Forum

How to deal with return?
 

I recently sold a mobile phone (unlocked and refurbished, with a slight blemish) on eBay, making sure to describe the item properly.

Anyway, the buyer has (very politely) asked if she can return it for a refund since she can't get a signal on her network and she's been trying for almost a week to get one.

She has 135 feedbacks, all positive (but all as a buyer, so it doesn't really mean anything).

So is there anything I should do to protect myself here? I think she's probably genuine, and I don't mind refunding her if that's the case, but I recently had a run-in with a partial refund scammer and discovered that PayPal always side with the buyer, regardless of the facts.

So what should I do?

did your advert except returns?

You answered your own question. Its eBay and PayPal so may as well get it returned. You cant stop a buyer who wants a return. Get it back and resell.

Thats meaningless. I never understand how people think they can sell on eBay and not take returns. No such thing. If a buyer wants a return and a refund they get one. Saying they cant doesn't stop them....

A polite buyer with 135 feedbacks - some trust on eBay. When in doubt, pull the registration info and call. I do this - people do this to me too. I like live convo - as long as seller isn't scamming you also build trust and encourage him/her/it/they to return for other potential business.

I had someone buy a collectible from 3 months ago for 500 or so - she e-mailed me saying that it was not what she had wanted and asked for refund. I politely accepted and said that I would like to speak with her first - accepted, spoke for 30 min. Long story short, she kept the item, bought some other things from me and e-mails me regularly looking for things. Very pleasant and polite.

You have to accept the return. You can resell it? Always make the buyer feel like they are in control. Don't jepodise your account for a refund.

Thanks for the replies everyone. She seems trustworthy enough, but I suppose I'm just a bit on edge because of my run-in with the scammer, and I was certain that it worked when I sent it out.

I suppose we'll see when it gets here...