How would you respond?

[Calaber]

I have just sold a number of items on e-Bay. One of them was a 1/18 scale VT HSV GTS, in Phantom Black, complete with certificate of authenticity, original packaging and in what I described in the ad as "immaculate". It had spent a number of years on display in a cabinet and had never been played with at all.

The evenual buyer's first contact was to ask me if the $80 starting price included postage to the NSW South Coast from my place on the Central Coast ($7.45). I said no and after a number of attempts by him to get me to reduce the postage, or send by Express Post for Regular Post rates, he successfully bid the $80 and paid after a few days' delay, plus the regular postage.

The day after I posted the parcel, he e-mails me to say that the car is not what he expected, had a number of faults and he wanted his money back. The faults comprised a broken off boot spoiler, which he claimed appeared to have been glued back on at some time (it hadn't, to my knowledge and I bought it new for nearly $150 about six years ago), the steering wheel didn't turn when you moved the front wheels and the doors had "sagged".

The car was immaculate in terms of presentation when I sold it. The spoiler has apparently come adrift in the post, even though the car was packed back in its foam container. As for the steering and doors, I reckon he's pulling my chain. I have told him that I am not prepared to refund his money as he has admitted he is very particular about the presentation of these things and is trying to build up a collection as cheaply as possible.

He has now logged a complaint through e-Bay, claiming that the car is "substantially less than what it was represented to be" in my ad. I said it was "immaculate", which it was, not "perfect". I have no idea if the doors on these things close perfectly or not, nor do I know if the steering wheel is supposed to turn with the front wheels. It wasn't a Biante model, it was an "Auto..." something or other, but it seemed to be of a high quality.

I reckon that he has purchased the car at considerably less than its true worth and doesn't really have a fair complaint. The only "fault" that I can accept is the broken off spoiler, which would be very simple to fix properly - the other "faults" are bullshit and don't affect the value of the car. What do you guys reckon? What would your response have been to his request for a refund?

[TVR-190]

i had a similar problem the other week, sold the garnish off my vp for 10 bucks, advertised as having a few cracks etc. and got comments back from the guy having a huge whinge about it not being at described correctly. seriously what did you expect for an 18 year old part for 10 bucks. some people are just morons, he just gave me negative feedback though.

keep it short and simple with ebay and just say item was as described and not faulty when sent.

[88GreenVN]

You buy as is on Ebay I thought.

He has scammed you from the start.

[Kikki]

The same way.

I work in advertising (again) and we constantly get calls about the same thing, oh he says its perfect/mint condition but it isnt, thats false advertising blah blah. One persons perception of "mint" or in your case immaculate is so different to the next.

Im not entirely sure on how ebay would deal with it, but I wouldn't be refunding him, this is one of the risks when dealing on ebay, i say tell him to suck it up.

[DANNY8]

I had a similar experience a year or so ago. Sold 2 17" mags, said they were fairly scratched up, even put pics up. A guy bought them for $150 I rekon it was, and when he got them he had a whinge coz they were worse then he thought.....first I said I wasn't gonna refund him, (went to a heap of trouble to get them sent over to him...didn't charge for the fuel running around for him or for the packaging), then he said he'd be happy with just $20 refunded. So yeah just refunded the $20.

Also, my little bro has a model VK that he bought from Holdens, and that has a steering wheel which can turns the wheels.

[immortality]

tell him he should gone for the INSURED registered post

[daggett]

Agree with immortality

[88GreenVN]

LOL ^^^ - so did I - and gave Rep for it

[Rufus®]

Only problem is, the postage is on the seller. If the seller doesn't use platinum post, it's on their head if the item goes missing. Having said that, registered post has insurance of up to $100 I believe. If you haven't used Platinum or Registered, then the seller is screwed.

To the OP. in hindsight, you probably should have photographed/videoed the item before shipping, seeing as he sounded like the whingey type.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Easy, i'd tell him to pissoff....Whats he going to do, leave negative feedback? Big deal.

[Rufus®]

if he has put in a dispuite with ebay, he very well may get his money back, and calaber may get a damaged car back!!

[Blown V6 Hatch]

I've put in a dispute a couple of times and ebay did squat....Your word against thiers.

[danja]

Sounds like the guy doesn't quite have his head screwed on straight - I'm surprised he didn't tell you the doors don't make the right "clunk" sound when you shut them...

The only genuine fault sounds like the spoiler, which is easily attributable to the postage carrier. If he didn't ask for insurance, then that's just bad luck I would say. The other issues (steering wheel not working, doors sagging, etc), unless you stated otherwise in the auction, or he asked you prior to purchase and you told him otherwise, they all sounds like false assumptions on his part.

You can't really say if he's trying to scam you, or just has unrealistic expectations of what he bought, but either way it shouldn't fly. I would respond, try to keep it civilised, and if he tries to leave you poisoned feedback you can try and refer the matter to eBay. I had an occasion where I had about 70 positive feedbacks, been a member in good standing for 5+ years, and some guy threw a hissy fit and left me nasty feedback. After the dispute was dismissed I contacted eBay and they said based on my track record they'd remove the bad feedback this time.

Good luck, these things are never much fun.

[Jezza]

yeah just say that it left your place in good condition and that he should be taking up the matter with the postal service as if its damaged its there fault for the damage happening

[Bugboy]

What your dealing with here is a cracker jack.These turkeys buy stuff on ebay at grossely discounted prices and when it dont work out the way they like they start crying like a fat chick on prom night.Dont respond and waste any more time on this turkey. Let him go and gobble in his own feathers.

[immortality]

the guy wanted the cheapest postage possible. he chose the risk. sagging doors on a model. blah blah blah.

[greenfoam]

You can pick the grumpy ones right from the start, just tell him to send the car back and give his money back then resell it. It's not worth fighting over because you get 100 good guys for bad. I used to send everything registered post but now since I pack stuff well I'm using express, if I ever loose one I'll use registered again but I haven't lost one yet. For things like models you should really be using registered post and leaving no option for anything else, I've sent I think about 200 memcals over ebay in the last 3 years and only lost 2 which were right at the start with normal post. But have had a few lost and 3 or 4 break when being sent to me in the most silly of ways (in paper with no packing etc)

[VNexecutive]

has no-body clicked that he wouldnt even have the car the day after you posted it Calaber? most items i post/recieve take a week in regular post.

that is of course if you posted it to your next door neighbour or something.

he's just trying to scam money back off you i'd say.

EDIT: greenfoam can you please reply to my PM. thanks

[soop]

Tell him to take a long walk of a short peir.

[VNexecutive]

Tell him to take a long walk of a short peir.

into a blender

[soop]

Nah, just into a dirty big cow pat.

Comic releif FTW. Why are people so violent these days?

[detox_nath83]

tell him to take his skirt off and get over it...
this is crap... what a douche.... Should have gone insured postage.. now he is trying to blame you for his stupidity...
and the door sagging jargen...pffft whatever

[VNexecutive]

Nah, just into a dirty big cow pat.

Comic releif FTW. Why are people so violent these days?

what about if the cow pat is inside the blender?
and the only way he can get out is by climbing the wall, which somehow results in the blender being turned on.

SAW XXIV ftw

[Grennan]

I've put in a dispute a couple of times and ebay did squat....Your word against thiers.

Yeah nowadays though it seems the sellers are being given the shaft so I wouldnt be half surprised if he did succesfuly make a claim.

Did he pay through paypal? If not, tell him where to go and Ebay cant do nothing about it.

If he did pay through paypal, keep as many photos as you can.

[STEALTHY™]

Did you ad state that the car had been displayed outside the box? (hard to tell from your first post)

If it did, tell him too bad and to read better next time. I've bought plenty of 2nd hand models off ebay before, never ever had something that wasn't described properly (you can usually tell the head**** sellers a mile away). I think he was expecting a brand new car even tho its years old already.


Personally i wouldn't have used the word immaculate tho, i would have said 'excellent 2nd hand condition'.