Here's the story: I put up a bunch (16) of old 800mb hard drives on ebay and somebody does a BuyItNow on them. OK, so this is on a Sunday, I ship UPS on Monday, and he receives on Wednesday. He's irate because they're not laptop drives. Now I'm confused and I go back to the auction, and I accidentally listed them under laptop drives, but I included pictures, said they were from a LAB of Apples, and listed them as WD Caviar and Quantum Trailblazer drives, which I assumed were desktop-only series of drives. I email him back and offer to refund him the purchase price minus the shipping if he wants to send them back (it was an ALL SALES FINAL auction), but he says he shouldn't have to pay anything and proceeds to report me to PayPal! And he doesn't even include his name when writing me emails! What do I do about this guy? Or am I totally in the wrong? Email correspondence included below in chronological order...
Him:
These are not laptop drives, way too big.
Me:
I am sorry about the confusion. I saw when I looked back at the auction that they had been listed as a laptop lot and not a desktop lot. If I'm not mistaken, WD and Quantum don't even make laptop drives (Quantum got bought by Maxtor, however), and even if they did, their Caviars and Trailblazers are desktop series drives. If you would like to send them back to me, I'll refund you the purchase price minus the shipping, but it may not even be worth it to do that. Please, ask before bidding if you're not 100% sure to avoid this confusion next time, and I'll be sure to look at the entire category of the listing when choosing a previously used one.
-Me
Him:
Why should I have to ask if they are laptop drives when they are listed as laptop drives?
Yes, I would like to send them back, they are worthless to me.
No, I shouldn't have to pay for any of the confusion as it wasn't me who listed them as laptop drives.
Me:
Dear Mr. Jones,
It is up to the seller to make sure an item is described correctly, and it is up to the buyer to make sure that the item for sale is exactly what one is looking for before bidding. I did put these under the wrong category by mistake, but even if it was not understood from the description ("from a lab of Apple computers") that they were desktop drives, and even if I was not crystal clear, you never asked. It's extremely rare for a business or seller to pay for shipping (except back to the buyer after an RMA) and I will not refund your shipping charge. You purchased an item AS-IS agreeing to my payment terms of "All sales final", and the best that I can do is offer you a refund MINUS the shipping charge as long as they get back to me in the same degree of packaging that I sent them to you in.
-Me
Paypal courtesy of my buyer:
As you may already be aware, the Buyer Complaint Policy only applies to
the shipment of goods and does not cover disputes over the quality of goods
received. Because this claim regarded the quality of the merchandise
received by the buyer, we will not be conducting an investigation into
this matter at this time.
We do, however, reserve the right to begin an investigation within 180
days if we determine it is necessary.
Often, situations like this are easily resolved through communication
with your buyer. We encourage you to work directly with the buyer to come to
an amicable resolution.
Me:
I thought that this could be worked out, but since you are unwilling to work with me or even attempt a compromise, I guess there is nothing else that I can do. I am sorry that you were not satisfied with the transaction, but my offer is still open. Since you filed a complaint with eBay instead of attempting an amicable resolution with me, I guess there is no longer anything that I can do for you.
-Me
Ugh
Him:
These are not laptop drives, way too big.
Me:
I am sorry about the confusion. I saw when I looked back at the auction that they had been listed as a laptop lot and not a desktop lot. If I'm not mistaken, WD and Quantum don't even make laptop drives (Quantum got bought by Maxtor, however), and even if they did, their Caviars and Trailblazers are desktop series drives. If you would like to send them back to me, I'll refund you the purchase price minus the shipping, but it may not even be worth it to do that. Please, ask before bidding if you're not 100% sure to avoid this confusion next time, and I'll be sure to look at the entire category of the listing when choosing a previously used one.
-Me
Him:
Why should I have to ask if they are laptop drives when they are listed as laptop drives?
Yes, I would like to send them back, they are worthless to me.
No, I shouldn't have to pay for any of the confusion as it wasn't me who listed them as laptop drives.
Me:
Dear Mr. Jones,
It is up to the seller to make sure an item is described correctly, and it is up to the buyer to make sure that the item for sale is exactly what one is looking for before bidding. I did put these under the wrong category by mistake, but even if it was not understood from the description ("from a lab of Apple computers") that they were desktop drives, and even if I was not crystal clear, you never asked. It's extremely rare for a business or seller to pay for shipping (except back to the buyer after an RMA) and I will not refund your shipping charge. You purchased an item AS-IS agreeing to my payment terms of "All sales final", and the best that I can do is offer you a refund MINUS the shipping charge as long as they get back to me in the same degree of packaging that I sent them to you in.
-Me
Paypal courtesy of my buyer:
As you may already be aware, the Buyer Complaint Policy only applies to
the shipment of goods and does not cover disputes over the quality of goods
received. Because this claim regarded the quality of the merchandise
received by the buyer, we will not be conducting an investigation into
this matter at this time.
We do, however, reserve the right to begin an investigation within 180
days if we determine it is necessary.
Often, situations like this are easily resolved through communication
with your buyer. We encourage you to work directly with the buyer to come to
an amicable resolution.
Me:
I thought that this could be worked out, but since you are unwilling to work with me or even attempt a compromise, I guess there is nothing else that I can do. I am sorry that you were not satisfied with the transaction, but my offer is still open. Since you filed a complaint with eBay instead of attempting an amicable resolution with me, I guess there is no longer anything that I can do for you.
-Me
Ugh
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