What happens if the buyer does not appear to speak English and is complaining about something that was probably mentioned in the description

[danigomez]

I made the mistake that so many people complain about on these forums where the shipping with insurance ended up being double the amount of what I quoted. I did say in the description that the buyer should contact me before bidding or buying in order for us to figure out what our options would be for the shipping and insurance. Someone used the Buy it now option and paid for it right away without messaging me.

My second mistake was that I sent the item without verifying if the buyer would agree to the extra shipping charge and insurance but the cost of the item was high so I figured if worse came to worse I would eat the extra cost.

I sent two very polite messages asking the buyer if they would be willing to pay for the the extra cost and insurance and got no response whatsoever.

Then today I got the following message:

"Hi I received the shipment and the box was very disappointed with a dent and your boom box does not work without electricity
I photographed the dents on the box
I know nothing about electronics and check what happened, I can not
Please answer how we can solve this problem because the furniture I do not need a repair costs money
Thanks"

I'm not really sure what exactly this buyer is trying to say. I am guessing they don't speak English and used an online translator. By the way, this was not an international shipment.

The record player in the boom box didn't work and I was explicitly clear about that in the description and in the condition section. The tape player and the radio did work.

I don't know what they meant by it not working without electricity. Perhaps they are saying it won't run on batteries but I never claimed it did. I never tried it with batteries.

The boom box is a vintage stereo from 1983 and it was packaged VERY carefully! There was tons of padding and the box was brand new.

I think it's possible this person didn't read or didn't understand the description and just bought it thinking it was in perfect working order. These VERY rare stereos sell for double what the starting bid was when they work perfectly.

What's going to happen now?

[reallynicestamps]

shipping with insurance ended up being double the amount of what I quoted.

Canada Post services are either insured or not insured. Calculated shipping will give an accurate quote to your customer if you choose the right service and  enter the dimensions and weight in metric measures. The program compares the given info to the customer's postal code. Using Flat Rate shipping (except letter rate items) is often a mistake.

I did say in the description that the buyer should contact me before bidding or buying in order for us to figure out what our options would be for the shipping and insurance.
EBay doesn't allow this. You have to give a shipping fee and stick to it. No changes.

What's going to happen now?
You will tell him politely to return the item, in its original packaging (not usually important, but if you packaged carefully, you might as well get the benefit.).  When it arrives, you give a full refund of the amount he paid.
Don't get into a "he said, she said" argument.

Return for refund. Apologize for the problems. (Smarm is useful.)
Given the size of the item (a boom box) you must have used Expedited, ExpressPost, or the new Tracked service.  All of these are insured automatically against loss or damage in shipping. You can make your claim for damage in shipping by phoning Canada Post. They may have a few hoops for you to jump through. Since you got the item back, you may only be reimbursed for the postage.
You don't want the buyer to go to Paypal. It will just slow down the inevitable and if you are stubborn with PP, you will still pay out and will get a black mark on your selling record.
The buyer must return the item to get a refund from PP. That should be your bottom line too.
These VERY rare stereos sell for double what the starting bid was when they work perfectly.
But it didn't so this is irrelevant.

[danigomez]

I appreciate the response I just don't understand why all advice seems to point to "the buyer is always right." I can see it in some cases but isn't it possible that the buyer did not read the description well enough and they got angry and damaged the item? It's also possible it got damaged in shipping in which case I will file a claim with UPS.

The bottom line is that I can't understand what they're trying to tell me other than it is not as described AND it's damaged. When I asked them to clarify they responded by opening a case. In the case they said they want a full refund. That's fine if they will return the boom box but I can not ask them how they want to proceed because their responses either make no sense or don't exist.

My standing in the eBay community and with Paypal are very important to me. I'm really kind of scared and freaked out. 

I may have made a mistake somewhere and now I'll have a "mark" on my record which sounds really bad. I should never had tried to sell such a high ticket item with shipping. I should have kept the auction as local pick up only.

...I'm never going to be able to sleep tonight. 😞