How to handle ebay dispute

[+poobah]

Very long story short...

Sold some hard drives on ebay, listed AS-IS, no refunds

Only claim was that they were tested with Spinrite and no bad sectors were found, then wiped with DBAN.

 

buyer from early november files a claim that the items were not as described, that they are damaged, that he has contacted me and that i have not responded.

 

the email from ebay was the first communication i had from the buyer. (sheesh)

 

I tried to help them out, apparently they were trying to setup a raid with them (they bought 2), and windows would not install. they allegedly loaded the western digital tools in windows and it tells them there is a smart error, but complete a surface scan with no errors. They also note that the smart monitoring is turned off in the bios.

 

To me, the drives are as described, no bad sectors. There could be many reasons why windows wont install for them that have nothing to do with the drives. However, I am a reasonable guy, and I didnt want a big issue over a small amount of money, i offered to issue a partial refund and they can keep the drives. They say ok, great.

 

I get an email 2 says ago from ebay that the seller has escalated the case to customer support. This morning I get an email from ebay that they have decided in the buyers favor, and that they have instructed the buyer to return the drives for a full refund.

 

Grrrrr.

 

So, to reiterate, the drives actually were as described, the buyer lied about contacting me, and their issue is likely not the drives.

They agreed to a partial refund, then escalated the case anyway.

All communications were through ebay messaging.

 

So, do I appeal the case, or eat the loss? (and how does one appeal, cant find the link anywhere!)

[Chris Leach]

From others experience. If you sell anything on ebay and put AS IS - NO RETURNS......Ebay will side with the buyer at all times. By having this listed. You are suggesting you are selling "Crap" and will lose on all returns. The buyer is 100% capable of any and all refunds. In some cases...you will have to refund them even before they send it back to you.....

 

People out there prey on these auction styles.....for free stuff

Edited December 29, 2011 by Chris Leach

[+save2600]

Yeah, this is the kind of sale that isn't worth the trouble getting all hot and bothered over. I say just eat the refund and be done with it. Fully test the drives when they come back and re-list if you want. Or just toss them in the garbage can. (kidding)

Edited December 29, 2011 by save2600

[guy767]

If you accept Paypal then you do returns; your stated return policy is superseded by Paypal's and EBay’s Buyer Protection Policy.

 

However, listing an item's condition as "For parts or not working" will protect you from returns or complaints.

 

It’s usually best just to accept returns and do a full refund including return shipping costs; especially for low value items IMO.

Edited December 29, 2011 by guy767

[potatohead]

There is no resolution with a buyer like that. Eat it, and do any damage control possible, including just letting it all be forgotten.

 

It's highly likely they just don't know enough to utilize the drives. At the least, they didn't really understand what you were selling, both very likely scenarios. Recovery on this means they have to admit they did something wrong. Likely they did, assuming the drives are fine, and why would they do that, particularly given they got a favorable call?

 

If they were smart enough to understand what they were buying, none of this would be at issue.