Item Not As Described, Return Shipping on me?

Here's a new situation.
A buyer bought something edible from me, not cheap, total cost of the order was around $90 USD.
I shipped it out with DHL EXPRESS full tracking and it delivered successfully.

The buyer then contacts me saying that the seal of the product was open and doesn't think it's now safe to consume it and wants to return the item.

I asked the buyer a couple questions: was it opened because the product was damaged? Was the box it shipped in damaged? If not, then the product itself was somehow opened before it was shipped which sounds really weird. I asked him to send me photos but hasn't replied yet but I think he will send them today or tomorrow.

I found out that even though my return shipping policy was stated "buyer pays for return shipping", ebay's policy overrides everything which stated that anything that is "item not as described" automatically means the seller has to pay for return shipping.

How do I pay for return shipping? Do I tell the buyer what shipping service to use to send it back to me or does the buyer choose whatever shipping service they want and I just get fitted the bill? Also, because it will take a few days, maybe weeks, do I withhold a refund UNTIL i get the shipment back to me or will I risk getting an escalation to ebay to step in and they give me a defect for not refunding him quickly while I'm still waiting for the item to be returned to me?

Lastly, couldn't a buyer just decide to open the product and then later claim that the seal was already broken and doesn't want it anymore? Even if he sent me photos, there's still no way to prove if it was already opened before he got it, or if he opened it himself and then just lied and claimed it was already opened. Man, this is so dodgy. Is this one of things where you just say, "well, it's ebay's rules and sellers just gotta eat the bullet without any evidence the buyer is telling the truth" kinda thing?

1.If you ask him to send the photos and he does not do that. It may be his fault.
2.If you send the goods correctly but the receiver gets the damaged item then The shipping company is responsible for that. I don't know what are the guidelines. So, try to contact them.

Are you in the UK, if so have a read of Distance Selling Regulations.

I beleive that its right - if the item is not as described then you have to cover the full cost of returning the item and also refund the item and the original delivery charges.

I also would agree dont issue a refund until you have received it back and inspected it.

You have to make a decision then as to whether the item is not as described, however, if the buyer has said that then it will more often go in their favour.

And as said above, if the item got there and was already damaged then you should also be able to put in a claim to the delivery company.

Lastly, yes you are right, it would be relatively easy for buyers to say that items were damaged on arrival / not as described, but you can't do anything about that unless you can prove otherwise - I'd say that the percentage of buyers that would do this is pretty low though, so I guess its just a cost of doing business.

On a side note - I had a case recently where I was the buyer and an item was not as described and this item came from abroad (US -> UK) and that was a real nightmare because there was large delivery costs involved as well as import duty - the same procedure happened in my case though - I had to send the item back first and I paid the postage charges and so on, then once the item was received the seller agreed what I had said was correct, then they refunded everything to me except for the import duty, which I was able to claim back from UK Gov.

Well the buyer did tell me that the box wasn't damaged nor the product itself...meaning, no leaks, dents, cracks, other signs of damage due to shipping. He's mainly concerned with a "seal" that is missing on the container. I did a little more research and found out that the company that makes their product no longer has an inner plastic seal around the lid but only a plastic covering seal that goes over the lid.

You know that plastic ring when you buy a bottle of juice and you twist off the cap, that plastic ring breaks and you just chuck it away? That's the seal he's talking about. It's not on the product anymore and he thinks because it's missing the product was opened and therefore not safe to consume. But I think I found out that the mfg no longer makes that seal and just uses a plastic covering seal that your tear off the cap and then open the container. I actually contacted the mfg directly just now and am waiting to hear back from them if that's true. If that is true,then the buyer is mistaken and there's no seal actually missing because it's no longer packaged that way.

Oh boy this will get confusing.....would I win an ebay case if he escalates it? I don't think he got a bad shipment. It's not opened or spoiled, it's just a misunderstanding that he thinks there's supposed to be a plastic seal he breaks off but there isn't by the mfg.

oatmeal said:

Well the buyer did tell me that the box wasn't damaged nor the product itself...meaning, no leaks, dents, cracks, other signs of damage due to shipping.

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It doesn't matter what the facts are. If the buyer claims NAD it is up to the seller to pay for return shipping. This is also true on Amazon.

toml3030 said:

It doesn't matter what the facts are. If the buyer claims NAD it is up to the seller to pay for return shipping. This is also true on Amazon.

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I wasn't disputing who pays for return shipping in that particular sentence. I already stated I know the rule ebay made that any NAD case = shipper pays for return shipping. I was pointing out that the shipping service DHL EXPRESS did not damage the shipment. The buyer said the box wasn't damaged nor the product. He was only disputing that there's a missing seal and thinks the product was already opened. I found out from the mfg that they don't put a plastic seal anymore under the lid. So product is not actually opened or spoiled or anything like that. It was sealed as it should be but the buyer thinks there a seal was missing. The product is perfectly fine but in his mind it's already over, he thinks its been opened because a seal is missing. Not sure how this works then with ebay if they will just side with him or if I prove from the mfg that there is no seal there where he thinks it should be.

On a newer update, it appears the buyer won't send me a picture now because he's claiming I'm unwilling to work with him (because I didn't accept the return item option yet). I told him I just wanted a photo and now he said he's only going to submit a photo to the resolution center in the case, WTH? I know this guy will win no matter what because buyers/scammer are always right and sellers are screwed.

I just wanted to update that I reported the buyer for "customs fraud". Ebay probably won't do anything about it but what the hey, worth a shot.
Before he bought the item, he asked me to lower the value on the outside shipping label to $24 (ebay price I sold it for was $68 + $25 for express shipping = $93 total). I told him that I could lower it a little (not that I was actually going to adjust it myself). What I meant was that when his box ships out, the value on the box will be set at the COST price of where I bought it from (I don't tell him this obviously) which is lower than the ebay price that I set it, so i didn't actually commit any customs fraud myself. He's just going to see that the value on the box was lower than the ebay price he bought it at, not knowing (or knowing) that the lowered declared value was actually the real cost price that I bought it at, cuz he'll just think that's the value I was able to lower it down to for him.

So I read on ebay TOS that buyers who ask sellers to adjust or lower the declared value to avoid paying taxes, duties, etc is called "customs fraud" and it should be reported to Ebay. So I did.

As far as the actual case, I will obviously just refund him completely, avoid the return shipping part because that will count as an automatic defect if you have to provide a return shipping label and accept a return.

He has not and doesn't seem like he will provide any photos.

oatmeal said:

I just wanted to update that I reported the buyer for "customs fraud". Ebay probably won't do anything about it but what the hey, worth a shot.
Before he bought the item, he asked me to lower the value on the outside shipping label to $24 (ebay price I sold it for was $68 + $25 for express shipping = $93 total). I told him that I could lower it a little (not that I was actually going to adjust it myself). What I meant was that when his box ships out, the value on the box will be set at the COST price of where I bought it from (I don't tell him this obviously) which is lower than the ebay price that I set it, so i didn't actually commit any customs fraud myself. He's just going to see that the value on the box was lower than the ebay price he bought it at, not knowing (or knowing) that the lowered declared value was actually the real cost price that I bought it at, cuz he'll just think that's the value I was able to lower it down to for him.

So I read on ebay TOS that buyers who ask sellers to adjust or lower the declared value to avoid paying taxes, duties, etc is called "customs fraud" and it should be reported to Ebay. So I did.

As far as the actual case, I will obviously just refund him completely, avoid the return shipping part because that will count as an automatic defect if you have to provide a return shipping label and accept a return.

He has not and doesn't seem like he will provide any photos.

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Just so you know, I worked for an eCommerce store in the UK and we were told by a legal advisor that we refund the item plus standard shipping, so if you were in UK you would refund $68 + standard shipping not $25 express, not sure if it was correct but it was what we were advised. We also had a case where a customer said not as described but then tampered with before returning so we did not have to accept. Lastly depending on time length before raising the fault you are allowed to send a replacement instead of having to accept giving a refund but if all of your items are the same then there is no point.

Just wondering here, I've asked the buyer to send me a photo of the seal missing or the container being opened (which sounds funny because anyone could just open it themselves or throw away the seal and then claim it was missing and take a photo of it). I don't care if he's telling the truth or not because there's no way I'd ever know that. I just need a photo from him so that I can send it to my dropshipper and I'll get a refund too. But he is not sending a photo to me. He's going to wait it out until it can be escalated to ebay.

My question is, if he escalates it to ebay and doesn't provide a photo, he can win the case simply because he said it was a INAD? Ebay doesn't need a photo or any evidence of what he is claiming except just the texts/words that he wrote it was missing? I would think that even ebay would want to see evidence that it is INAD.

Item not received is different since that can be proven by a tracking number and confirmed delivery or not. But how is an INAD confirmed by ebay? Do they just automatically give the buyer the benefit of the doubt and take their word for it or do buyers actually have to submit photos as evidence to back their claim of INAD?