I recently sold a pair of forks – withoutout going in to loads of detail the buyer wants to send them back as they’re not what he was expecting (despite item description/photos clearly stating/showing they had scratches) – am I obliged to pay his retrun postage ie I don’t want to BUT can ebay make me/just tale the money from my paypal account?

Awkward. If you’re obliging enough to accept a return – even though the item was as described, I’d say no – he should pay for the return.
The alternative, and this is not a nice way to go – let him raise a dispute and you’ll win (if they were as described) and he’ll have to keep them.
Why should you be out of pocket because a buyer has “changed their mind”.
I’d ring Ebay and get it on record with them NOW, in case it gets silly.

Personally, with ebay I wouldn’t offer refunds on forks in case the buyer decides to swap out broken internal’s from their old forks etc.

If the buyer changes their mind and the forks were as you described then they can always sell them on…

in case the buyer decides to swap out broken internals from their old forks

Indeed! I hear this has been done in the past…

THIS^^^

After some of the horror stories I’ve read on here, no way I’d be refunding anything until I’d checked the item over completely.

Out of interest, what reason has the buyer given for changing their mind?

The buyer is quibbling there’s a pin prick size (and really it is) scratch on one of the stanchions (not raised edges, not tearing seals etc etc). He’s “sought professional advice and has been told told damage may have been done to the fork internals.” and he’s going to be “chucking himself down mountains so they need to be work properly.” Now I know this is all tosh and I think he’s either a) wanting to pay used prices for new kit and/or b) has changed his mind on getting the forks. I clearly stated in the item description the forks have a few scuffs and scratches and that they are a USED FORK (but well maintained and everything works).

Thing is if I had any confidence ebay would back me as a seller, I’d tell him to go whistle. I can’t list every individual scratch on the forks and I did include something like 8 pictures with 2 close-ups of the stanchions, front and rear shots.

if I had any confidence ebay would back me as a seller

That is why you need to phone them, get it on record and see where you stand.

The alternative, and this is not a nice way to go – let him raise a dispute and you’ll win (if they were as described) and he’ll have to keep them.

eBay offer buyers a guarantee that they’ll get their money back if unhappy so I think Paypal are always going to rule in the buyers favour.

You don’t have to refund the return postage if the buyer has changed his mind.

If it goes to a dispute and he wins, eBay/Paypal will refund him in full – the cost of the forks and the postage cost he initially paid you.

Make him send them back at his own expense and offer to refund him for the forks only, not the postage. That’s the only chance you have of the transaction not costing you anything as eBay will rule in his favour – they always do.

Given what people have said about buyers swapping internals then returning, I’d be concerned that this

has been told told damage may have been done to the fork internals

is no coincidence and he’s getting his story set up.

The person who decides on whether to refund the buyer or not will likely have no concept of the ins and outs of MTB forks but will be referring to a set of guidelines laid down by eBay i.e. refund the buyer in full if he is unhappy.

The deck is always stacked in the buyers favour unfortunately…

Exactly! At best picky people who want as-new condition but paying used prices can have a field day and at worst a scammer can seemingly get away with all sorts.

In my case I don’t think the buyer is a scammer, just a picky bartsteward.

They don’t always find in the buyer’s favour. IF the item was as described, the buyer has no case and therefore they will find in the seller’s favour.
But why not just get it cleared with ebay who should pay postage?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/scammed-on-ebay

Not sure there’s much you can do about it if you are being set up for this. But paying for return postage would be the icing on the cake.

Fork manufacturers should start putting serial numbers on the internals as well.

Out of interest, how long is it since the buyer received the forks? Are we talking days or weeks?

It’s a trap!
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What does it say on your original auction about returns and who pays postage? On mine (and I sell quite a bit, though not bike parts) it says that returns are accepted (up to 14 days) but the buyer pays for return postage.

If someone returns an item then I’m only out the cost of posting it to them.

The buyer complained on the day (last Thursday) he received them with a brief email, and then came back yesterday with a second message saying he’d since got ‘professional advice’. I state on all my items ‘no returns’.

As others have stated, eBay/Paypal will often side with the Buyer so far easier to just tell him to return them and you’ll credit him.

Avoid saying you’ll pay for his postage.

I did this recently, even though I’d said no returns – as otherwise you could easily end up with no money and no forks.

Could you find out where he sought professional advice? Talk to them to see whats what?

I would be loathed to pay his postage. Its his choice he is sending them back.

They don’t always find in the buyer’s favour. IF the item was as described, the buyer has no case and therefore they will find in the seller’s favour.

Have you dealt with the claims process since eBay brought in their money back guarantee? You have around 8 days to appease the buyer before he can escalate the case and get his money back.

You can keep firing emails back and forth stating your case but once the buyer states he is unhappy with the item and escalates the case, Paypal have no choice but to refund.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebay-money-back-guarantee/

It’s grossly unfair of course…

I think I’d be asking who his expert was. His concern over internal damage sounds like a set-up for returning them with, oh look, damaged internals, told you so.

Anyway. Consumer Contracts Regulations (the replacement for the Distance Selling Regulations) state that you’d be liable for postage unless you’d informed the buyer that they’d be liable before the sale was completed. However, CCR doesn’t apply to private sales however, so I suspect that it’d be down to simple negotiation between the two parties in eBay’s case.

Here. This is from 2006 so may be out of date now but,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Distance-Selling-Regulations-And-eBay-/10000000000140381/g.html

The DSR’s do not apply to private sellers, so for those of you that sell unwanted items as opposed to buying to sell you are not legally obliged to abide by the DSR’s. You do not have to offer returns or a 7 day cooling off period

As a private seller you need to decide whether you wish to offer returns and/or exchanges

Clear as mud, then. If you’ve said “no returns” then I’d be tempted just to stick to that.