Thoughts/Opinions on this eBay Buyers Demands After A Failed Cherry-pick. Update In OP.
Rob41281
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Update:
Sent this response this morning and received a return request 2 minutes later. Will complete the return and block.
Since he decided to go through with the return and not eat his mistake I have left his eBay username visible for anyone who wants to block this future headache.
Sold a 1956 Quarter NGC MS66 on eBay last week for $40 plus shipping so $45 total. Shipped coin next day and was received yesterday. Here is the message I received today.
And here is the listing.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325094965506?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=jDn3nX84SGK&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=jDn3nX84SGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Now I have no problem with someone wanting a refund but the way this message was worded struck a nerve with me. A simple “ Hey, I’m not a fan of this coin after receiving it in hand, would you mind me returning it for a refund?” would’ve been just fine with me and a no questions asked refund. I’ve taken many chances over the years on eBay listings and never once returned an item that I guessed wrong on. It just rubs me the wrong way for this buyer to think he’s scoring an $800 cherry-pick for $40 and then complain and make demands when he’s wrong. I know I wouldn’t be receiving an extra $50-$100 from him if he was right.
I want to tell him no refund since he got exactly what the listing described and in no way tried portray it as a type B but I’m sure eBay would side with him anyway. Maybe it’s an overreaction on my part?
Comments
Politely tell him to go to Heck and return the coin. Then block him.
Slimy. I would tell him to ship the coin back and when I get it I will process the refund. Right after that I would block him. I have not sold anything on eBay in foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr and this is an example why. I never had problems with anyone when I did sell stuff on eBay but there are so many stories out there that are just plain frustrating that it turned me off from doing it any longer.
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Tell em to pound sand! What nerve..
I'de just give him his partial refund and get that transaction over with. But I would call eBay first, explain the situation and let them do the refund so it's set in stone and no more can he bother you.
EDIT: Or refund the whole price but pay return shipping.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
It’s getting to that point for me. Been selling for around 20 years and never had any issues until recently. Got my first neg a few months ago when buyer claimed I didn’t send him the coin from the listing he bought. He received the exact coin pictured but instead of contacting me and asking to return it he immediately posted the neg. When he said in the neg that he received a different coin from the listing I immediately thought he was setting me up to scam me out of a $1000 coin and not send me back the same coin I sent out. I assumed I was going to be out both money and coin but thankfully when it arrived back it was the correct coin. Unfortunately when I appealed to eBay to have it removed it was denied.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/rs8199/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
What's his username so I can block him too?
Just ask them to return it. You might be surprised and they keep it. It's the nature of retail. Sooner or later you'll run into a difficult customer.
Tell him you looked at your pictures, and you think he was right and the coin is the FS-901. Then tell him that according to Coinfacts, the last MS66 sold for $780, so you are going to send another invoice for the remaining $725. Since he is so concerned about paying exactly what the guide says, you are sure he will happily send the extra funds.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
I actually had a similar situation. Coin sold as raw and he wanted to return it because it wasn't pcgs slabbed. I told him it was never noted anywhere as slabbed but if he didn't want it, just start a return... No problem.
Never responded. Obviously decided to keep it after all.
https://www.the4thcoin.com
https://www.ebay.com/str/thefourthcoin
I do NOT have a lot of experience with eBay. I hope that no one will mind a question.
The "abusive buyer policy" states that partial refunds without a return is prohibited.
Source: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/rules-policies-buyers/abusive-buyer-policy?id=4374#section2
Does this happen frequently, despite the policy against it?
Extortion, and it is extremely common. I refuse to sell on eBay because of constant horror stories like in this post. I would advise you do the same.
Thanks for the response, and the advice.
ask them if they read your return policy? and if so, which part they do not understand?
14 day returns. Buyer pays for return shipping
it is not your fault they did not get a $500 coin for $50
You don't owe him a thing. You never implied it was the variety he thought it was, that was all him. His mistake, his consequences.
I know it's BS, but I would just have him return the coin, refund his money minus a 10% restocking fee and block him! I also think you should out the buyer!
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Save copies of all correspondence so that if he gives you a neg you can get it removed.
I do 2000 transactions per year on ebay and have 1 or 2 minor problems. There are not "constant horror stories".
There is no point in the restocking fee. Ebay will allow it but when the customer files a credit card charge back, the credit card company will not honor it.
If you have more into the coin than what the partial refund is then counteroffer how much. Otherwise tell them to return on their dime.
I like his comment on how he's truly trying to look out for the best interest of the buyer and the seller smh. I'm sure that he was looking out in your best interests when he was thinking the coin was a type 2 reverse fs-901 and offered you $40 for it. Even though I'm only a buyer on eBay things like this make me wish that sellers could leave feedback/ratings for buyers.
I see negative feedback in your future unless you let him just keep the coin which would be ridiculous thing to do.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Sounds like an immature buyer, probably has little business experience to try to play by their own rules like this. Never negotiate a deal after the fact, tell him to return it. It would be just as ludicrous to for a seller tell a buyer after they sell something that they need more money.
Its just the nature of the business. Like it or not it’s really a coin a month kinda thing. Without seeing it inhand it just seems like you’re going to get a certain amount of returns. All in all eBay is a rather awesome venue and a fantastic source of a wide variety of items. So many eyes on things for sale and such a great amount of offerings. Plus being able to research recent sales.
Ofcourse there’s difficulties with how it works but a retail store has negatives as well. Shop lifting, tire kickers, endless questions and parking lot finds or the coins saved by family only to be not the inheritance expected. Overhead and having to find ways to keep the doors open. Returns are part of the deal either way. In person can get nasty where as mail order is not so in your face.
All in all each venue has its pluses and minuses. Selling at shows becomes a whole different ball of wax. Thanks 🙏
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Ebay would remove the feedback based on the extortion which is against policy.
The problem is the CC company will approve the charge back. They always do. It's just easier to allow the return, refund the money and move on.
If you try any principled stand with restocking fees or refusing the return, they will likely find a chargeback which results in a funds hold and 30 to 90 days of waiting for the CC company to rule against you. And, as CS at eBay told me, half the time the CC company issues the refund and does not enforce the return.
I don’t necessarily recommend this course of action. But in this instance, if I were the seller, I would, as the expression goes, “cut my nose to spite my face”. To me, it would be worth the price I might have to pay.
Even at the risk of having to pay return postage, I’d send a message along the lines of:
“This is what I understand:
You thought you were getting a cherry-pick and once you discovered you weren’t, you decided not to honor your purchase.
You’re not “truly sorry” about anything other than that your assumption about the variety was incorrect.
You’re also not “trying to look out for the best interest of the buyer and the seller”. Despite your incorrect assumption, you’re looking out only for your own best interest, and at my expense, not yours.
The coin was as described.
You may keep it at the price you chose to bid or return it for a refund.
I will be sending a copy of our messages to eBay.”
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I've never bought or sold with ebay, but I hear stories like this often. Tell him to ship the coin back at his cost. Your item was as described and a fair price.
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Also how does he figure a $20.85 refund is fair? He wants the coin for $25 free shipping? Tell him to go fly a kite.
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Just have him return it and block him. He has to pay for the shipping.
I'm surprised you would take that tack for a $50 coin. It's just not worth the aggravation of continuing to try and deal with someone who may be chronically difficult. And if the buyer wants to screw with the seller, they can file a charge back and drag the whole thing out for months.
Not that I want to educate the public on how to screw with me. But if the buyer wants to really screw with the seller, they can leave negative feedback. Wait 6 months. Then open a CC chargeback and, with a little luck, end up with the coin and the money.
Any time after 3 months, you then have to argue with eBay to even get the fees reversed.
I once had a buyer return a certified 3 leg nickel because, in his words, "I found a better deal". You can't fight a return like this because eBay will ALWAYS side with the buyer. Block him and move on.
This buyer is a real piece of work. I have missed on a few cherry-picks, and never once have I ever considered trying to return the coin.
In a perfect world it would be nice to take a principled stand and tell the buyer to pound sand, but in the real world I doubt it is worth the continued aggravation. I would tell the seller to return the coin for a full refund and pay the return shipping (if you don't they'll just file a SNAD), block, and move on. Life is too short to argue with a jackwagon over 50 bucks.
Philippians 4:4-7
eBay has a copy of all messages. They have made it more difficult to find email addresses of buyers and sellers to bypass them and cut them out of their cut.
I wonder if the buyer is a member here?
When you sell on eBay, returns are allowed. It makes no difference what random typing the buyer did before he asked for a return. Pretend it was gibberish, process the return, block him and cruise onto the next sale. That should be like a reflex if you want to continue to use that platform with minimum aggravation.
And the CC company's are impossible. They always side with the buyer because they are the customer, you aren't. eBay at least has some seller's guarantees and they have reimbursed me for things. eBay also requires and enforces the return. The CC companies don't bother to enforce the return, probably because it would be harder for them to do so. eBay also enforces the 14 day or 30 day return window. CC companies generally allow 6 months and at least one credit card has an EIGHTEEN month chargeback window.
I don't sell on ebay but i've had problem with two sellers. Both of these sellers decided after the sale was final that they would just cancel it and use the reason that it was not available or damaged. I guess they just didn't understand the price that they were selling it for and realize that they could get more money out of it than they Had asked. These two sellers are isolated bad apples and I can understand the reverse of what I dealt with. I hope everything works out for you. It's just upsetting when you have a deal and the other party backs out and uses Underhanded tactics.
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Update at top of OP.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/rs8199/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
I just had a seller cancel a purchase made by me on eBay claiming there was a problem with my address which is nonsense. I checked and the coin was no longer listed in his eBay listings which means he must have sold it to someone else. I'm debating whether to neg him.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I don't doubt there's some sellers who would do that but there's also sellers who have things listed in 3 or 4 places, ebay, instagram, personal website, here on the BST and can sometimes forget to go and pull down an eBay listing if that item sells on Instagram or here. I try to always remember to pull down any other listings whenever something sells but occasionally forget one. Luckily it has never come back to bite me by double selling anything.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/rs8199/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
@PerryHall I wonder if the negative comments work. I know I look at the feedback prior yo each Ebay purchase , but how many others do? I had one transaction on BST where the seller canceled the sale after the fact due to USPS not getting the payment to him fastest enough. He would only take cash/checks. The check got delivered the day after he canceled the sale and he never opened the envelope, just wrote refused on it and sent it back. I will never deal with this member again. He then listed the item a few days later for less than I agreed to buy it for. Go figure.
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
Couldn't be; EVERYONE here has impeccable credentials.
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Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
My response wouldn’t be aimed at continuing to deal with the buyer. And any aggravation - I doubt there would be much - would be more than worth it, considering how good I’d feel, calling him on his BS.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
With a name like "cherryvarietyhunter", it's not hard to figure out this guy's gig. Duly blocked.
I'll be honest- stuff like this is a huge sore subject with me so the following statements aren't likely going to go over with a few folks. Maybe I'll get flamed for this but frankly my experience with cherrypickers has been that most are time wasters who seldom buy anything. If someone comes in with a CPG tucked under their arm, I inform them that we have one too, and once they realize there's likely nothing to steal they usually leave within a few minutes. I'm sure someone will come at me here about not having a good retail attitude or some other retort, or that not all pickers are that way, or they might turn into a lifelong customer who spends untold thousands that I'll be losing out on, yada yada...No offense but I don't pay a healthy 4 digit rent every month to stand there and babysit someone while they go through a pile one piece at a time, knowing full well that the things they're looking to rip us on aren't in there. And in the case of eBay, unless the deal goes 150% their way you have problems. I've related some stories in the past, like when we sold an unopened box of 1970 mint sets that the buyer wanted to return for a full refund plus shipping after opening all the sets and not finding any small date cents... and the guy who bought a batch of junk silver Merc dimes-his cost 55 cents each at the time- and then wanted to return them plus return shipping cost because there weren't any 1916-D, 21 or 21-D pieces in there. I have lots more eBay, shop and show stories but don't want to hijack the thread... rant over
Edit to add... OP, you did the only thing you can do, because eBay is now a de facto approval service.
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What a terrible buyer!
I would tell him to return it plus provide tracking via my 14 day return policy. I do not pay for their return. In addition it’s his responsibility print (and pay for) return label. Then block him.
During return period ebay holds my funds on the item until resolved. If item not back within return period return disallowed and funds hold released. Last return, months ago-That person never returned it period nor provided tracking (but claiming they did return it) and eBay disallowed return. The person badgered me for refund for months. I told them “no refund, this already decided by eBay.” The item never showed up.
Best of luck with it.
@Rob41281 your reply to the person was perfect.
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@Cougar1978 said:
What's your ebay name? I guarantee I can buy something from you and get you to pay the return postage.
A few quick thoughts:
1- Buyer sounds horrible, and also pretty dumb for admitting what he did. If he wants to foist a return on you for misrepresentation (which is completely baseless) he shouldn't admit he guessed wrong. 100% I'd block him and follow any return policy to a T as far as not covering his costs. I wouldn't give in to a partial refund.
2- As much as I want to tell buyers off when they deserve it, I don't think your reply to the buyer was wise. It's not wrong, but it won't help you in any way. You were pretty well set up to have a chance of any potential negative feedback getting removed (and certainly winning a SNAD claim if the buyer opted to go that route) based on what the buyer originally wrote, but the tone of your reply is such that if the buyer leaves a negative stating something other than "seller misrepresented the coin" (such as "seller is rude") you have much less standing to potentially have it removed. I'm not saying your words are wrong--I agree with them--but they aren't ones I'd use in an email on eBay. Much as I hate bad buyers, and I've dealt with horrific ones, any replies are very straight-forward and matter of fact, and I leave the commentary out so if something else goes wrong down the line, I'm in the best position to help myself.
So, basically the buyer didn't get the rip he was suspecting and now he wants mommy (ie... You) to make it all better?!! Unfortunately, this is now the playing field that ebay has promulgated. I'm a sometimes seller on ebay but fortunately I've never run into this. The only sale that comes close was for an antique cookie jar that sold for less than $30 and with shipping came to less than $50... so, I "self insured". Low and behold, the ceramic jar arrived "broken" and the buyer didn't have a camera/phone/anything to take a picture of the broken item. I ended up just refunding the money and the buyer kept the "broken" jar... buyer blocked and I moved on. My peace of mind has a pricetag and my bandwidth for dealing with $h!ty people is pretty small. I found it worth the cost to just move on...
Now, if it was a $300 or $3000 item...
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You incentivize this behavior when you give in to his demands. He is violating eBay policy. He can return the coin on his own dime and get a refund. One call with customer service would settle this. Ask me how I know.
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