Ebay item not as advertised - Should I expect a shipping refund?

LeeH · 03-07-2006, 06:41 AM

My wife bought a clarinet that was described in the Ebay auction as "as new." It arrived with a puddle of dried spit in the mouthpiece and two bent keys. The seller had a 7 day return policy, but was silent regarding shipping.

We returned the horn and requested a refund of shipping both ways. He returned the money for the horn only and no refund of any shipping money.

At this point we're out $36. He admits that the horn had the problem we mentioned. I'm about to contact him concerning shipping, but want to hear others opinions on what I should expect.

RickM · RickM's Garage

Does the 7 day policy specifically state shipping will be refunded? Either way I'd email and diplomatically TELL them a refund is in order for shipping as the auction was misleading.
Did you leave feedback yet?

Joeaksa · 03-07-2006, 07:31 AM

Would agree with Rick. Bent keys is not "as new" and push it. Of course Ebay is usually going to be of no help. Once they have your money they are worthless IMHO.

Joe

singpilot · 03-07-2006, 07:50 AM

My experience has been that you are lucky to get your money back at all. Push it if you want, you'll get no help from eBay. Even the feedback thing is worthless, they'll retaliate on you.

Buying on eBay is a crapshoot. Sometimes you break even, sometimes you lose.

cashflyer · 03-07-2006, 09:38 AM

I rarely buy on eBay any more. My friends and I have been bitten too many times by misrepresented car parts. And as mentioned, the eBay staff is completely useless.

This is really sad, though because I will be selling some parts on ebay this summer. How many potential customers will never bid because they feel just like I do?

Ebay really needs to clean up their business and get back that bidder confidence that has been missing. But they won't.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by LeeH
At this point we're out $36. He admits that the horn had the problem we mentioned. I'm about to contact him concerning shipping, but want to hear others opinions on what I should expect.

The item was misrepresented. You are due back all shipping. You can use the feedback as leverage. Retailiatory feedback should be expected, but you have the ability to place a response. When I see any negatives against a seller, I read the responses. Most people understand retailatory negatives and will overlook them.

I've been lucky, I guess... over 300 transactions on eBay and no negatives. But it's bound to happen eventually.

jeffgrant · 03-07-2006, 11:56 AM

I, too, have had excellent luck with eBay purchases... mostly for older computer hardware (Sun servers, etc).

The one time that I got something that was not as advertized (drives were 9GB insteadl of 36GB), I contacted the seller and we worked out compensation. (In my case, a huge reduction on 2 new items I bought from him).

As a buyer (over $4,000 last year), I take the feedback very seriously... if there's one negative in 2,000, then I take it with a grain of salt and understand that some buyers are knobs, pure and simple, and give the seller the benefit of the doubt.

If it's 1 in 50 or 100, different story. He doesn't have the track record to assuage my fears/concerns, so I don't buy from them.

I guess what I'm saying is don't underestimate the importance or impact of the feedback. At least in my case, it carries a lot of weight.

LeeH · 03-07-2006, 01:45 PM

I just talked to the seller on the phone. He was pretty reasonable and said he would refund shipping. After hanging up I realized that I didn't specify shipping both ways. We'll see what shows up in the Paypal account.

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by LeeH
I just talked to the seller on the phone. He was pretty reasonable and said he would refund shipping. After hanging up I realized that I didn't specify shipping both ways. We'll see what shows up in the Paypal account.

Paypal also won't get return shipping refunded. I recently filed a dispute with Paypal against a seller for shipping the wrong item. I won a Linksys router, but not the model they shipped. I sent it back as requested waited two weeks and no refund came to my Paypal acct. Paypal got my refund, but I lost $9 and change for return postage and delivery confirmation.

I left them negative feedback. But with the 100k feebacks they already had, they don't seem to care.

89911 · 03-08-2006, 02:59 AM

Take the money and chalk it up to experience. If there is no implied statement of money being paid for shipment back, just drop it. I buy and sell a lot of eBay and I'll bet you can ship the item for 1/2 of $36. These sellers try to pad their pockets with outrageous shipping prices, so don't use what they charged you as a guideline. If you feel badly about it, leave them negative feedback.

Having been on eBay for about 5 years, I'm afraid that what was initially a great community is being overrun by scam artist. I am right now in the process of getting a paypal refund on a monitor that I paid instantly for and the seller absolutely disappeared. During this search, I came across 2 other scams for the very same item. I think if you buy Porsche parts, you are mostly dealing with Porsche people who a generally honest. When you start going into mainstream items, (Ipod, xBox, etc) then you are inviting the opportunistic criminal elements. Funny thing about this is that one of the best prices I got for this monitor was off the Dell website.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Lee, if you're only out one-way shipping, consider yourself lucky and move on. I bought a Fender Twin Silverface on eBay about 5 yrs. ago and it cost me more to get it working as described in the auction than I paid for the amp AND this was after talking on the phone with the seller AND getting about $275 back from an eBay fraud complaint. Remember, eBay has Lloyd's of London to insure against fraud and there's something like a $200 deductible. So unless you're out big money, you're gonna eat it. I left neg. feedback and won my fraud complaint. But that didn't make much of a dent in the bill for new tubes, rebiasing, new speakers, etc.

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

I had a problem with a misrepresented item and the seller did the same thing concerning shipping. Flea-bay was no help and paypal could care less. I contacted my credit card company (used to pay paypal) and disputed the charges. Got 100% of my money back because the seller didn't respond to the dispute.

Don Ro · 03-11-2006, 09:24 PM

As others have said, Lee, you'll do well to get your refund, minus your cost to return.
.
I paid ~$150 for two Ducati rotors last month...advertised as "...like new condition."
They were rusted/pitted/corroded so badly that I figured the seller would just give me the run-around, so minutes after opening the box, I called VISA (used on my PayPal) and ordered the complaint forms.
Then I emailed the seller a few pics and my demand for full payment plus return shipping PRIOR to my returning them.
He stalled for a few days, then finally emailed me.
His story: "...I was on my death bed in the hospital w/food poisoning, my wife shipped the wrong ones."
He coughed up the money plus the return cost.
Anyway, VISA said they don't refund return shipping.
.