Obtaining a discount for an incomplete order.

[lynnvalley548]

 

I recently purchased a repair kit. However one of the items is not with the rest of the order that was received. We decided it was not an immediate problem because we thought we would just re-use the old part in place of the missing part.
It turns out that we cannot re-use the old part and need the missing part. We have already begun the repair so we are not in a position to return the entire parcel.

The seller has offered to accept a return. Instead, we have asked the seller for a reasonable discount. Perhaps only as much as the sending and return shipping would cost. That at least leaves the seller no worse off than if they reimbursed us for a return.

The seller is now unresponsive and has not agreed to any discount. 

What options do we have to obtain any compensation for the missing part. It just seems wrong that we should have to order this one part elsewhere and not at least be compensated in some way by the seller.

I have left the seller a negative review. What else can I do?

[pjcdn2005]

Some sellers will do partial refunds but eBay does not require them to agree to partials.   So it is a good idea  to check the order before it is too late to send it back.   You could try asking for a partial refund through your payment provider.  

[lynnvalley548]

I'll check with our payment provider and see if we have recourse.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

In the future, if something arrives incomplete or damaged, your best bet is to contact the seller and resolve it right away rather than trying to use the item as is. This is because if you did return a consumable item like a repair kit, the seller might be able to argue that you modified or damaged the item, and they might be able to hold back part of the return. 

I will preface this by saying that I am not accusing you of making up that a part was missing. I'm assuming that you are being truthful. With that said, when you ask for a refund and don't ask for a replacement part, and aren't open to returning the item instead, it is going to make (some) sellers think that you are scamming them by fishing for a refund. Again, I don't think you are doing that - but it happens often enough that some sellers modify their policies to where they will only do returns/replacements. Usually what happens is that a buyer complains about an issue that the seller thinks is unlikely to have happened, and when the seller offers a free return, the buyer doesn't follow up. This is why some sellers only offer returns, because even if it seems like it would be more expensive on paper to provide a label, people fishing for partial refunds almost never follow throuh with the returns.

As far as your recourse, you don't have any unless you misrepresent the situation to your bank. eBay already has an internal mechanism for resolving this problem, which is that you can open a return for missing parts, and either the seller can provide you a label for you to return the defective item or if they refuse to eBay will step in and refund you. In this case, the seller already told you they would resolve it with a label. I understand that's not your ideal resolution, and I get where you're coming from, but not resolving a complaint in your ideal way isn't what chargebacks are for. Chargebacks are for when there is no other avenue to resolve the problem. In this case, the seller provided you a reasonable avenue to get your money back.