Buyer wants refund on <$10 reserve auction used item

Hello Eric. Firstly have you reviewed the photos to see if the missing part was indeed missing? Is the game unplayable without the the missing part? Can you source the missing part yourself and buy it for them?

Sometimes the best way forward in these situations is to imagine you were the other person. If you had bought something from him, and a part was missing that made the item unusable but wasn't mentioned would you expect to be able to return it for a refund? I would suspect you probably would.........

Well the thing is I was selling on behalf and the product had no value to me and I just wanted to get rid of, so I put it as low reserve auction to get rid of it. I couldn't do thorough examination of the product since it was partially in its original packaging and I feared of damaging it. I gave information as best of knowledge and expected use of QnA for more since I uploaded like 60 products on that day alone since it was free selling, it was rather difficult to add too much detail about it too.

If I was the buyer and I am looking for something specific that was not on the photo, I'd ask question, especially if I'm buying in 3 digits.

The game is not playable and it was mentioned at the auction description. Apparently there is some sort of figure that's supposed to be in there missing which I had no idea its supposed to be there so I cannot describe something that I do not know it's supposed to be in the first place and he was looking for that figure.

Anyhow, asked him to return it for a refund and under all the products are as it is as sent (the seal of original packaging not broken, since if its broken it'll lower the value dramatically), I agreed to refund him. Thats fine right?

Sorry, I just had a thought, what if he wants the figure itself, but regret paying that much for it so pretends its missing and asking for refund?

Strange kind of friend to do something like that Eric.

In your other post you said you just wanted to get rid of it and that you are selling on behalf. So I'd just make the refund, relist the item mentioning the missing figure and carry on with life :)

Okay. Thanks. Waiting for his reply. Can you just advise, what if the package was opened? Its really difficult to evaluate the price but for collectibles like that having it in its original seal or not will almost certainly devalue the product, thus why I described it as partially in original packaging.

Kia Ora Eric,

It actually sounds like the Buyer has changed their mind in which case you are not obligated to refund them. - If they were after a specific character they had plenty of opportunity to ask this question through the Q&A section.

Refer to the Help file  Buyer is unhappy with the item – Help - Trade Me - Cheers.

Callum - I suspect that the buyer had a friend pick the goods up?

Yes they did

Oh and I said to buyer that we'll see if we can find the missing part and a bit of arguments saying why didn't you ask for the part you were looking for is there, it said used etc etc. but at the end I said, let us try to find it and if we find it we'll ship it to you. And it's rather difficult to contact overseas friend so it took few hours to get hold of them but just in that few hours he said he'll escalate it to Trade Me saying I am not willing to resolve this. Within a day I read the message from him. Anyhow, told him I'll refund as long as he send the goods and the original seal is not broken. Not too sure what to do if the seals are broken. He have read it but decided not to reply

Kia Ora Eric,

You have offered a refund a couple of times now which you are not obliged to do. - Just keep hold of your Listing details & all correspondence to send TradeMe staff if and when you are requested to, they tell the story of your attempts to resolve.

If the seals are broken this does devalue the items therefore the Buyer can only expect a partial refund which would be up to you to decide on that particular value. - A full refund requires the items to be returned in their original condition, unused - Cheers.

Hi Eric, did your auction have clear photos of what was included and did it state that these are what is included and nothing else? I realise there was sealed packaging so you may not know what was supposed to included. I would google what shouldve been included to see if you can ascertain what is missing and from the set, compare to your photos/description and determine whether it is reasonable that this would have been obvious either way. If you had photos of everything included (even if some in packaging) and the missing item has its own package and different from the others, then its obviously missing and a question shouldve been asked to check. In this case, no refund required. If it isnt so obvious, then maybe a refund is required. It all comes down to your auction photos and description