Buyer claiming he paid for 2 items and that its damaged

[arcra8009]

Hello. Need advice from expert sellers please. I am a new seller and already experienced my first "not as described" and damaged item for the same shipment. I am just not sure how to go from here. Buyer purchased one item/package which in the ad clearly marked price is for one package and that they need 2 packages for the complete front and rear. I also confirmed in a message to the buyer after purchase that it was for one package. He acknowledged the message. Now that he got the item, he is claiming that he paid for 2 packages and that the item is damaged. He showed 2 photos and it showed the box is crushed but the package inside looked intact. I taped the package to the box securely so it will not move around. Also the goods are made of aluminum so it won't "break".
My
Question is, what shall I do now? What is the right procedure to tackle both the purchased quantity issue and the damaged issue?
I messaged the buyer back and politely pointed out that the ad says the price is for one package and asked if the item is intact as it appears to be so in the photo he sent me. If I were to refund do I give him back the purchase price including shipping? Insight and steps to follow would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[ricarmic]

@arcra8009 

You will not "win" any INAD situation, so your best bet is to minimize the time and cost it takes to fix it. Continue a polite conversation with the buyer and work your way toward identifying what they want to resolve the situation. Note that if you force them into an INAD return, you'll end up paying the full trackable return cost and fully refunding their price including shipping which probably leaves you close to if not in the negative territory. In my own case I try to steer these toward partial refunds (make sure to block the buyer so they can't buy more down the road).

I do have a suggestion to avoid more of the not as described, you should not be using essentially the same listing for a "one piece" and "two piece" item, especially the pictures. Also don't expect buyers to read the description, generally you'll be lucky if they read the title. Make sure all salient information is in the title.

The one set listing should have its own pictures of one package only. I would end the one piece $48 item immediately (that shows 5 in the picture) and relist it with the pictures of just one. If both are the exact same you can use the same pictures with quantity of 2 but if they're different you're better to have two listings, and/or wait to list the 2nd one until the first one sells if they are too close to being the same.

Also make sure that you don't end up acquiring a defect, they stay with you for a year and it will take a lot of work to negate its effect based on your newness and low sales volume so far. You can acquire the defect if the buyer opens a case and you don't respond quickly enough or correctly to it. There are lots of examples both good and bad in this board.

[arcra8009]

Thanks so much for your advice. How would I know if the buyer has opened a case? Also, I have responded but he has not yet respond back. Shall I just wait or voluntarily suggest a solution? And if a case has been opened, may I at that time suggest a refund or mail another one without getting a defect or will I still get one just because a case has been opened? Thank you.

[arcra8009]

Oh yes and the reason I sometimes do 2 piece is I do it catering to the buyer who wants 2 piece as when they select a quantity of 2 through my initial ad shipping costs doubles for them. When I do 2 piece with just a quantity of 1, the shipping is the same as 1 piece. I am probably doing something wonky setting shipping up too?

[flipistics]

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@arcra8009 wrote:
Oh yes and the reason I sometimes do 2 piece is I do it catering to the buyer who wants 2 piece as when they select a quantity of 2 through my initial ad shipping costs doubles for them. When I do 2 piece with just a quantity of 1, the shipping is the same as 1 piece. I am probably doing something wonky setting shipping up too?

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The problem isn't that you have separate listings for quantities of one and two. The problem is that you show two of them as the main picture for the listings where the quantity is one. Buyers don't read. They tend to look at pictures.

[arcra8009]

Thank you. I am still very confused about the open case and defect procedures. I responded immediately back to the buyer but he has not responded back. How would I know if he has opened a case? Shall I just wait and see if he gets back to me? And if he did open a case, what happens? If I refund him back immediately or ship him another item, does that mean case closed and I don't get a defect? So confused...

[femmefan1946]

You sold a right hand 3/4 gripley.

You also sel,l separately, a left hand 3/4 gripley.

To make a full gripley both pieces are necessary.

Did each listing have a picture of ONLY the piece being sold .

Since he bought one piece and paid for one piece and you sent one piece and he got one piece, on what basis can he claim that he bought  two pieces?

This is why the picture is so important.

It looks like you pictured two pieces in an ad for one piece. And said that two pieces were needed but

"Please ensure specifics on this item fits your needs. Final sales.

Price of $45 is for one set/package.

Price is for ONE set of brakes which is good for either the front or the rear of bike. For a complete bike you need to buy two sets which will be good for the front and the back."

But there are two sets in the picture AND you use the same picture for three other listings at twice the price

Frankly, I think you screwed up and owe your customer the other piece he thought he bought.

In future, don't sell only one.

If a buyer asks if he can buy just one, agree and set up a special listing for him with just ONE set pictured and saying that the ONE set fits either back or front. KISS.

At a guess, most of your customers will want two sets so there is no great need to cater to the singletons.

Also,  a single set should not cost the same as half the double set. You have to take into account that you are now going to have to find another customer who needs just one. And your packaging will also be different.

[arcra8009]

Thanks so much everyone for the information. I have contacted the buyer and offered to send him another one for free. He accepted.

[ricarmic]

I see I've missed a lot of action overnight and it looks like you've got things resolved with the buyer.

I'm not clear as to whether a case was actually opened or the buyer simply messaged you.

If an eBay case was opened, you would have received an ebay message saying something like: "Your buyer opened a request: Request 5299999999" and it would have instructions and a link to the case.

I'm asking this because if the buyer is happy with the solution, they have to close the case by the "due date" in the message otherwise it will automatically close in their favour (and they'll be fully refunded) and more importantly that's how you'll get a defect which you most definitely do not want.

From your notes it seems like perhaps the buyer has simply sent you normal eBay messages, that is very much better if that's how they approached it. 

PS IMO you are still asking for trouble with item "NOS RETRO RADICAL VERTIGO BIKE STEMS, LISTED PRICE IS FOR ONE STEM"*. It would be much safer to convert this to 3 listings, one for Silver, one for Red and one for Yellow that way things are much clearer and the pictures in the listing are only of the item being received. The title is pretty clear for this but a day ago a buyer asked me how many stamps are in a package that says right in the listing title there are 1,000 stamps in the package.....

PSPS you've done a great thing finding these boards, there is very much one can learn here and it will make your learning journey a lot easier (and less expensive) if you can spend some time browsing the things discussed here. I've been on ebay for over 22 years now and I continue to learn things regularly from these boards!!! The only caveat to that is generally all the BAD stuff gets discussed here the 99.5% of things that go well aren't so one has to look past that.

*I see after writing this more potential problems. The golden rule is only picture what is being sent. These items also have pictures of your "stockpile" when really only one or two are being sold. The pictures should be of what the buyer will actually receive. They should be changed as well: "PAIR OF WTB ENDURO RAPTOR 26" 47/54k MOUNTAIN BIKE TIRES MTB VINTAGE NOS", and "Vintage Syncros Bicycles Classic Plastic Water Bottle...Cycling, Syncros" for example.....

[arcra8009]

Thanks for the information on cases. So to confirm, if the buyer opens a case but the resolution is to his satisfaction, he is able to close the case and I would not get a defect or a mark against my name? So in fact we are still at the mercy of the buyer whether he wants to take that extra step to "close a case" after a satisfactory resolution.

In this case I will be sending him another item free so I am out of pocket for the item and shipping. But a lesson well learned.

Since I am new, my listing limit is low so I thought I'd save time and listing limits by listing them together.

Looks like I have a lot of photos to take and lots of relisting. Thanks so much for this community, you guys have been tons of knowledge and great advice. Thanks all.

[arcra8009]

Oh one more question, if I have different color variations of same item, how would you list those? Thanks.

[ricarmic]

Regarding the colour variations, in my world I would use separate listings. However I don't know what the cycling world normally does. Check out some of your "competitors" to see how they list them that should help. The main "problem" you've had in your earlier listings is showing multiple items in the pictures when there is only one (or 2) being sold.

Regarding a case, I still don't know if you have one, if you do, the email gave a close by date. As a seller, you have very few options, generally to send messages back to the buyer or fully refund, or get the buyer to close the case BEFORE the date, and by the date if it says October 15th it means 12:01 AM on the 15th (I learned this the hard way). Note that sending a message does no good when the due date comes, you have had to fully refund or get the case closed or it automagically closes in the buyers favour and gives you a defect which you really do not want. It is going to be hard to get the buyer to close the case when you are sending something unless they can see by the tracking (if you have any) that it is on its way because it will not arrive before the 3 day close date. Once they close the case they can't open it again so they are having to trust you that you're sending the extra one. 

[femmefan1946]

Sigh. It's a steep learning curve.  Better to have it now than on a $900 listing.

[arcra8009]

Thank you everyone for the great info. I do not believe a case has been opened as I did not receive an email. But yes, I have lots to learn. Thanks again