Expert: Marvinator - 7/28/2009

Question
I have been contacted by a buyer who claims that the goods i sold him were not as per the description. I stated the goods were hardly used, he says it was not hardly used and that also it has a scratch or crack on it which was not mentioned. He wants me to refund a discount because its not as per the description. I looked at his feedback and while he has 100% he has been leaving a lot negative FB. I contacted 2 of the recent sellers who he left neg FB and they said that he demanded a discount as there goods were not as they described and when they refused he left them neg feedback. What should I do?

Answer
This is one of the really bad situations about Ebay.  Buyers can leave whatever feedback they want regardless of the reason.  Sellers have no recourse since they took away the Seller Negative Feedback.  Apparently this buyer is using this situation to his advantage to get cheaper items.  This is called FEEDBACK EXTORTION and when this is all over, you should report them to Ebay. Hang onto all emails from this person as they will be needed for evidence.  

Let's discuss your current options...

First, You could apologize for the discrepancy and offer a full and complete refund. (You could even offer to refund the cost of returning the item to you, but this is going far beyond what I would recommend.)  Explain that you want your customer to be happy and will make this refund so as to garner a positive transaction.  (The use of "positive transaction" is to get the idea in his head that you expect a positive from this action.)  The reasons for this are obvious.  Basically you're paying return shipping in return for a positive feedback.    

Now, your buyer will respond one of several ways.
1) He may just refuse the refund and leave you a neg.  (Let's get that out in the open right now.  Regardless of what you do, he has the power to leave you a neg at any time.)

2) He will refuse your offer and again insist on a partial refund (because he really does want the item!)  If this happens simply restate your offer of a refund. (Again, refer to the note in number one, you may still get a neg from this guy regardless of what you do. Sorry to restate this, but it's important to know this ahead of time.)

3) He may actually take the refund.  DO NOT GIVE THE REFUND UNTIL THE ITEM IS IN HAND.  AND while were talking about expectations, you had better expect the item to be in pretty sad shape when you get it. The guy may think he has to scratch it, or bang it up just because you deserve it.  Regardless, the item may NOT be in the same condition you sold it in.  Remember, the reason you're doing this is to TRY and protect YOUR feedback rating, so regardless of the condition when the item arrives, you give the full refund.  (This is not MY recommendation, it's just one of the options and I wanted to list them all.)

Your Second option is to give them the partial refund.  AGain, you're paying for a positive and this should be reported to Ebay as feedback extortion.

Your last option is to refuse the entire deal, report them to eBay and take the neg. This is what I would do.  This jerk wants to get something for nothing, so why bow to that pressure.  Take the neg and report the guy to Ebay.  (Oh, and block this guy from bidding on anything of yours again.)

Let's take a moment to discuss the feedback system.  Let's face it, sooner or later EVERYBODY gets a neg.  Even my wife, with a feedback rating of over 13,000 has 3negs.  I, myself, have 3 negs also.  The point here is that sooner or later, everyone gets a neg.  With this in mind the idea of simply refusing the guy, taking the neg and reporting him is almost a no-brainer.  

And as for leaving feedback, wait for the buyer to leave you feedback before you leave any for them.  At first, you may want to put something like "WARNING this buyer extorts refunds in exchange for Positive Feedback." or something like that. Don't.  Leave a positive or leave nothing at all.  yeah, I know it sucks, but if you leave some negative statement, Ebay can and will pull your comment.

I hope this helps.  Please feel free to write again for any clarification.