So I sold some RAM on eBay, it was tested and working. Guy pays, I ship, everything is fine.
A month later (today), out of the blue, the guy files an eBay claim against me. He says that it was “working fine” when he installed it himself, but then he decided he wanted a different set, so he re-sold the one he bought from me and the second buyer claims it is defective, so I owe the second buyer a refund.
WTF?! I could probably get away with a partial refund (since the second buyer paid less than I originally sold it for), but I escalated it to a dispute out of principle. I know I’m probably going to lose though.
Hang on. Why would you lose? You didn’t sell the second guy anything and don’t owe him anything. The first guy has the money and it is with him that the second buyer has a dispute.
I should clarify. I haven’t had any contact with the second buyer. At its core, this is a Significantly Not as Described dispute between my initial buyer and me. If he had said nothing except “It’s not working, I want a refund,” it would have been a slam dunk for him. I don’t know whether to admire or scoff at his admitting that it worked before he sold it to someone else.
I wouldn’t worry if I were taking this to court or something, but this is eBay. They seem to summarily rule in favor of buyers, even in the face of overwhelming evidence and/or logic.
It probably worked fine right up to the point where he neglected to discharge any static electricity and fried the board when he removed it. Or ditto for the new owner.
He commented that it was fine which sort of closes one door for him, and then he wants an excuse to get money back, so he tries to create some moral pressure.
Wonder what his record is like?
Well, I have received a ruling from eBay - and holy shit, I won! I didn’t think sellers EVER won.
Not quite sure how I feel about this though…of course, I’ll gladly take the outcome, and I was supremely pissed off that he’d even attempt such an unreasonable claim against me. But as I said before, he probably would have won if he had left out some of those details.
So if he was telling the truth, I feel kind of bad that honesty can be punished.
My Ford Pickup Truck needs a new set of spark plugs. Lying fucking douchebag dealer that I bought it from in 2003 said it was “brand new” and would run “perfectly”. Well, perfectly doesn’t mean I should have to put new spark plugs in. I want my fucking $23,000 back and he can have the truck…
His buyer did leave him a neg, so I assume yes. Bonus: even in his own listing, he lists the memory as being “problem-free.” I don’t know if he really believed that I owed him anything, but he did leave me a neg when all was said and done. I personally believe that if you lose the official dispute, you shouldn’t be able to leave feedback anymore, but whatever.
Oh, and the answer to “why did he claim it was ever working?” is because he did actually sell the RAM on eBay to somebody else, and as I said above, he says it’s problem-free in the listing. So he was painted into a corner.
When he initially opened the case I couldn’t find the listing so I didn’t know if he really did sell them or not. I only found it today after following the link from the negative his buyer left him.
It’s not all bad. I sold a CPU a month or so on eBay. Buyer wrote me and said it wasn’t working and what did I want to do about it. So of course I’m picturing getting back a fried CPU and having to refund the money, cursing myself for selling electronics on eBay. Then a few minutes later he wrote back to say he’d mixed up his old CPU and the one he bought from me, everything was ok. Whew!
This wasn’t the first computer part I’ve sold, but every time I do sell one, I’m afraid to open my e-mail until the dispute window has elapsed. Everything I’ve sold has been working, but I’ve always thought it was only a matter of time before someone plugged something in, sent 1.8v through it, and simply claimed that it wasn’t working.