eBay dispute What would GRM do?

I'm the seller and the buyer says the item is damaged. He sent poor photos that could be the part that show damage. I say it was packed and shipped in good condition as pictured and described. After some messaging we will not agree.

We are going to eBay arbitration next. From what I have heard, eBay almost always sides with the buyer.

At first I thought the buyer was scamming me, but at this point they seem genuinely angry. I want to do right, but I don't want to be an idiot. What says the hive?

Wait on eBay?

Refund?

Accept return and refund, paying for shipping?

Did you have shipping insurance?

I'd be tempted to go the return/refund route, unless you think there might be a good chance that you're not, well how do I put this, going to get your original part back?

If  (most likely when) EBay finds for the buyer, they must return the item, and pay to ship it to you. As far as arbitration goes, keep it easy, tell them you need clearer photos first to go any further. There's no excuse for lousy photos these days, unless it's a scam. 

Probably UPS is responsible. They wreck everything regardless of how well you package it.

The part is a tail light from a 2021 model car. I used eBay's shipping through FedEx. The buyer's pictures show close-up damage as a chipped corner and a dislodged lens. No pictures of the whole tail light. The way I had it packed it is unlikely that it could have been chipped INSIDE the packaging. I only see three possibilities:

• It was broken after being removed from the package.
• He wants to return his bad tail light to me and be refunded for it.
• It was broken after I took my pictures and I didn't notice while I was packing it - very remote chance a cat could have knocked it down and somehow I didn't notice? <- best scenario I can make up to support the buyer, but not realistic.

Dealing with eBay do the facts even matter? Does an AI just roll a loaded dice?

If the item is returned I can quickly determine if it was the one I sent, but that does not show who/how it was damaged.

My item was undamaged with almost no wear. I provided good high res pictures of the whole item and detailed shots documenting the condition. These are the pictures as sent from the buyer:

I would tell eBay from those photos you can not tell if that is the light you shipped. Don't try and guess, or explain anything, like a court case, keep it easy, answer what they ask, nothing more. 

Now, looking at his picture and comparing to mine, his shows wear and scratches that aren't present on mine.

So... he is likely a liar. Still, does it matter? How is the best outcome achieved? The only claim I ever went through with eBay was an item from China that was never even shipped to me as a buyer.

Steve_Jones said:

I would tell eBay from those photos you can not tell if that is the light you shipped. Don't try and guess, or explain anything, like a court case, keep it easy, answer what the ask, nothing more. 

Thanks Steve. That makes sense. I still have to wait for contact from eBay, but I'll be ready.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

I would suggest in the future marking the parts in a way that proves what's your's and what is their old part.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

I would follow the path Steve has recommended. Tell them you need better pictures because you cannot tell if this is the same product that you shipped. 
 

I would fight this as hard as possible out of principle, with the expectation that I'm going to lose. 

Don't mention the wear and scratches yet, that gives him a chance to change his story to fit. I agree with mtn, fight as far as you can, but expect to lose. If you know the sellers name, see if he's on FB, maybe he posted a photo of his car after it was hit, etc. 

Assuming he is trying to swap his damaged one for your undamaged one, they are almost certainly going to look/be the same. 
 

any chance any of your pictures show any of the part numbers/markings on the back?  Maybe you're lucky and some of them might be unique to yours (not the PN but maybe a mfg date or something) that you can compare to his to verify that they are/aren't the same part?

I like the idea of marking parts you ship out next time - like how they used to use the wax stamps on scrolls

sounds like you are sure you sent it 100% fine.  Either he is lying or it was damaged in shipping.  

I had someone claim I sent open and picked through items vs the factory sealed ones I mailed. He sent similar E36 M3ty pictures of an opened package, and ebay said I must take a return and offer a refund OR offer a partial refund and let him keep it. I offered a $.01 refund, told him he was a scammer, and that was that. Ebay was happy because I offered something, buyer got his bluff called and pounded sand. He had already immediately left me a negative feedback so there was zero reason for me to bother trying to salvage the situation.

get a paint marker to mark everything you sell somewhere, make sure the mark is visible in one of the listing pictures so that ebay can reference that in case of this, and when the buyer can't prove that mark is on the part that sucks you should hopefully be covered.

I use nail polish from the dollar store in  dark purple metallic,

I had the same thing happened where they said I shipped a Brazilian part when I sent an original German one.

Good luck , 

You're gonna lose, but please fight it hard. 
 

eBay sucks. 

My listing clearly shows a manufacturers tag on the back of the light with the date *and time* of manufacture. I have marked parts with a paint marker in the past, but unfortunately I didn't mark this one. Good idea to be 100% consistent with that and have it in the eBay photos.

I just asked the buyer again for better pictures showing the damage, the entire light, and the tags. I also offered a refund of 1/4 of his purchase price - more than I should have. I don't plan to take any action now until eBay contacts me, unless he responds favorably to my last attempt.

Following 

Any updates on this?

Nothing significant. The buyer turned down my partial refund  offer. eBay gave me through today to respond. Waiting for eBay now.

Any updates?  I'm pretty sure eBay took your money, but I sure hope not.  I can easily see where the purchaser may be saying their defective light is the one you sent them while happily driving around with your good one on their car.  I can also see where the shipper treated your light like a football......  either way I think eBay will not be kind to you.  It's almost gotten to the point I'd rather throw stuff away than mess with eBay. 

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

Many in this forum have doubted my skepticism and statements about being lied to even scammed by people in charge.  This video should help recalibrate you.  We are lied to daily and your news isn't factual.  It is propaganda.  You want I put it in terms you might finally get.....  the phrase "need to know" governs security.  And I'm the eyes of the decision makers you don't need to know anything.  Heck I don't know much, but I do know lies and deception are the norm not an outlier.  

How do you know that he wouldn't lie to you about his news? Trust no one.

Still nothing new. eBay has the amount of the sale on hold, but has been silent.

Meanwhile I have a few thousand dollars worth of stuff that I'm holding off on listing until this is resolved.

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

You've said that you were in the Navy which means you were a paid government agent that was told to keep secrets from civilians.  How can we trust what you say now?