Sold an item on eBay but buyer claims its broken.

[Kenny]

The auction is here

Sorry if it looks like crap, I was in a rush to sell it.

At the time I was selling it, the drive was perfectly fine. The auction states that I would not refund payment. The buyer insists that the drive is broken, shipping it back to me and "expecting a full refund." I told him that I would not refund, and will be refusing the delivery of the drive back to me.

I'm sure he'll respond with threatening to leave negative feedback, but I don't really care. I'm not gonna sell anything on there ever again.

What will happen if he really demands a refund? Can he do anything "legally" to me, even though I stated I wouldn't give a refund?

A fishy thing I think is happening is the guy is shipping me a broken drive and keeping the one I just sent. This is because he owns this site and told me out of 5 A03 drives he has, mine is the only one broken.

 

[minendo]

Did he pay by paypal?

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

1) He's full of sh|t. You clearly posted no refunds on the auction, so he's bound by it.
2) This isn't the place to ask these fvcking questions. Go to THE SOURCE, dammit! In this case, ASK EBAY. Grr...

Okay, I feel better now.

 

[Electric Amish]

You did what you can do. Don't refund. Tell EBay customer service.

If I would have known he was the owner of that site I'd have sent him a busted one on purpose.

amish

 

[codeyf]

Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!

However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!

Kind of contradicting there, don't ya think? No refund, but you guarantee it works? So what are you guarantee-ing then?

 

[conjur]

Did you note the serial # on the drive before you shipped it?

 

[zixxer]

"However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!"

 

[Dacalo]

If the drive functioned when you sent it, then you should consider how it was packaged when it was sent.

If the packaging was more than sufficient, then you have nothing to worry about, as you clearly stated that you will not be refunding on the site.

 

[Kenny]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
1) He's full of sh|t. You clearly posted no refunds on the auction, so he's bound by it.
2) This isn't the place to ask these fvcking questions. Go to THE SOURCE, dammit! In this case, ASK EBAY. Grr...

Okay, I feel better now.

You haven't emailed eBay lately have you? I emailed them twice last week and all I got were automated responses. I would try their forums, but its cluttered like hell.

Originally posted by: mintendo
Did he pay by paypal?

Yes he paid by paypal, but I dragged the funds into my bank account already.

 

[chin311]

Originally posted by: se7enty7
"However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!"

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: t60

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
1) He's full of sh|t. You clearly posted no refunds on the auction, so he's bound by it.
2) This isn't the place to ask these fvcking questions. Go to THE SOURCE, dammit! In this case, ASK EBAY. Grr...

Okay, I feel better now.

You haven't emailed eBay lately have you? I emailed them twice last week and all I got were automated responses. I would try their forums, but its cluttered like hell.

Who cares. I emailed the President and he never emailed me back. Does that mean I should post my letter here on Anandtech to see if he'll reply?

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: codeyf
Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!

However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!

Kind of contradicting there, don't ya think? No refund, but you guarantee it works? So what are you guarantee-ing then?

That it works. Duh. Just because a product works doesn't mean that someone will be forced to refund the buyer's money if the drive doesn't work after who-knows-what happens in the mail or what the buyer does to it (like opening to cardboard box with a sledge hammer).

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: t60

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
1) He's full of sh|t. You clearly posted no refunds on the auction, so he's bound by it.
2) This isn't the place to ask these fvcking questions. Go to THE SOURCE, dammit! In this case, ASK EBAY. Grr...

Okay, I feel better now.

You haven't emailed eBay lately have you? I emailed them twice last week and all I got were automated responses. I would try their forums, but its cluttered like hell.

Originally posted by: mintendo
Did he pay by paypal?

Yes he paid by paypal, but I dragged the funds into my bank account already.

Pretty sure paypal can drag them right back out. Disconnect your account from paypal now.

 

[rudder]

Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!

However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!


no refunds, but yet you guarantee the product. What is your guarantee? That you will respond to emails? Next just just put "item has been testing and is working, but is being sold as is."

I would always have some sort of disclaimer because some dope could drop the drive on the floor and break it.

 

[Imported]

He's probably gonna return one that doesn't work, keeping yours which does work; or try to anyways. Did you write down the serial numbers or do something to make sure you know it's yours?

 

[Kenny]

Well the packing was pretty sufficient I think. I wrapped the drive in bubble wrap and stuck it in a box full of peanuts. There were no loose spots in the box.

As for the

Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!
However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!

I was basically saving my ass if someone decided to install the drive incorrectly.

Anyway, after I posted that I figured that was pretty dumb. I didn't want to change it because I didn't notice until the last day. Again, I was in a rush.

I would have offered insurance if he asked, but his communication was less than par. It took him a week to contact me and then a couple more days to pay me. He didn't even pay me with non-cc funds, which I asked for.

 

[Budmantom]

I don't see what the big deal is, check out the drive if everything is good refund him the money minus all your out of pocket costs.

Sometimes drives break especially when you ship them, did you get insurance?

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt

Originally posted by: codeyf
Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!

However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!

Kind of contradicting there, don't ya think? No refund, but you guarantee it works? So what are you guarantee-ing then?

That it works. Duh. Just because a product works doesn't mean that someone will be forced to refund the buyer's money if the drive doesn't work after who-knows-what happens in the mail or what the buyer does to it (like opening to cardboard box with a sledge hammer).

But the guy says it doesn't. If we're to assume t60 is telling the truth, then I think we have to assume the same for the other party as well. What good is a guarantee if there is no recourse for the product living up to that guarantee?

Switch the sentence order and it basically says, "Guaranteed to work, but no refunds". Well, wtf kind of guarantee is that?

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: t60
Well the packing was pretty sufficient I think. I wrapped the drive in bubble wrap and stuck it in a box full of peanuts. There were no loose spots in the box.

As for the

Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!
However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!

I was basically saving my ass if someone decided to install the drive incorrectly.

Anyway, after I posted that I figured that was pretty dumb. I didn't want to change it because I didn't notice until the last day. Again, I was in a rush.

I would have offered insurance if he asked, but his communication was less than par. It took him a week to contact me and then a couple more days to pay me. He didn't even pay me with non-cc funds, which I asked for.

As for insurance I consider that you are protecting yourself and the buyer plus the money goes to you if something happens.

 

[zixxer]

...He didn't even pay me with non-cc funds, which I asked for.

Uhm. Expect him to refute the charge on his card, and paypal will rip you a new one.

I *almost* got screwed out of $1500 with paypal.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt

Originally posted by: codeyf
Due to consumer installation, I cannot refund your product, especially if it is installed incorrectly!

However, I guarantee that the product is 100% working at time of sale!

Kind of contradicting there, don't ya think? No refund, but you guarantee it works? So what are you guarantee-ing then?

That it works. Duh. Just because a product works doesn't mean that someone will be forced to refund the buyer's money if the drive doesn't work after who-knows-what happens in the mail or what the buyer does to it (like opening to cardboard box with a sledge hammer).

But the guy says it doesn't. If we're to assume t60 is telling the truth, then I think we have to assume the same for the other party as well. What good is a guarantee if there is no recourse for the product living up to that guarantee?

Switch the sentence order and it basically says, "Guaranteed to work, but no refunds". Well, wtf kind of guarantee is that?

I would have to agree. Unless otherwise specified, I think a reasonable person would take "guaranteed to work" to mean that it is guaranteed that it will work for the buyer. I think the language in the auction was inartfully worded, but in this case I think t60 will have to provide a refund or face negative feedback and possibly worse. I doubt a court would rule against him, but the ambiguous language, to me, should be interpreted against the seller (who wrote it in the first place), and so there is at least a strong argument that the drive is warranteed.