Buyer Complaining About Misrepresentation
Here is my situation…two bidders got into a bidding war over an item of mine and it ended up selling for much more than I
expected but it was also the only one of it’s kind up for auction
so I attributed it to that.
The buyer paid but then sent me a very angry e-mail demanding a refund and saying that it wasn’t what he thought it was and accused me of misrepresenting the item.
I asked him to better explain himself and he sent me two more
angry e-mails that were more confusing and accusing. Before I
could respond he gave me a negative feedback. I didn’t retaliate
or even reply, I was in the process of trying to research and
figure out what I should do when I found this web site, but now he just filed a dispute with paypal and paypal put a hold on my account. I didn’t know they could do that, I thought that I had the right to issue refunds at my discretion.
I am going to defend myself because I don’t feel his claim is
fair. I guess my question is has this ever happened to you? If so were you able to protect your sale? And do you have any advise for me? Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Robin
Robin,
Two things may be going on here.
Perhaps you have done something to make these two bidders think this was a rare variation. Something in your description that led them to think it was something special.
I don’t know what the item was, but an example I can give from my sales was I once sold a common orange train that is normally orange painted over blue plastic as an unpainted orange plastic one. It turned out mine was orange paint over orange plastic - not the expensive variation.
Or, maybe the guy now realizes he got caught up in the frenzy and overpaid. Instead of being polite or letting the matter go, he’s attacking you hoping to force a refund.
You need to find out what he is complaining about BEFORE moving to the next step. If you mislead him in error, you should refund him. If he got excited and then became abusive, I’d tell him to keep it.
POLITELY tell him you are confused about his problem and then tell him he needs to state exactly what the problem is.
Here’s a tip. Respond to him through the eBay system. Not by email, but through the eBay complaint system. If he threatens you or acts abusive, forward that to eBay support. If he threatens you, eBay will suspend his account and the complaint is over because eBay does not investigate complaints from non members.
I know it’s frustrating, but be polite. If being polite is a problem have someone else read all your communications before you send them.
Terry
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