Dear eBay Queen:

I need your opinion.  I have a buyer that wants to return a vintage school Letterman’s jacket.  She says there is a hole in the pocket.  She opened the return as not as described.  BUT it was as described. I said in the listing, “there is a small hole in the lining of the left pocket.”  I did not take a photo, because the pocket is so small and dark, I didn’t think the photo would show it.

I apologized, and told her that I would be happy to accept the return, but to please open the return saying that she didn’t like it OR that she ordered it by mistake.

She of course did not do that.  She opened stating the item was not as described.  I messaged her back and told her that I would only refund her for the price of the item and not the shipping because she opened it up wrong.  Here is her email:

“Look, I don’t want to have to pay shipping, if I had opened it up and said what you wanted me to, I would have pay.  You should have taken a photo of the hole, that’s what any good seller would do.  Who reads all that stuff anyway?  Please refund my money right away.  I’ve been known to give a bad seller a bad review.”

What can I do?

CCB, Vermont

Dear CCB:

This is not really a good situation.  Your best bet is approve the return and send her a label.  I know what you are saying.  “The buyer admitted to to selecting the wrong reason just to get out of paying for shipping.”   They did! And threatened negative feedback too. In this situation if you honor what you are required to do by eBay standards, THEN you call eBay and let them handle the buyer.

I have found that if I do what is required of me by eBay, then eBay will take care of me.  Some people won’t believe this, but those are the people that are not following the rules.

If you handle it your way, you just might get a negative and case closed without seller resolution.  Save yourself some grief, honor the return and pay the return out like you are required.  Then call eBay and get this buyer reported for their bad buying behavior.

I recommend you accept the return, wait for it to come back, refund her money and then report the buyer.