I'm asking this question on behalf of my mum - the house is filled with stress and raised voices and I'm going totally mad. Please help!

Mum has only just started selling on e-Bay recently... she's still considered a new member with Paypal withholding her funds for three weeks/until she gets positive feedback etc. So obviously positive feedback/staying in e-Bay buyer's good books is especially important right now.

So, she listed a Beatles Pencil by Number set she's had since she was a little girl. We had no clue what it was worth so started it off "high" at £29.99. We thought we could re-list it at a lower price next time. But it ended up shooting up in the last few seconds and sold for £315.00. Fantastic, right? Well, not so much when we realised the buyer was a Beatles dealer who could sell it on for a lot more, but hey, that's the way it goes.

Of course, as we had no idea what it was worth, we just quoted for ordinary shipping. Proof of postage covers you up to a certain value anyway. But when it went that high, she contacted the buyer and ask if they wanted it shipped with insurance or to take a risk. He wrote a very snooty letter back to her saying it was HER responsibility to get it to him safely, she must take care of the details and swallow the extra £10 or so shipping costs for insurance and e-Bay GUARANTEES he'll get it. O...kay, so I think we're already getting a picture of a rather pernickety buyer who could potentially turn nasty if anything went wrong.

Cut to today. Mum asked my dad to help her pack the darn thing (don't ask me why? Apparently, he's better than me or something but that's another story). He was in a fowl mood and rushing to wrap some bubble wrap around it when he TORE THE BOX LID. It's not an enormous tear (especially as the box was already damaged), but obviously we had to come clean to the buyer.

You can see photos of the box here - s244.photobucket.com/a...%20Number/ (The top five pictures show the additional tear - the other pictures were taken before my stupid father damaged it)

Anyway, the buyer has already written back. Yes, he might still be interested in it... but he wants a 20% discount as the tear is so major! That's a loss of about £60 to Mum. Annoyingly, the description said the box was torn along that flap (the two corner tears) and the second highest bidder (who bid £305) didn't even ask for further details/photos so was happy to pay that price anyway.

Well, that's the story, I guess the question is... Is Mum obligated to give him the 20% discount? The set is obviously worth a lot more than that (as shown by the other people who bid without even knowing how badly torn the box was!) and it's just so frustrating that this guy's trying to get such a huge discount for a little tear. Plus I'm pretty sure this guy's going to turn nasty and leave a negative even if she DOES sell it to him.

I tried to do some research on Google and came up with a terrifying case where somebody in Germany got sued for damaging an item they'd sold on e-Bay while packing it. Since the buyer had already paid, it was technically their property that had been damaged by the seller.

*Sighs* Why did it have to happen to such an expensive item, eh?

What a jerk buyer! I would totally duck the entire transaction if at all possible. But, unfortunately that means satisfying the buyer to avoid negative feedback on the transaction (which I am terribly afraid to say sounds potentially unavoidable at this point. Yes, some eBay buyers are Awful when they think they can get More for Cheaper. You could possibly do everything in your power to make the best of of the situation and still get negged.)
I would suggest checking not only his buyers and sellers feedback but also his feedback left for others!!! This will give you a fairly clear-cut view of the type of individual that you are dealing with here. And, perhaps it will make the decision of what steps to take next easier.

I am so sorry that your family has had such a rotten start on eBay! It's a pretty tough place for sellers, atm. I hope that things get easier for you guys soon!! Keep us posted!

Thanks for the reply.

From what I can see, he's left no negative for anyone else. He just seems to have got an almighty chip on his shoulder that Mum didn't already know her childhood toy was going to rocket in price before listing it (so hadn't sorted out insurance and quoted for it beforehand) and now thinks he can knock the price down (by a fifth!) due to the tear. But even then, it's not like my dad damaged a MINT item - one of the pictures had been coloured (so it's used), and the box was already torn, he's just made it worse.

Mum offered him the chance to cancel the transaction/get a full refund, but I guess he knows he can make a LOT of money on this item on his Beatles sales site anyway. Negative feedback aside, are we legally obligated to sell to him at the discounted price he has suggested?

I'm not sure what is "ebay-legal" right now, but two things:

1) if I have an item like that, that skyrockets crazily, like 275$ above what I thought it would go for (I have, once! It was exciting!), I would have eaten the extra shipping insurance cost (which I did). I was so excited to be getting SO much extra $, I didn't care! (yes, I am not a good businessman!)

2) if a buyer was acting that way to me, I'd run run run, try to cancel the transaction and give a second chance offer or just re-list it some time down the road - after blocking the persnickety guy. I get pleasure out of making people happy with their packages, and I would get NO pleasure from dealing with that rude creature.

3) so sorry this happened to you. Dealing with sweet people all the time (the arena, most of my ebay and etsy customers), its really shocking and saddening when people act this way.

Yeah, we'd come to terms with the fact we had to pay the shipping insurance - it was only about £10 extra and, while annoying, it was worth it to insure the buyer couldn't claim the set went missing.

But asking for a 20% discount for a small tear just seems out of line to me. Especially when we all know it's worth far more, even in its present state. That's why I was just trying to get a few opinions and find out more about e-Bay's actual rules before Mum replies to him. We were going to contact e-Bay directly but ebay.co.uk doesn't even seem to have a helpline for this kind of situation.

Thank you for your reply and support though. Mum is so stressed out about it all (she's just sitting there with her head in her hands) so all opinions are very much appreciated.

You are not obligated to do that 20%. I would say haggle back, offer them less of a mark down for the item and if they wont take it then refund their purchase price with your apology. If they make it seem at all like 'do this for me or else I will leave neg' that is feedback extortion. Such neg feedback can be contested as long as you don't respond to it and ebay will often remove it. Almost every seller gets a neg eventually just try to stay calm and tell her in the ends getting the money you need is more important than the negative.

I would just say something like "Since we have damaged this item, we don't feel that it would be appropriate to finish this transaction as is. We will happily refund you in full"

CrimsonEtClover wrote:

I would just say something like "Since we have damaged this item, we don't feel that it would be appropriate to finish this transaction as is. We will happily refund you in full"

I agree with this - the buyer can't say you did them out of anything, after all they got their money back in full. I'm sure even ebay would agree if you have damaged the buyers goods then a full refund can be expected

That would leave you free to relist the item updating the description with the new tear and let it find its value that way

Jem

Jemofirongate wrote:

CrimsonEtClover wrote: I would just say something like "Since we have damaged this item, we don't feel that it would be appropriate to finish this transaction as is. We will happily refund you in full" I agree with this - the buyer can't say you did them out of anything, after all they got their money back in full. I'm sure even ebay would agree if you have damaged the buyers goods then a full refund can be expected That would leave you free to relist the item updating the description with the new tear and let it find its value that way Jem

This sounds like exactly what I would do....As Jem has said I am sure you can cancel a transaction because the item is "no longer available" or "not in the sale condition" anymore - I had my puppy "eat" Baby Fireflys playpen after selling it on ebay [yes careless] and I was able to simply tell the buyer of the problem and then cancel out of the transaction...maybe you could do something similar? I dont think its possible for the buyer to leave feedback if the transaction is simply cancelled...but you would need to check that one out!

Oh my goondess - what a stressful situation ...and what an awful buyer! you are not obligated to give him the 20% discount. He cannot make you do that

CrimsonEtClover wrote:

I would just say something like "Since we have damaged this item, we don't feel that it would be appropriate to finish this transaction as is. We will happily refund you in full"

Like the others here , this is what I would go with as well! give him an excuse that you cannot go through with the sale, and cancel that transaction

hathorcat wrote:

Jemofirongate wrote: CrimsonEtClover wrote: I would just say something like "Since we have damaged this item, we don't feel that it would be appropriate to finish this transaction as is. We will happily refund you in full" I agree with this - the buyer can't say you did them out of anything, after all they got their money back in full. I'm sure even ebay would agree if you have damaged the buyers goods then a full refund can be expected That would leave you free to relist the item updating the description with the new tear and let it find its value that way Jem This sounds like exactly what I would do....

Agree as well!

I would offer a refund too, personally. He sounds like to much of a jerk to deal with. It did however go for heaps, so I don't know, if it were me, I may say, I will give you 10% off due to the damage, however, you have to pay for insurance on postage. If you aren't happy with those terms, I shall cancel the sale.

yes, I would just do whatever possible (legally, of course!) to get out of the sale with this guy - he is bad news bears.

Good advice! Hope things turn out for you!

I agree with everyone else - Xeevee has some good suggestions too.

Obviously too late for current situation, but I had some rare records I had no idea on value of and I put something in my auction like "If items sells for more than £30 I will only send recorded delivery" - and then with quotes for that.