posted on October 1, 2000 01:52:18 AM new
I have been accused by a customer of fraud--I feel it is because he does not like the item and I have refused to refund his money. He states that I lied before and after the auction...I did not and he did not contact me until it was over--am i legaly obligated to refund money ..I understand that a bid is a legal contract and he should have asked questions BEFORE not after her ruined a very expensive auction--please let me know what I am supposed to do.
posted on October 1, 2000 02:07:16 AM new
IMO, you need to step back and look at the whole thing objectively: did the item you sent match the picture and description in your auction? Did you accurately describe any flaws or problems? If you can objectively answer these with a "yes," and are comfortable that the bidder is truly suffering a case of buyer remorse, then you don't "have" to refund his money.
But there are still things to consider, even then: do you want to have the probable negative in your feedback file that accuses you of fraud? Do you want the "good will" that might be garnered by refunding his money?
To my mind, there's always a little bit more than purely "what's legal" to think about.
posted on October 1, 2000 02:34:10 AM new
hi thanks for the reply, I did not misrepresent in any way ---he is saying it is not a bronze and is not as old as I said it was. I stated in the ad that the man i purchased it from said it was a bronze but that i had never seen bronze in this form and to use your own judgement. As to its age, I still feel it is from the 30's as i stated in my auction and when he asked after the auction. He has already left horrible feedback so what do i have to loose ----if i am not legally liable to refund his money--This was an expensive item and I lost a sale from the other bidder paid ebay fees and underestimated shipping so that cost me about 10 more dollars...
posted on October 1, 2000 04:12:45 AM new
I think you should have refunded. Why? Because the customer cannot hold the item in his hand and make a judgement as to whether or not it is bronze until AFTER he pays for it. To avoid these sorts of problems a more definitive opinion about the item would have helped IMO.
posted on October 1, 2000 04:17:13 AM new
I can't say wrong or right...all I know is, you have the $$ the bidder has ALREADY negged, andyou should suck up the neg and keep the $$!
JMHO
Keithq
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on October 1, 2000 05:15:15 AM new
Sorry - but you just begged for trouble when you listed an expensive item and did not do your homework to be able to confidently describe it. You don't just say bronze and put it off on the guy you bought it from.
I would refund and beg for a better note under the neg. Would you buy ring that was descibed - 14kt gold not like any gold I have ever seen but that's what the seller told me?
No - It would be up to YOU to test it or if you don't know how ask an expert to help you before representing it in any way.
posted on October 1, 2000 06:58:15 AM new
You've been given some very good advice, and obviously there are sellers on both sides of the fence. My personal opinion is that you were very clear about what you did and didn't know about the piece, and the buyer chose to risk his money by bidding the amount that he did. When one bids on an auction with an "I'm not sure about this" description, then he'd best be prepared to accept the worst case scenario of what the item actually is. If the buyer wasn't prepared to accept that, then he should have asked more questions before the end of the auction or never bid on it. At most, I'd refund bid price only, since this is truly "buyer's remorse" and not a bad description, and let him absorb the cost of shipping both ways.
posted on October 1, 2000 08:12:18 AM new
I always try really hard to keep my customers happy , and do everything short of a bump n'grind to do that, but in this case, it is over, you got your feedback, no begging for a retraction or better comment necessary, and mooooooove on! You could just respond to his nasty feedback by saying..Item desc. accuratly, a case of buyers remorse. (period)
posted on October 1, 2000 08:17:10 AM new
I think dejavu has a very good point about the Buyer not being able to see and feel a piece before buying, and therefore needing to rely on the Sller's representations (description and photos) exclusively. I'd personally not bid (much, if anything) on a piece described as you described this, but this bidder did and ended up unhappy. Who is at fault? Hard to tell.
I've been in the situation myself where I bought something relying on the Seller's "I don't quite know" description and/or lousy photos, or out and out misrepresentation (intentional or not) and have ended up VERY unhappy. Where NOT misrepresented, I just chalked it up to one of those bits of experience that make me a savvier buyer, since the listing description did not TECHNICALLY lead me astray.
In the cases of misrepresentation (intentional or not -- usually damage worse than described), in almost all cases the Seller put up a fight about it and offered to refund *bid amount only.* It would have cost as much for the orig. + return postage as I was going to be refunded. Obviously, I opted not to take advantage of such *generous* refund policies, but each of those sellers went on my Don't Buy From Under Any Circumstances list. The won the sale and lost a customer. They also earned my enduring resentment.
Damage descriptions can be very subjective, of course, but I do think the common Seller practice of glossing over or substantially minimizing faults and damage is to blame here. Sellers hope to get bids by doing so, but apparently forget they have to deal with the Buyer later.
I personally don't see what it would hurt to refund the bid amount since you did NOT (as far as I can see) technically misrepresent this item. If you HAD misrepresented it, I'd say bid amount plus postage both ways.
As for buyer's remorse, I don't think that happens all that much, if at all. I think it's more likely people are unhappy with what they got because it wasn't what they were expecting. And who's responsibility is it to make sure that what they get is what they expected?
posted on October 1, 2000 03:04:03 PM new
There i8s a huge (30x) prive difference between real bronze and bronze plated items. Only a close-up inspection reveals the truth.
If this person could read your description and reasonably think it was Bronze, then yes, you committed a fraud.
I had a seller pull the same crap on me, selling me a plated brass item while stating "they think it is solid brass".
How did your description read? Did it say Bronze in the title?
posted on October 1, 2000 05:20:12 PM new
Just my opinion, so hopefully no one will bite my head off, but...there are a lot of buyers out there looking for that seller who doesn't know for sure what they have...looking for that great buy. Could it be that this buyer was willing to take the chance on the description, hoping to make a killing, and then was really disappointed when he/she got the item and found out it wasn't the steal they thought it could be? Sounds like a case of buyer's remorse.
Of course, I don't have all the facts. How long did this buyer give you before he/she negged you?
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
posted on October 1, 2000 05:36:24 PM new
How do you know that the item isn't really bronze after all? The buyer may be trying to get a reduced price on the real deal.
If you refund, have them return the item first and THEN refund. Then have it checked out by someone who knows about these types of things and then re-list it.
Edited to add:
And make sure that you get back the same item that you shipped to the buyer.
[ edited by abingdoncomputers on Oct 1, 2000 05:37 PM ]
posted on October 1, 2000 05:51:09 PM new
You should not refund the money if it is as you described " I was told it was bronze but ... " - That is very clear to me Buyer Beware ask questions etc. Plus he already got his refund with the negavtive. I would not do it if every thing is as you describe. It's easy to say that but I'm a pushover and have never refused a refund to anyone for any reason. But I have run some "as is" auctions in the past and "as is" means "as is" bid acordingly!
posted on October 1, 2000 05:57:06 PM new
Personally after I receive someone's money for an auction I send them an email that states "Your item has been shipped... Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. If you have any concerns after receiving your item, please email me." and I always refund the full amount if they are not satisfied. I think I have enough repeat customers to make up for any loss of having to give a couple of refunds along the way. I don't have any negatives so far, however if someone did give me negative feedback BEFORE they emailed me, then all deals would be off and the only thing they would get in return is negative feedback...but it hasn't happened yet (knocking on wood now...)
