Ebay Issue After ONE Year

[slidekellyslide]

So two years ago I went to an estate sale and picked up a whole collection of 1950-60s Topps cards including stars...I picked out about 300 of them that I thought were in good enough condition to scan and sell on ebay....ALL of them sold. I get an email from a guy a few days ago who said he purchased a 62 Topps card from me in January of 2013 that came back from SGC as "Trimmed" and now he wants a refund, but I have no idea what he even paid for the card, nor can I even look it up. I am convinced this is a childhood collection that never saw the light of day...not a single customer who bought from me had any complaints at all, and I'm sure some of the people who bought from me sent these cards to be graded as a large majority of what I picked was worthy.

When I told him that SGC must have made a mistake he blew up at me saying they don't make mistakes, they are the most "prestigious" of all grading companies..blah blah.

This is a low feedback bidder who doesn't appear to have done anything on ebay since last June....What would you do?

[scooter729]

I'm thinking you ignore him - after one year, he shouldn't have an eBay / PayPal leg to stand on, so just ignore it. There's a 30 or 60-day return policy or something like that, not lifetime, so you should be fine to let it go, right?

[MyGuyTy]

He waited a year to ask for a refund on cards that he bought raw, knowing full well there's an inherent risk that these raw cards could come back "A"?? I surely wouldn't be refunding any money.

[auggiedoggy]

After one year it is his problem, not yours.

[jhs5120]

+1 to everything above. Make sure you block him as a bidder. I had an angry customer buy something and leave a neg one time just because.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by auggiedoggy

After one year it is his problem, not yours.

+1. Way too long to qualify as reasonable.

Larry

[queencitysportscards]

Customer Service and Responsiveness should be priority #1. If you knew the card was trimmed then I say refund. If no knowledge and it is over a year, I would say use your discretion.

Hope it works out for you!

Hank

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by queencitysportscards

Customer Service and Responsiveness should be priority #1. If you knew the card was trimmed then I say refund. If no knowledge and it is over a year, I would say use your discretion.

Hope it works out for you!

Hank

If I knew the card was trimmed I wouldn't have sold it, but I don't believe it was trimmed...these cards came out of an estate of a non collector..they were just his cards he bought from packs as a kid from 1958-1963, I'm almost certain of that in how they were found in small stacks by teams with string tied around them, with his stars all in a small card file type of box. The Yaz rookie card was not even pulled as a "star".

[slidekellyslide]

And btw I do value customer service I recently refunded a guy who bought a very nice 1968 Milton Bradley Topps card from me that I thought was near mint to mint, but he told me it had a small surface crease...he sent me a scan, returned it and I refunded him no questions asked.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-Topps-M...item56601a8f34

[queencitysportscards]

Dan,

I completely understand your frustration. I have been surprised myself, when I submit cards and they come back with an "A" or altered at times. I also agree that you probably wouldn't have sold it knowing it was trimmed.

Either way, I think you are trying to do the right thing and that needs to be communicated to the buyer. You are doing what you can.

Hank

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

When I told him that SGC must have made a mistake he blew up at me saying they don't make mistakes, they are the most "prestigious" of all grading companies..blah blah.

sounds like it could be a n54 member here...

i would refund. as a seller i don't hide behind ebay's 45 day protection policy. if a card or autograph i sold comes back trimmed/not authentic i would refund whenever.

[prestigecollectibles]

Block the bozo.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

sounds like it could be a n54 member here...

i would refund. as a seller i don't hide behind ebay's 45 day protection policy. if a card or autograph i sold comes back trimmed/not authentic i would refund whenever.

If it is a Net54 member I will refund...I still have no idea what it sold for, but I trust an N54 member isn't going to screw me.

[John V]

If you really want to know the selling price...

The transaction may be too old for Ebay transaction activity, but I think it will still show in your PayPal history.

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by John V

If you really want to know the selling price...

The transaction may be too old for Ebay transaction activity, but I think it will still show in your PayPal history.

I don't know if selling history is the same, but I can go back to 2012 in my ebay purchase history.




But a year later? Really?

Would you even know if it was the same card if he returned it?

Or is he even sure if it is the same card? Could have bought multiples and got them confused.

What's next? Buy a 9 graded card, crack it, submit it, and when it comes back a 7 ask for a refund?

[Jeffrompa]

If you get Paypal notifications to your email it will be in there .

[j_cook]

Not your fault, at all. Block him.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by j_cook

Not your fault, at all. Block him.

I agree with this sentiment...not your issue at all!

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

If it is a Net54 member I will refund...I still have no idea what it sold for, but I trust an N54 member isn't going to screw me.

"prestigious SGC" being an n54 member was a joke...

not saying i'd blindly just refund, but i save scans of all my cards. if they've been up on ebay that means it's in my photobucket. i have scans dating back to the geocities site, would be easy to verify if it's the same card. paypal transactions go back years.

the buyer have no recourse in this case, it's really up to you whether you want to give him a refund...he can't do much.

[glchen]

I don't think I'd refund either unless it's just chump change. The transaction should be in your paypal history, however, so you would be able to look up how much the buyer paid for it.

On a side note, I once purchased an oversized card from a Henry Yee auction. One to two years after the auction ended, I sent the card to Beckett for protection purposes. To my surprise, it came back counterfeit. I contacted Henry about this, and he refunded me most of the purchase, even though I only requested a partial refund. This item was several hundred dollars, so some sellers on ebay still go way beyond the normal expectation. If the situation occurred where I were the seller, I don't know if I would have been as generous.

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

sounds like it could be a n54 member here...

i would refund. as a seller i don't hide behind ebay's 45 day protection policy. if a card or autograph i sold comes back trimmed/not authentic i would refund whenever.

I disagree. With that much time that has gone by you have no idea or should be in any way responsible for that card. Just as there are bad sellers, there are bad buyers. Not inferring anything in this situation as I have zero clue...but after a year he owns that card and anything/everything that could have happened to it under his ownership. Who is to day he didn't trim it himself for a better shot at a better grade? The seller has no idea whatsoever. If a buyer can't decide he made a good purchase after 45 fricken days, c'mon. Had it been within the 45 days...and legit...full refund.

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

I disagree. With that much time that has gone by you have no idea or should be in any way responsible for that card. Just as there are bad sellers, there are bad buyers. Not inferring anything in this situation as I have zero clue...but after a year he owns that card and anything/everything that could have happened to it under his ownership. Who is to day he didn't trim it himself for a better shot at a better grade? The seller has no idea whatsoever. If a buyer can't decide he made a good purchase after 45 fricken days, c'mon. Had it been within the 45 days...and legit...full refund.

This^

Completely agree, you have no idea after all of this time if the "trim" job was done under his watch. Too many unknowns after an entire year.

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

I disagree. With that much time that has gone by you have no idea or should be in any way responsible for that card. Just as there are bad sellers, there are bad buyers. Not inferring anything in this situation as I have zero clue...but after a year he owns that card and anything/everything that could have happened to it under his ownership. Who is to day he didn't trim it himself for a better shot at a better grade? The seller has no idea whatsoever. If a buyer can't decide he made a good purchase after 45 fricken days, c'mon. Had it been within the 45 days...and legit...full refund.

I couldn't agree more. A few months, I could understand but a year is ridiculous. Just my 2¢.

Jeff

[JeremyW]

Maybe you could ask for a scan of the card he would like to return? I think that might help you decide.

[martindl]

I can understand why many would not, but me, I'd refund it.

I've got a stack of ungraded cards. If I submitted them and had one come back as trimmed, assuming I had records of the transaction, I'd ask for a refund too. The length of time passed wouldn't be a factor, just the condition of the card.

For those citing the amount of time that has passed, if the parties involved were an auction house and you, would you still say that too much time has gone by?

[Eric72]

Dan,

Are you sure the buyer isn't Peter Nash?

In all seriousness, it sounds like this amounts to a small percentage of your overall sales revenue. If that is the case, take the high road.

First, ask the buyer to provide front and back scans, along with proof of purchase. Provided that they follow through with this request, and you are confident that the card wasn't altered since leaving your hands, refund the money, block the buyer, and move on.

As a bonus, send it in for grading. If the buyer didn't alter the card, it should come back with a nice number grade, giving you the opportunity to make all of your money back...and then some.

Just my two cents.

Best regards,

Eric