eBay Buyer given full refund by PayPal , I did nothing wrong?

[funkyred1]

I sold it an airbrush and compressor on eBay a couple of weeks ago , as soon It sold the buyer contacted me saying could I cancel the winning bid because he didn't really want it. I replied saying no I would not as he won the auction. He then paid for the item. Before I posted the item I made a video showing the compressor and airbrush in full working order. After the buyer received the compressor they contacted me saying it was faulty , I told them it wasn't and the video I have shows it working . They then closed the case. A few days ago I received an email from PayPal this time saying the buyer wanted a full refund, I then went to the resolution centre and learnt the buyer was no saying "it wasn't as described ?" My listing s description was " air brush and compressor, used twice , in working order". . I then explained to to PayPal how the compressor and airbrush worked and the buyer simply did not want it and wanted their money back. Today I received an email from PayPal saying they have decided to give the buyer their money back ? How can this be ? I did nothing wrong and followed the rules and conditions of eBay ? They clearly didn't want the item and in my opinion should not have bid if they didn't want it ?

[William9 · Accepted solution]

You'll need to understand that when you sell on eBay and/or use PayPal to receive payments, buyers are the ones who can dictate rules. It doesn't matter that much who is right, if buyer wants refund he can claim that item is broken, not as described, he can smash the item with hammer and then take picture showing that this is how the item arrived.

For example, I bought item from seller couple months ago. Seller never uploaded tracking info to PayPal even though he sent the item. It has now been several months and the tracking number which was on the package is no longer valid, you can't see that the item was delivered even if he would now enter the information. I wonder if he even saved the shipping papers/info since it has been so long.

I could possibly file dispute about item not received and get my money back. This is PayPal.

[funkyred1]

Wot if they have damaged the goods before return to validate their case ?

[DPCreations]

@funkyred1

You won't be able to prove it.

[sharpiemarker]

eBay don't have the cancel bids option for nothing:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#canceling

Canceling bids:

You generally shouldn't cancel bids on your listings. However, there are a few reasons you may need to cancel a bid:

-A bidder contacts you to back out of the bid.
-You cannot verify the identity of the bidder after trying all reasonable means of contact.
-You end your listing early.

You also have the option to block bidder after canceling.

Being a private seller should not entirely excuse you from conducting your transactions with professionalism.  I am small seller too but if a buyer wants to cancel, I cancel.  The buyer has way too many tools at their disposal to get their money back.  Read about a recent case on eBay similar to this.

[funkyred1]

Thank you all for your replies some very help full some not. In reply to you all I just wanted to say , I only wanted to sell some unused items to someone who may like or need them . It looks like it was purely a case of right and wrong. ...... the buyer was right and I was always going to be wrong. I probably will not use eBay and PayPal in the long term and will withdraw my funds and close the account , and stick with gumtree and Facebook market place and other local selling sites. This whole experience has been a really sad reflection of society and how cheating and lieing are accepted and justified . All your answers proved this point , how sad this is to realise. Goodbye and thank you

[kbtsou]

Geez, your situation isn't an issue of a poor reflection of society faught with lying and cheating. A guy simply had buyer's remorse and this whole thing could have been avoided had you simply canceled his bid (and as a previous poster pointed out, this happens on eBay by virtue of the existence of a "Canceling bids" page). Haven't you ever had to return an item that you regretted buying? This is the same thing. To say that his wanting to return an item that you knew he had no interest in before you shipped it is not deceitful on his end; you were the one who forced his hand by backing him into a corner.

[funkyred1]

I really don't understand your logic........"buyer remorse " as you call it is ok I guess if you buy something from s shop and would like to return it ( even then a retailer may only give you a credit mite) . However last time I checked eBay was an auction site where most listings are second hand. If I bid an auction I am legalsly bound to buy the item . I cannot say I don't want it or after a while send it back . You are confusing the two sale process's. eBay is an auction site you bid against other people on items that have been on sale for a period of time . If you don't want it , dont bid , I now have to go through the whole listing process again because someone else's negligence and for you to justify their actions is laughable . It didn't ask them to bid , they did it of their own accord . If they haven't done their research or asked any questions via pm before bidding it is their fault and they will have learned a valuable life lesson. But they haven't they are allowed to behave like this and the seller is inconvenienced and most probably out of pocket long term.

[sharpiemarker]

Yeah, but the buyer/bidder has too many ways to get their money back.  Even if the guy didn't cancel, he can return it for his own reason if not a SNAD.  This is what happens with business transactions in general.  And it can cost you extra in the end with paying for return shipping with eBay Money Back Guarantee.  You also have other options. If you had multiple bidders, you could have done the second chance bid thing if your winning bidder backed out.  Things are changing with online selling.  Private sellers are expected to conduct business like the big guys do, providing extra perks like free return shipping, returns for any reason, etc.  Maybe it is best that you sold on other venues that cater to the private seller market.

[kbtsou]

Well, it looks like they aren't really legally obligated to buy it if eBay has a page dedicated to canceling a bid, no?