[beautifulbasics]

Hello,

I post this at a time when I am very upset. I come to tPF not knowing what to do. I am keeping my fingers crossed someone knows what to do!

I depend upon eBay for my income (in addition to my tiny disability...I am disabled/terminally ill as most of you know).

I sell authentic handbags and Restoration Hardware bedding. I sold a Restoration Hardware bedding set to a buyer and she contacted me within 24 hours asking where her items were. I apologized for the delay (even though it had only been 48 hours!) and after she sent me 10+ more emails complaining about how much I charge for s&h, how long it was taking and so forth...I refunded the s&h costs, without her even asking and kindly apologized for "not meeting her expectations with regards to s&h time".

When she received the items (4 days after paying!), she contacted me right away with all sorts of issues (bedding didn't match her walls, quaility issues, etc) and demanded a 50% refund. I kindly said I would send her a pre-paid label to return the items and I would be happy to refund her in full (even though my auction states no refunds)...then, she wrote back saying she was going to leave a negative feedback...I think it really upset her that I would not agree to a 50% refund right away.

I had 100% positive from 300+ transactions...the buyer has 15 feedback and when I requested her contact info through eBay, because I thought maybe if we spoke upon the phone it would help clear things up, the buyer's telephone number was disconnected (which I reported to eBay). Now, she has left a very, very, very nasty negative feedback that states the following:

"BUYER BEWARE!!! TOTAL LOW QUALITY KNOCKOFF! NOT AUTHENTIC RESTORATION HARDWARE"

What should I do? I am devastated. I have worked very, very hard and I don't know what to do. I don't think the buyer is open to a mutual withdrawl of any sort, even if I offered her the items for free at this point! It seemed she wanted to keep the items...but, wanted 50% off.......was I wrong? Should I have given her 50% off just because she was unahppy and now look at the nasty, mean, false feedback she has left. A friend of mine scours the earth (literally) to find matching Restoration Hardware bedding items within outlets, store's, online, etc...if I would have given her 50%, I would have taken a major loss. Help, please. Funny how she says it's a knock off....Restoration Hardware exclusively makes this bedding collection!

I am terribly sorry for the long post. Ahhhhhhhhhhh...on top of it all, today is the once a month when I get out of the house and go to the doctor's/treatments/etc...yuck. I am hysterical and don't feel like going anywhere. I am thinking of writing something back to her feedback comment...but what?!?!?

I sure hope everyone is having a better start to their week than I am! Thank you within advance for any assistance you all can provide. best wishes.

[moi et mes sacs]

Calm down first of all. You know the place is full of oddballs and you unfortunately stumbled on one. It sounds as though this person just wanted a cut price deal. She knew the shipping charge before buying so she did not deserve a refund. Please get in touch with eBay and keep all her ridiculous messages to prove your issue. Hopefully she will get bored and leave you alone, but please dont give her any more money back as she will never stop...

[LT bag lady]

Sorry you ran into such a hard to please buyer!

That is exactly what I would state in the feedback. This buyer is impossible to please, My items are authentic see feedback.

Leave a follow up to her feedback stating the same. Potential buyers will see her comments and compare to all your other feedback and see this person was impossible to please. Might even keep other flakes away.

Give her a negative of course, leaving fair feedback is part of the transaction, she did not do that, so you can feel justified in leaving her a neg.
Oh, and DON'T accept the item back! and BLOCK her!

Cheers,

[Kiss Me Deadly]

um some people are so cracked out, I feel like your responses to her remorse were perfect and very classy.. you should be contacting eBay about this.. its like abuse

[oogiewoogie]

That totally bites the DUST!!!! I'm sorry.... ((huuugg)) but that buyer seems very unreasonable and a bully buyer too. As a seller, you did all that you could to assist the situation.. and as a buyer she didn't give enough time to come to a reasonable solution. Seeing that she sent you numerous e-mails in such a short time, kind of makes you wonder what type of buyer/person she is.

From an outside perspective, you did what you could, and the buyer seems unreasonable. You could try calling her if you have her #... and see if you guys could come to an agreement. But, if she turns out to be a hostile, uncompromising buyer... don't let her get you down. You know that you took all steps necessary to help. Don't let this crazy buyer get to you.. she's not worth it.. Good Luck~!

[Norlite]

First off, (((((hugs)))))) seems you need that.

I would simply answer the feedback stating that buyer tried to scam you out of cash and is now angry. My excellent feedback speaks for itself.

And place a beware of dishonest buyer in a neg. feedback to her.

Please don't return her money, with her keeping the item. I never would have refunded her shipping charges. I'm sure once you did that, she thought she had you.

Please feel better, just put it behind you and don't look back.

[Alidoll]

I'd contact eBay direct and explain what you did (refunded the postage etc) and how you were unable to contact her direct. If possible, send copies of all correspondence to show you have bent over backwards to help. If Ebay can't help, then you can leave a follow-up message (and leave her negative feedback - it'll hurt her rating more than yours given she's only got 15).

I'd leave a response like;

"Authentic item but Buyer demanded 50% off. When refused left -ve feedback. Scam artist - avoid!!!"

or

"All items sold authentic - check my previous feedback. Scammer - have reported to eBay"

Don't worry - people will read your other feedback and see that this is a one off incident. Unfortunately there are some total scam artists out there (I've actually just been contacted by eBay over an item I won last night saying the seller is a fraud! Thankfully I hadn't paid yet as there was a coat the seller also had listed that I liked an I was going to bid on that as well or I could have been out of pocket).

Most people on eBay however are genuine so don't let this one episode stop you.

[BiloxiBlu]

sorry to hear about this, what a PITA!

But like others' sage advice, don't think one crazy buyer will ruin your FB.. Your otherwise great FB clearly speaks for itself!

[print*model]

She wanted something for nothing. Just a little preview of what good sellers have to look forward to in the upcoming months. Vultures like this lady are going to COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK!

Anyway. At this point, I think you should leave her a big fat red negative stating that she wanted 50% off for no good reason and when you didn't bow down, she hit you with an unwarranted negative.

AND THEN, I would make it my mission to get her kicked off of eBay for having a disconnected phone number.

Oh, and yes. Be sure to block her. I know I just did!

[mooks]

There are some people in this world who you will never appease or satisfy and this is one of those buyers!

I'm sorry you are so upset but this is one of the unpleasant things we sometimes have to deal with on eBay. Leave the buyer negative feedback stating her unreasonable demands

[lovelygarments]

Originally Posted by Alidoll

I'd contact eBay direct and explain what you did (refunded the postage etc) and how you were unable to contact her direct. If possible, send copies of all correspondence to show you have bent over backwards to help. If Ebay can't help, then you can leave a follow-up message (and leave her negative feedback - it'll hurt her rating more than yours given she's only got 15).

I'd leave a response like;

"Authentic item but Buyer demanded 50% off. When refused left -ve feedback. Scam artist - avoid!!!"

or

"All items sold authentic - check my previous feedback. Scammer - have reported to eBay"

Don't worry - people will read your other feedback and see that this is a one off incident. Unfortunately there are some total scam artists out there (I've actually just been contacted by eBay over an item I won last night saying the seller is a fraud! Thankfully I hadn't paid yet as there was a coat the seller also had listed that I liked an I was going to bid on that as well or I could have been out of pocket).

Most people on eBay however are genuine so don't let this one episode stop you.

Totally agree with this poster. Can you pm me with this buyer's name so that I can add her to my blocked bidder list? I have run across people like this before too. It is just awful. If you look at her completed auctions (auctions she has won), you will probably find a pattern there. She probably has a lot auctions that she won, but where no fb was left. If you contact the other sellers, you will probably learn that she did the same thing to them. I have contacted other sellers of PITA buyers, and I learned that the buyers were pulling the same scame on all the sellers, and the sellers were just so afraid of that negative feedback. It makes me sick!

[illinirdhd]

I don't really have any advice that's different from what others have offered. Just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that things like this are happening to good sellers.

[anotheremptysky]

*big giant hug*

I agree, leave a negative and reply to yours explaining your side. most rational buyers will look at all of your positives and ignore that one negative.

[HandbagAngel]

I am a buyer, and I always check sellers' feedback but keep my mind open. I know there are so many buyers scammed sellers. I always make my own judgements instead of just listening to buyer's side. Don't worry. People with common sense will know what is going on. Just make sure to leave a follow-up to the feedback you received. Don't worry about loosing the 100% feedback. That one is too hard to control. Big hug....

[Carmen82]

I'm so sorry you have to deal with such a nasty buyer...I think the best way to deal with this is just to have her return her purchase and her give her a full refund. I don't think you should give her a 50% off discount, because it sounds like she just wants to take advantage of you. It is NOT unreasonable to receive something 4 days after she paid for it, unless you specified you would be sending it overnight. Again, I'm sorry you have to deal with this.