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Sold brand new and sealed item, buyer claiming faulty
 

Buyer has also confirmed it was fully sealed with security seal when arrived however is claiming the good keeps shutting down. Im fairly certain this item comes with full manufacturers warranty. How should i go about sorting this issue out? Thanks.

edit he also left + feedback first thing when receiving it.

Allow buyer to return for replacement or refund. Why would you consider doing anything but this?

If sold as a business then you have to offer 7 day returns policy (possible 14, not sure when that all changes).

He will be able to complain to EB that the item is not as described, so even if yours is a personal account, so I would advice offering a replacement or a refund and then getting the item fixed/replaced and selling again, or you can suggest to your buyer that he can have it replaced/fixed as per the manufacturers warranty himself.

yea this.. return, refund. its your job to do any mfg claims not the customers.

anything other then this and you are toast, and you screwed the customer.. not cool.

it sucks but its true, you can try to suggest having them call the mfg but it could make the buyer upset, which isnt worth the risk

I'd send a return label and refund or replace. I always look at their EB FB and make decisions on if they appear to be honest or not. It's cool he left +FB despite the problem, but in my paranoid mind that could be part of his scam to see what he can get for free from you. Then again, at least he wasn't a (insert your favorite word/phrase here) leaving you Neg FB w/o communicating you first.

Is it ok to tell the customer i will give a full refund less the delivery costs, that seems reasonable right?

If the item really is faulty, then you should offer a full refund including the delivery cost. A lot of sellers (myself sometimes included) even offer to refund the buyers return postage costs.

It was fully sealed and also had the retail seal which says do not accept if seal broken. Now it also said in the listing to returns. If the item comes with manufacturers warranty why cant the buyer send it back the mftr?

If he complains to ebay that the item is faulty and i am a personal seller which clearly stated no returns and sold 2 of these all fully sealed, where do i stand?

They can do, but if they dispute it with PP or EB, PP or EB will find in their favour and will give them a 100% refund, and you may then get negative FB from buyer for it as well. Sometimes better to cut losses, offer a full refund and have it fixed yourself.

headed down the wrong path man.... but you seem to really want to go this route.

you'll see where it ends. :yar:

Nope, you are a cheapskate to do that.

Be a gracious seller and go that extra yard to earn the already given positive feedback.

Avoid being petty with issues like this

:juggle:

Right i see where you guys are coming from. Although the buyer has agreed to send back the item and expect a refund less the express delivery charge.

there you go, thats more like it!

Make a deal with him give him something off for his troubles and let him choose what he wants to do

Call me petty but I have had 4 of these so far.....I cant make any money if a customer is just returning a once new laptop where nothing is really wrong with it. I always test them and if they do work I charge a restocking fee. Out of 4 of these returns, only 1 was actually defective and I issued a full refund.

You cant really fight with the customer if you dont have a return policy stated.

I'll bite my tounge and let a customer keep a 20$ mouse instead of returning it but a high ticket item that cant be sold as new because a customer decided to window shop, no way.

Not sure of the value of the item in question though.

So the 3 that weren't defective, what did you do, refund the buyer?

First reply can often be the best - Ebayorbust is spot on.

The OP was talking about a SEALED and BRAND NEW item. He has different rights under UK law.

Did you notice his flag as it makes a difference for advice.
Always keep in mind replies should be on a case by case basis.
:spy:

No matter if item is sealed or not you sold the item and you are responsible for it working.

Have them return it to make sure it works or not.

Refund them the amount in full and return shipping.

They are not responsible for the return shipping UNLESS it comes back to you and it is in fact working.

When this happens with me I just have them return it or if it is a small amount items not worth shipping back I tell them to keep it or toss it and refund in full.

Keep them happy!!!

I've received the item, i must say it was nicely returned with padding and all. But i cant find anything wrong with it. I have informed the customer however will still like to hear back more before i issue the refund. Any suggestions on what to do in this case in terms of sorting the item out or reselling it in its current state (who knows if its actually faulty).

Giving the buyer a hard time, just wait till It's the other way around.

You have the item back, nothing seems missing, refund the buyer.

Why not just refund the customer and send it back to the manufacturer since its under warranty ?

Just give them the refund already!

Amen.

Refund.

Move on.

Sell more.

Rinse and repeat.

:juggle:

DING DING DING

i do this with hard drives all the time, oh sorry your hard drive crapped out on you in under 6 months. let me slap a new one in here you go have a nice day.

then i send the broken one back and get a new replacement.

that's how manufacturers' warranty stuff works.

Exactly and that's how you can get repeat customers. Customer service.

This is the nature of selling cheap electronics. You should already expect this to happen occasionally as the cost of doing business. Let the customer return it, and you can send it yourself to the manufacturer to get a replacement. This should help cut your losses.

^ well I'm not sure if you read the whole thread, but yeah, definitely refund him... that should go without saying!!!

As far as faulty stuff, it's not really the nature of "cheap" electronics BTW. Unfortunately a fair share of new Dell, Lenovo and HP business grade laptops (usually expensive and high end machines) show up with defects. Though this is probably because there is so much assembly - and, an identical model and config may be assembled with any one of 3 or more different (but similarly spec'd) screens, hard drives etc manufactured by different companies.

You don't see many faults with Apple products, and generally individual parts such as RAM and HDDs are very consistent. But herein lies your other problem: even if you're selling a clock radio, some idiots can't figure out how to use the snooze button. With individual PC parts, and I'm guessing a lot of cheaper stuff from China, the item will be more susceptible to a buyer wrongly opening a SNAD case because they can't figure out how to use the damn thing, and we all know whose going to win there...

Refund and re sell the item.

Just to remove the hassle of it and move on.

I get this once in a while and just refund people and move on. I always look and see they turned around and bought the same item cheaper and lied about it but for me, I refund and re sell.

Not worth hassling over.

I buy a lot of closeouts, shelf pulls etc and get boxes with some minor edge damage and always show pictures etc and explain in detail but I always get that one idiot who believes if the box is bad the item inside is also.

Refund straight away, keep him happy and you are more likely to receive a positive feedback.

Any delays might result in a negative feedback.

As others have said re sell it or send it back to the manufacturer.......

Refund! Return to MFG and move on with life (and sales) and it will eventually balance out again. That is our job as a seller to get the item replaced. Now if it was beyond return date that is another story.

I advertise 14 day return policy, however in reality it is as long as 45 days...

Accept the return and offer a FULL REFUND, including the REASONABLE cost of shipping the item back to you. No need to pay for overnighting a return.

The thing is, upsetting the buyer will only earn you a negative feedback and draw scrutiny to your account. eBay/PayPal/Amazon will give the buyer their money back and tell them to return the item anyway, so you gain nothing by making a big deal about it - in fact, YOU LOSE!

That is just the way it is. And I don't really disagree with it. As a buyer, I don't want to be stuck with someone else's problems. If the listing says an item is in working condition, then it needs to be in working condition. I never complain about small stuff, but if I bought a laptop in working condition, and when it arrived it was DOA, I'd be upset if the seller refused a refund.

When I list used items, I always list EVERY SINGLE DEFECT and try to use as many pictures as possible. I am also PAINFULLY HONEST in my descriptions. That avoids a lot of these problems. And I NEVER refuse a refund or a replacement request, unless the item was bought a long time ago.

I advertise 30 days but will stretch that to 60 days when necessary. Remember, CHARGEBACKS are a possibility for up to 180 days! And you want to avoid those like the plague. PayPal will debit your account for the amount of the chargeback and may even charge you a fee if they feel you were at fault. On Amazon, your "defect rate" will skyrocket under their new points system. A chargeback or A-Z claim is considered a SEVERE problem.

Nobody likes refunding money or accepting returns. I know I don't. But, if you are operating professionally, you just have to deal with it sometimes.