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Paypal dispute: item not as described HELP!!!!!!
 

I recently sold a used machine unit on ebay for about $1000 USD, I shipped the unit with Proof of delivery. The item was located in Asia and being used so obviously the voltage is different than the US. The seller did not ask anything in the first place about the voltage, and he argued that I did not describe the voltage in my listing clearly. So the seller filed a compliant as item not as described and hoped for a refund. I have 6 days left to response to ebay.

Any suggestions guys?
Am I going to lose?
Should I close my paypal account?
Will there be any collection agencies coming after me if I lose?

What did the listing say?
What is your policy about returns/refunds?

More importantly WHAT do you want to do about making things right?

Give some more info & we can see what to say :peace:

in my listing i clearly stated that the item was Used and located in Asia so obviously the voltage is different. He msged me and said it wouldnt work in the US so i told him that the problem can be resolved if you buy a step up transformer. I even told him that i can ship him or he can buy it and show me the receipt afterwards ,but he never replied to my msg. he was like i only have two chocies, refund and he will leave me a postitive feedback or he will file a claim which he will win.

I dont accept returns as stated in my listing.

i dont want to refund to the buyer, since he is not making any sense.

thank you so much for your help

That was a wise choice.

Why should that be obvious? You have made an miscalculation: YOU thought a buyer would realize something you did not explain. As the seller, you should have outlined precise info. Note saying the buyer is not to blame. I guess his greed took over. You must list the item accurately especially with items like this & in that price range. :ranger:
I gather you ain't been selling very long: don't you know anything about customer service? Back track a bit. There's not buyer in the world that is going to take a $1000 loss: you contributed to it as he did with his stupidity.
Compromise: work out a solution. Eat a bit of humble pie.
Your last two suggestions are silly: paypal does not close accounts with disputes. As for collections, that's another issue. :peace:

Making threats with feedback is frowned upon by eBay, you may want to contact them. If paypal decides in your favor, which they probably will if everything you're saying is accurate, then don't worry about it.


Have you tried to just send him a transformer? That's what he needs for it to work.... bite the bullet and take the loss on the transformer.

i suggested to send him a tranformer but he never replied..lol..do u think i would win?

I tried my best to resovle the problem with him.I suggested to send him a transformer but he never replied me back. by the way, he could have asked before placing an offer to my item right?

:nono: You should have been more accurate in describing the item.
Try the buyer again and offer the transformer. Don't sit back & think it will be OK,lol. Do something so you can show paypal you went out of your way for resolution lol.
paypal are known to side with buyers Be careful

"Making threats with feedback is frowned upon by eBay, you may want to contact them."

Just thought that you should all know what an ebay rep wrote me two days ago regarding "feedback extortion". It sounded like a programmed response so I think this might be new policy.

I sold an item to someone who found out that the item was NOT a steal like he thought but priced fairly. He wanted to send it back for refund. I said ok, send it back. He then wrote me via the ebay messaging system saying that he'd give me a NEGATIVE if I didn't lower the price about $50 and he would keep it, or, if refunding only, if he didn't get the discount he'd give me a negative. I sent the ebay messaging system email to ebay and suggested that this was feedback extortion because I described the item correctly, offered a full refund and abided by my auction tenets. The guy DID leave me a negative saying "item not as described". Ebays response-----"telling a seller that one would leave negative feedback because of a pending refund (that was promptly given upon receipt) is NOT feedback extortion but buyer frustration".

My negative stands because I wouldn't give the buyer a refund of $50 and let him keep the item but instead gave him a full refund when he returned the item.

GO FIGURE!!!

so u guys think i would lose at the end?

If you're nice to this person, I don't think most people are out to rip off sellers. Paypal will probably go in his favor.

the buyer didnt ask anything before placing an offer as mentioned, and blaming me for not describing the item correctly. He was arguing that the machine wouldnt work. But as you guys could see, the machine works in his message just that he is worried about the life of machine will be shortern after using the step up transformer to convert the voltage. I think his arguments are really weak.

here is the buyer's response

"As I said before,the issue here is not just one of converting 110v to 220v.If the machine were rated 50/60hz as many "universal" appliances using a step up converter might be ok.This unit is not.It is rated at 50hz only.Ramping up the voltage is going to cause a 17-20% increase in the motor speed.This does not make it more efficient as you said.It will shorten the life of the motor and create a potential professional liability issue to the user.If the unit were to malfunction, speed up, force the product to escape faster etc. the clients skin/face could be injured perhaps worse.Step up converters that could handle BD's current are not particularly expensive.To get a converter that also provides 50hz are very expensive. The least expensive one was in the $800 range up to over $2000.Are you prepared to provide one of those? You were(still are in fact)advertising medical equip. that may wear prematurely and cause physical harm.Do the right thing,allow me to return it and accept the praise"

what do u guys think?

thanks

refer this email to paypal as evidence...

however paypal almost always sides with buyer, so return and refund may be the option they give you, however that may include you having to refund shipping both ways, so have you considered a compromise with buyer, maybe a discount/partial refun to shut them up....this option sometimes works..

his response is visable so ebay could read it.

He wants a full refund so i think partial refund is not going to work for him.

Just not sure how i should argue with him so ebay would favor me at the end.

any suggestions guys?

thanks a lot

He doesn't know what he's talking about the cycle rates, or the transformer. He's a moron. Or a lessoff if you will.....

It's going to be up to PayPal. Have you tried to call PayPal? If you can get someone over the phone and plead your case, that's probably your best bet. I'm not sure if that will work, but it's worth a shot.

if i offer a refund to the buyer now before he escalates a claim, do i need to pay for the shipping fee?

what if i ended up losing the claim, am i going to be responsible for the shipping fee?

thanks a lot

youd be surprised that people accept partial refund if they get to keep item....

no dont offer shipping if its not a dispute yet..

the buyer opened a dispute already...so am i responsible for the shipping fee?

thanks

Probably, but the buyer will need to ship it back.

actually the buyer opened the dispute from ebay not paypal. Is there going to be any difference?

btw i asked the manufacturer and they said the machine will work in north america by using a 110 volt / 4 Amp transformer or a even larger Amp.

As GB said, you were listing on Ebay Canada an item that was from Asia and did not clearly state the item details to avoid confusion. You can not assume anything when it comes to Ebay or what will buyer see or not see.. I believe you will lose dispute and PayPal will side with a buyer if you dispute.
Like Ooompa said, your best bet is to try and level with the buyer and offer some discount as it would save on shipping to both of you.

If the buyer is still stubborn, my advise is to accept the return, save yourself a negative, learn from it and than relist properly, so that it is clear what you are selling and what voltage the machine is designed for, where it will work , where not, and how it will work. You may even get more for it than the first time around, you never know...Just my 2 cents.:typing:

Offer the buyer a return for full refund.
Normally the buyer has to pay for this.
Paypal gives them a deadline to provide tracking and if the don't meet the deadline you win. You got at least a 50% chance that the buyer will not want to shell out the cash to ship the return , or not want the hassle.
Shipping from USA to Asia is normally twice as expensive as Asia to USA.
I think this is your best chance to avoid a total loss ..