Another lesson learned the Hard way

I'm feeling a bit sorry tonight for my Son Mike who makes and sells electronic kit for drummers...He sold a set of 3 Electronic Cymbals to a Guy in the US..When the Guy received them ..He started sending complaining type E-mails..
He said "the Cymbals don't work properly" and he wasn't happy with them .... and He also stated that he was an expert in this field of electronics and it was no use giving him any advice on how to set them up co's he had tried everything that you could possibly do and they were totaly useless to him..
Mike was a bit puzzled by this because he had no problems like this before in the past 6 years he has been making them ...So he generously offered to refund the Guys money with no strings attached and told him to return them so he could check them out and re-sell them (Mike's a very trusting kind of Chap) .... the Guy agreed, so Mike refunded via Paypal...
Next the Guy e-mailed back insisting that return postage should also be refunded... the cost of mailing to the US from the UK had been about $20 so Mike reluctently agreed to do that also...
Then Came the sting! the Guy asked for $125 for return postage to cover his time and trouble he wouldn't send them back for any less ...As this was more than any profit that could be gained from the deal Mike had to cut his losses and let the guy get them for free.
"so a lesson to be learned there" I think.

Wow! What a prick!! Hard to believe there are actually people out there like that. So sorry this happened to Mike.

We all get one of these one day... commiserations to you son Ken. Isn't there a facility on ePayPal to rescind/recover payments?

That is a hard way to learn a lesson.

If I were to offer a no questions asked refund I'd do it fairly by reversing the purchasing process. There aren't too many retailers who will send you your purchased items before you pay for them, and the same should be true for a refunded purchase. You send item back, I return your purchase price.

If a business has a good on-line reputation as a seller that should be no problem with any purchaser to accept those terms. If that was explained as part of the ordering process your son would not have been placed in a situation where he was burned by a customer. It's rare, but it happens.

Mike could ask the buyer to post it to a friend (of Mike's) in the states. Just to rob the buyer of the pleasure of keeping the goods.

I would file a dispute with PayPal. As far as I see it the guy is attempting to steal the item. Your son might also want to call the police department in the city or town where this guy lives and attempt to file charges.

Getting more common, I'm afraid - especially on E Bay! And Pay Pal will issue a refund right away before any goods have been returned, which in turn gives no incentive for the 'buyer' to return the items....

I've had it before and it sucks!

As an aside - is your son 'Kit-Toys' by any chance?

criminal by not treated as such

ChrisRCovington said:

I would file a dispute with PayPal. As far as I see it the guy is attempting to steal the item. Your son might also want to call the police department in the city or town where this guy lives and attempt to file charges.

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Unfortunately, I think the police would treat this as a civil case -- as opposed to criminal -- and wouldn't touch it.

Sven said:

Mike could ask the buyer to post it to a friend (of Mike's) in the states. Just to rob the buyer of the pleasure of keeping the goods.

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Of course, he'll have an answer to that too. If he intended to keep it, he won't post it to anyone. You know where he lives, find someone local to knock on his door and pick it up.