I’ve not sold things on ebay until recently, but there was some non-bike stuff I no longer had use for so I thought I’d give it a punt.

Sold a torch (a nitecore defender infinity, for anyone who cares), checked that it worked properly before I posted it off to the winning bidder.

He is claiming that it’s not working properly.
I simply don’t see how that’s possible, as it was fine when I packed it.
While there is of course a chance that it’s been damaged in transit (though I doubt it – it was in it’s case, in foam), I’m starting to think that he’s either changed his mind, or that he’s buggered it up himself and now wants rid. (This last option is pure speculation though, based solely on the less than eloquent correspondence he’s sent me).

I’m not in the business of doing a bad deal for anyone and certainly wouldn’t have misadvertised the item.

Of course, I’m going to allow him to send it back, but the whole thing just stinks, in my opinion. And there’s not a lot I can do about it, I don’t think.

Anyway, so the point of all this is – what percentage of ebay sales go well? Is this unusual or are people generally plonkers on there?

I’m thinking that I’ve been wrapped up in the lovely friendly STW world and have been a bit naive about what non-enthusiasts are like.

Anyway, rant over, time for a brew.

To save everyone searching ebay

What is he saying is not working correctly? Operator error?

My daughter had this. The person said the games machine she had sold had stopped working after a month and was demanding her money back! my daughter just replied that as she had it for a month it was too late – and left it at that – but she was worried that she would have poor reviews meaning she wouldnt be able to sell in future – think people use it as blackmail to get money back.

I just received negative feedback from someone outside UK winning an auction that was listed as UK only and stated postage only to UK in description…

or he’s after a partial refund

fairly common scam – the seller just gives some money back rather than the hassle and cost of a return/refund/relist

Yup, that’s the one.
He says he’s having problems with the modes. From his latest email:
“the user mode is not working at all read the manual seen vids on youtube and this is not working at all all i get is high intermitant with flickering and strobe i have been trying this for hours and i honestly believe it is faulty so i would like to return it to you sorry but its not as described”

It sounds like operator error to me, but it’s the lack of punctuation that worries me the most.

Anyway, I’ve vented now and I’m feeling much better.
Glad to know I’m not alone, but a little sadder at the state of society if this kind of thing happens all the time.

I’ve decided I might go and live in the woods.

Wait till it comes back, it may be broken.

I have very few problems on ebay.

You have given him Am idiot’s guide on how it works?

Another tip when selling is always make a note of serial/imei numbers, a new scam is to swap broken items for your working ones, as ebay mostly sides with buyers.

I sold an item recently which the buyer claimed was broken (only complained after 3 weeks) I said no probs send it back and if the serial numbers I made a note of matched (a fib :D) I’ll do a full refund even the postage, and as predicted the emails stopped.

If you think it’s pilot error and it really does work, plus you don’t want the negative feedback then you could allow him to return it and sell it again.

Thanks folks, good tips all around.

fatboyjon – that’s just what I was thinking/hoping, so I’ve just sent him an email to that end.

I sold a bike on Ebay a while back, it had been recently serviced by a well respected bike place in Edinburgh and well looked after. The buyer complained that the rear hub was goosed and the rear mech was damaged. I wondered if it had been damaged in transit as it was fine on the ride before I sold the bike. Initially he asked for a refund, i told him to send the bike back and I would check it over, if damaged I would either refund or replace the faulty items and return the bike. He then suggested I pay for a new XT rear mech and a new hub/wheel build, at first I agreed but then wondered about it, I told him he could only do it if he told me the store he was going to take it to and I wanted to see receipts, I also told him I would contact them concerning the build as I wanted to find out what was actually wrong with the bike, nothing for a few days then all of a sudden HE was going to ‘source’ the parts and replace the hub himself. He wanted almost £200 (XT mech and Pro II hub), I declined his offer and told him to send me the rear wheel and mech, he refused saying if he did that he wanted a refund, this went on a bit.

In the end I gave him £20 which I still see as mney to make sure he didnt leave negative feedback, I dont think anything was wrong with the bike.

Not all like this, I have bought and sold loads without any issues both on here and Ebay, just need to be careful sometimes.

I wouldn’t worry about it. I sold some shoes in very good condition [worn twice] and was told they were falling to bits. May have happened in transit but he gave bad feedback. Also sold some wheels which were about 7-8yrs old and had a badly dented rear rim and on original freehub. Pointed this out and he gave negative feeedback as the cassette dies in first ride. There’s not much you can do to be honest. The negative feedback doesn’t have a majorly bad affect to be honest, I tend to only go by it if someone doesn’t post stuff. If something is genuinely nailed then that’s why you have enay protection. I don’t offer refunds but if’ it was damaged during transit then I will supply the receipt for the recipient to claim compensation. Ebay is however gettign bad at siding with the buyer though and it is why I’m using it less at the moment. Some people don’t have any issues though