Saying item not received when item is not as described to avoid having to pay return shipping costs?

manbearpig on 14/05/2015 - 13:59

I bought a camera flash on ebay for $30 from a Chinese seller. It was supposed to be the higher end model, but they sent me the lower end budget model.

Now, when mistakes happen, I'm more than willing to ship items back so I can get the correct item I ordered. However, in such cases, buyers are the ones that end up at a loss because they have to pay for the return shipping costs. When sending items back cost a considerable chunk of what you paid, you end up having paid more for the item than you should have. Why should the buyer be punished for the seller's mistake? It's frustrating, but this is how it works with eBay and Paypal, and there's no way to negotiate your way around this directly. As soon as you mention that the item isn't as described, they know you have the item, and you pretty much either have to just keep it or send it back at your cost.

So my question is, what do you do in this kind of situation? Do you or do you think it's OK to just say the item was never received to get your money back and buy again from another seller? Or would you send the item back at your own cost out of moral obligation?

****Keep in mind that I'm ONLY talking about lower value items here (less than $30?), where I think the seller CAN take a bit of a loss for their mistake. If the item is of higher value, things are changing into buyer fraud, and it's not right.

In the past, I've done this with small items from China that were faulty. I didn't want to take any chances so I just said it was never received. I'm not condoning this kind of behaviour. I don't want to have to do it, but the system leaves me with no other choice. If the seller makes a mistake, there's no reason why the buyer should be out of pocket for that mistake. If anything, the seller should be the one out of pocket.

Poll Options

  • 24
    Yes, it's not your fault. Just say it was never received (faulty or wrong item).
  • 2
    Yes, BUT only if the item is faulty. If it's a wrong item, send it back at your own cost.
  • 19
    No, it's not right. Just send the item back at your own cost (faulty or wrong item).
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Comments

  • Unorthodox on 14/05/2015 - 14:14
    +1

    Seems as if you're just a liar and a thief.

    Why not actually message them and find a resolution rather than lying to them, getting a refund etc

    And doesn't paypal offer free returns…

    • spychiatrist on 14/05/2015 - 18:23
      +2

      I agree with this guy…except for the name calling, though with the OP's intent, seems like circumventing ebay rules is ok. OP, you received the item - yes it's a wrong one - but you should be reporting it as such. What happened to honesty?

  • GGGU on 14/05/2015 - 14:17

    Negotiate a discount and they will almost always offer you that for their mistake.

  • trex on 14/05/2015 - 14:18
    +2

    Generally when I am not happy with a product (not as advertised) or if it is defective, the seller doesn't ask me to ship it back. They usually just ask me to throw it away.

    • aripper on 15/05/2015 - 11:00

      I am near 1000 internet buys over the last 9 years… only 1 seller in that time from China has ever told me to throw it away.
      Your second name must be Rice!

      • trex on 15/05/2015 - 11:40
        +1

        You mean they always insist that you to ship the item back to them?

        I don't have as many as 1000 internet buys as you, I'm just around 200 or so. The items purchased are always below $50 and in the most recent experience it was a car dash cam at $29.99. The quality of the video recording was really bad and there was static noise in the audio. I uploaded a sample recording for the seller to view and he gave me back a full refund and didn't need the item to be shipped back but asked me to destroy/throw it away.

        In another recent incident, about 1 month ago, I purchased an iphone holder for my bicycle. Instead of the bike holder, I received a arm band holder. When I contacted the seller with the photo, they immediately sent the actual unit without needing the wrong item to be sent back.

        • aripper on 16/05/2015 - 22:59

          Yep, asked me to post it back except 1 time. I hope your run of luck continues, but that's where the China sellers have it over us. Their currency is seriously undervalued… hence the very attractive pricing. They have a tit for tat agreement with other countries postal services - i.e we drop our mail to you and you deliver it there for us and we will do the same here(in China).

          Unfortunately, there is 50 times more mail/postage coming out of China than going in, so it's a bad deal for everyone else. Bet you know heaps of people who receive stuff from China, but knowing someone who posts stuff to China would be rare indeed generally.

          When the China sellers post stuff to us, they KNOW we would be put off sending it back because in lots of cases it would cost more to post from here than we paid all up for it in the first place.

          Insisting goods that are faulty or wrongly sent be posted back may seem fair in essence, but who should pay the freight is now coming under intense scrutiny as people are increasingly voicing their disapproval about having to pay for the sellers mistakes.

          The vehicles (eBay, Aliexpress etc.)for these very amateur China sellers, who are mostly part time private people unskilled in business practices and mostly having "their" goods sent via dropshipping, are starting to realise the impact this practice is having upon their name and turnover. Westerners aren't used to glarinly obvious unfair business practices.

          If the China sellers were more organised and trained, they would realise they could add up to 10% to their present very attractive prices which would cover their costs of paying the return postage. That's how business would approach it here, and people would feel secure in knowing if all wasn't as they expected, they wouldn't have to pay for someone else's mistake. That's unlikely to happen quickly, taking into account the haphazard wide pricing their sellers place("guess") on identical items advertised. There is no method shown whatsoever in many cases.

          They'd better hurry up though, because their goods may be slapped with a further (new) 10% GST… which only seems right in the scheme of fair competition.

  • endotherm on 14/05/2015 - 14:35
    +9

    Aren't ebay currently offering free return postage for situations just like this? https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/188506

    • manbearpig on 14/05/2015 - 14:47

      Awesome, thanks. Didn't know about that.

  • rompastompa on 14/05/2015 - 14:52
    +1

    That's the risk of buying off the internet.

    If it was a brick and mortar store, you still pay (fuel+time) to return it. Do you ask to be reimbursed?

    I agree, their mistake, their cost. But in the end, they'll get repeat business, or lose business. Good thing about ebay is that you can give them a neg with a short description.

    As endotherm says, ebay seem to rectifying this issue anyway.

  • KaTst3R on 14/05/2015 - 15:18
    +4

    Technically speaking, the item you ordered didnt come….

  • twinbag on 14/05/2015 - 16:42
    +2

    Most of the Chinese sellers I've dealt with have been happy to replace or refund without returning the item and i give them great feedback for their customer service.

    Once I had to return a faulty laptop battery, it cost almost as much as the item itself, I wasn't happy so left appropriate feedback for that as well.

    So I guess there should be an option in your poll to sort it out with the seller. I assume the budget one they sent still has some value to you even if only as an emergency spare, so a partial refund would be fair.

  • pointless martyr on 14/05/2015 - 17:51

    Ebay never punishes buyer

  • whodidthat on 14/05/2015 - 18:16

    One of the problems buying from China. Even if the seller is genuine.

  • Melburnian on 14/05/2015 - 18:33

    Return it and claim the shipping costs back from PayPal.

  • Charity on 15/05/2015 - 12:18
    -4

    Bought a camera flash for $30 from a Chinese seller. It was supposed to be the higher end model.

    Lol… No. It wasn't.

    • manbearpig on 15/05/2015 - 13:52

      In comparison, yes it was.

      • Charity on 15/05/2015 - 15:01
        -4

        Bought an Appel iFone for $30 from a Chinese seller. It was supposed to be the higher end model.

        • manbearpig on 15/05/2015 - 16:22
          -1

          How old are you? You're not contributing anything to this thread.
          Compared to the model I received, I was supposed to receive the higher end model. How hard is that to understand? It's all relative. Why are you comparing iPhones to camera flashes? Do you own a DSLR and are you familiar with the decent aftermarket camera flashes that are available? Yongnuo, Viltrox, etc? Obviously not, because if you did, you wouldn't be making such ignorant comments.

  • User_153999 on 15/05/2015 - 12:18
    +1

    Contact the seller and most likely they will ship the correct one to you and ask you to keep the wrong one. If they ask you to return the wrong one just write a negative feedback to them and they will ship the correct one same day and ask you to change your feedback :)

  • kmwa on 17/05/2015 - 04:05
    +1

    You bought the item accepting those terms and conditions, and so you shouldn't lie your way out of it if they send the wrong item.
    Ebay depends upon buyers and sellers being honest, and Aussies and the Chinese sellers should strive in every deal to build a trusting business environment.
    I can accept the odd deal going wrong, as the Chinese prices are usually so low that I can write it off and still come out in front on all the other savings that I've made. And the Chinese sellers are usually very obliging and eager to please (and to get good feedback).
    There are two disappointing things about this poll:
    1) Over half the Aussies think that it's OK to lie.
    2) The Chinese sellers can read this and know that half of us will cheat them. And that changes the playing field for us all.
    On two occasions, I've contacted sellers and had money refunded when items haven't arrived after 5 weeks - they've done the right thing. But when the items have arrived, 6 weeks after ordering, I've contacted the seller again and paid. I like to do the right thing too.

    • manbearpig on 17/05/2015 - 20:53

      I ended up contacting the seller. They're telling me that the model they sent me is the same as the model I was meant to receive, minus a few accessories. This is not true. It's a completely different model. So far, not so good.. Waiting for their response..

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