they said it's gone. I'm going to call around and try to get them to send it back to me before it leaves the state. I'll happily pay for that mistake.

You're best bet is to call the toll free service number for the courier, but there might not be anything they can do about it. You could simply try calling eBay and getting a status update over the phone.

[vong]

Thought I'd update this and say Paypal closed the case in my favour. Luckily the case was decided before the package reached it's destination.

 

@dalekphalm Thanks for the advice, will keep calm and think it through next time something like this happens.