Need Advice Regarding Recent Ebay Purchase

[Uncial]

I've been reminded today why I avoid ebay. The gods of Olympus were not smiling on me as I made a hasty purchase from a seller with good feedback (bar one). It was a Montblanc (my Achilles heel); in this case a little 242. The pen was described as being in excellent condition, working and having no dents, dings, cracks or any other problems. Said pen arrived and to my great dismay does not draw ink, has loose cap rings (which I could live with) and a crack in the cap. None of these issues are mentioned in the ebay ad nor visible in the photographs.

 

I sent an email to ask for either a significant partial refund or a refund and return. They replied first of all with an offer of a refund that was frankly insulting and an accusation that what I was saying about the pen was not true. I rejected the offer and asked for a refund of half of the cost (not necessarily expecting to get that!), explaining why I thought this was fair considering what work would need to be done to the pen. I then get a response asking me to send the pen after 11th March (he says he is heading off on holiday) and on receipt he will issue a refund.

 

Everything about this seems like a bad move to me, so I'm hoping that I might get some much needed advice here as to how to proceed. For those of you who have been through this process before, can you give me some advice as to the best and correct way to proceed?

[zaddick]

File a claim for refund with PayPal (if you used that) and eBay for a refund. You can clearly demonstrate the item was not as described and that should be all you need. A crack is not a scuff. It is damage that was not described.

 

For the most part, I find reasonable and honest sellers will work with you, especially if they are not pen experts and you are reasonable. But if someone wants to argue or claim you somehow damaged the item, I'd just start the official eBay return process.

[Uncial]

Thank you.

The Resolution Centre tells me to do it through Paypal. In this instance is the refund made before I return the item or when the seller receives the returned item?

[inkstainedruth]

The one time I had to open a dispute with an Ebay seller, the dispute was resolved in my favor within hours: I received a complete refund, and was able to keep the pens in question. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to give feedback. As a result, the seller gets to keep high feedback ratings numbers and continues to run huge numbers of pen listings. But has gone on my personal list of "DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS SELLER"....

At the moment I've got a completely different situation. I got a pen last weekend that was not as advertised. The seller agreed to a refund when I sent back the pen, but the package is in limbo. In theory (according to Priority Mail tracking) it should have gotten back to the seller 3 days ago. But apparently has been looping between the main Pgh post office and the regional sort facility (two different tracking #s -- the one to delivery the package to me, and the one sending it back to the seller). I've actually been called several times now by someone in the post office in the original seller's location; I explained the entire situation to her and she has contacted my regional sort facility to try and snag the package (she left voicemail this afternoon while I was out saying she hasn't heard any more either...). And according to the tracking email (new #), the package is "in transit" and should reach its destination on 2/23 (notice that as I post this it's NOW 2/26...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth