We recently had an eBay return request for $6,250 and we’re going to discuss how we handled it because returns are part of the reselling business.
Nobody likes to see an open case, a return request, or a problem with an item. The return request we recently had was for over $6,000 for a single sale we did on a TurboChef oven. We’ll walk through the process of what we did. Typically returns over $1,000 will go to eBay’s high value department.
Each return request is different. We don’t accept returns on our items so we sell them as is. But eBay does have a 30-day policy that you could be forced to accept a return if something’s broken or not as described. One of our mottoes is to under-promise over-deliver on our items. We want our buyers to be very happy with the items that they’re getting. This generally works out in our favor and most of the time we have happy buyers.
Receiving Messages From The Buyer
The first thing to note is the buyer never said the item didn’t work. He said, “Hey, I hooked the thing up last night. It shorted out my whole entire kitchen. And I’m having a service guy come tomorrow and look at it.”
Now before I even shipped this out, I hooked it up, made sure that it was working properly. I took a video the day that I shipped it because it was sitting in storage for a couple months. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with it and I knew I sold him something that was working, and even had a watermarked video.
Return Red Flag #1
I had a feeling he tried to hook it up, did it wrong, and shorted out his kitchen. He was having a service guy come and look at it tomorrow, and I didn’t respond back until his next message saying the service guy was there and doing something to the unit. This is the first red flag because you cannot alter an item. When somebody opens up any item you sell or ship, eBay should side with you because the item has been tampered with.
The first thing this gentleman should have done is responded and said it’s broken. Do you want me to call a service guy to come out and look at it and you can foot the bill or should I return it?
He didn’t do that. He’s not new to eBay either. He said he’s been selling and buying on eBay for over 20 years, so he knows this. He knew the process. That’s the other reason why I think some crooked stuff was going on on the back end that I wasn’t getting notified of what exactly was happening.
Another red flag was he sent a picture of our TurboChef unit next to his same unit so that was odd too. He showed his unit powered on, but mine not powered on.
He also never flat out asked for a return request; he told me what was going on with the situation.
Be A Detective
Finally I got a response from him, “Hey, you’re not helping me out with anything,” and I did send a response back. The first thing that we always do for anything that happens, when a buyer’s unhappy with an item, whether it’s a refund request or they’re just unhappy for whatever reason it is to be a detective.
I sent a message and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Please let me know, was it damaged? Was there something wrong with the pallet that it came on? Were there broken boards?”
He immediately said no, it arrived beautifully and the pallet was great. That’s where I stopped my communications right there to see what else he was going to send. And that’s when he sent pictures of the item saying it wasn’t working. He said a service guy was out there and he didn’t get a price on what it would cost, but would know within the next week. The whole thing screamed shady. You don’t have somebody work on an item without knowing how much it will cost.
A week later he wrote to me and said, “I am not getting any help from you. I’m a little upset. I don’t even think you tested this item before you shipped it.”
That’s when I wrote back and said, “Listen, this feels like a slap in the face. I absolutely did test the item. There was a video in my listing. It was tested and working fine. Whatever happened from the point where I had it shipped to you, it went bad or whatever happened to it, that’s not my deal.”
Get eBay Involved
I called eBay and told them what was going on and asked them how I should proceed. eBay told me because he had someone open it up and admitted to it that I was covered. I went to an eBay supervisor from the high value department to make sure it would be the same outcome and they said yes, I would not have to take the return. They told me not to respond and I was fine until he opened a case or went past the 30 days.
I left it alone and the 30 days expired. Another 10 days or so later he reached back out and said I was forcing him to go to his credit card for a refund. I reached back out to eBay and they said to close out the case and decline the refund, so I did. He left me negative feedback which they removed.
Now I have a feeling that this guy is going to go outside of eBay to his credit card and try to get the money from his credit card saying that the item was not as described. But eBay has the proof to fight them and win if they choose to do so. They will not come back and force me to give a refund at this point.
Be Polite
It’s always best to be polite in your interactions or return requests on eBay. Try to ask questions and be polite and you might get the buyer to reveal something that makes it so you don’t have to do the return. If I would’ve initially said nothing could be wrong I have a video to prove it, this would’ve put the guy’s guard up. Instead I said, “Oh no, I’m sorry you’re dealing with that,” and he revealed that he had a service guy look at it.
Our goal is not to screw anybody over, but it’s also not our fault if someone else damages on the receiving end. If it was damaged in shipping, we would’ve filed a shipping claim and went after the freight company.
Everything is figure-outable with returns. If you under-promise and over-deliver and make sure you’re packing things correctly on your end and have proof of items working, you can usually work through your return requests on eBay.
Show Notes
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