What's the form with eBay?

Last Sunday 12 of 25 items that I had listed sold on eBay. One of them (a BTCC Williams Laguna) has apparently fallen to bits in transit! I have asked the buyer to supply photos or to return the item to prove the damage is genuine - do you think this is okay for me to ask this? Upon inspection I will offer a refund even though it's not my fault - should I refund for the item and the postage or just the item?

Also one buyer has failed to pay for his purchase and has so far ignored two invoices and two emails that I have sent. What should I do? I see I can report it as unpaid to eBay after seven days have elapsed but does this achieve anything?

I think that it is fine for you to ask for the product back and technically you probably don't have to offer a refund, but it is the right thing to do.

Yes you should report the non-paying embayer. Was he a new ebayer? It probably won't acheive much, but I guess you have to. Although you will probably get a neg rep for your trouble :(

Yes, that's what worries me. Maybe I'll send him an invoice in the post with a note attached saying he has 7 days to pay or I'll relist the item. There were three other bidders so I am sure someone else will buy. He is not a newbie and his past record (feedback) is perfect. In fact a lot of feedback has been left in the past 7 days so the guy would appear to be pretty active on eBay still :s

I like the idea of a postal invoice. Gives it more gravitas. :)

BTW, do you think he could be a 10-10ths member. Shame on you if you are. :(

Well, well, well.. maybe he *is* a member here and read this thread. Because I received an email this morning promising that he'd pay today. Not that I have received payment yet, of course...

Weeeeellllll... seven days after the end of the auction the payment has arrived in my Paypal account. We got there in the end!

:beer:
Wrap it up well :)

I had trouble in the early days(1998, i was the 1st person to sell F1 stuff on ebay on a regular basis) with deadbeat bidders, but now I can't remember the last person who didn't pay up. But I only sell for a few weeks of the year now instead of year round. Back in the old days with checks and money orders it was a hassle, now 95% pay with paypal and it has made life easier for the seller. Sometimes people do have other things that may cause them to forget to pay. I give them 2 weeks and remind them after 10 days or so. Someone died is the usual excuse for not paying on time. I think you'll find a sure sign of a deadbeat is someone who never answers any communication at all.

It's the same in whatever business you're in, whether that be on eBay or in real life. Some peoples excuses for not paying you are shocking and, yes, I have heard the 'death in the family' one before. Show me the corpse I say.

I know I should, as I have the money, but I haven't gotten round to posting the package yet... baaaad Craig!

The situation with the 1:43 Renault is now resolved. I tried the 'genuine race damage' line but it didn't wash. The car was comprehensively trashed (the base of the car was still attached to the plinth but the body shell etc had come off completely!) so I refunded in full and let the guy keep the 'car'! :)

I have the opposite now. I bought a VCR (!) off ebay and it arrived a couple of days ago. Despite being described as "All in full working order." it wasn't - the playback is very poor.

I see no reason to suggest that this isn't just a case of unfortunate damaged in transit and he offered:...If this doesn’t help then I guess it got damaged in transit. Perhaps the package was dropped at some point which may have knocked the heads out of alignment. This shouldn’t be difficult for any video repair shop to fix.

Needless to say though, if we can’t get it sorted without resorting to some sort of repair service I’m happy to offer a refund or cover the cost of realignment, whichever is less. I just want to return it. What should I do? Post it back first? Or ask for the money back first?

OT: I need it to finish transferring my old videos to DVD. I have since sourced another off ebay, which was located close to a friends and hence required no postage.

Adam, I think it depends on who's got more feedback. If its you then wait for him to refund or if its them you send it back first.

I guess the argument is he could have packaged it better too though?

If it was me, personally I would wait to be refunded before sending via recorded delivery or some sort of tracking service!