Problem with item sold on Ebay....need opinions.

[team39763]

Whats up guys?  I recently sold the gauges out of my truck on ebay.  They were Autometer Phantom gauges - tach, speedo, volts, oil pres, water temp, fuel lvl, and a shiftlight.  They were several years old, and looked kinda beat, but they looked cool in my truck.  The previous owner only had the volts and the tach hooked up, but he said they all worked.  I never bothered to hook up the rest so I didn't know for sure.  I ended up selling them twice.  The first guy didn't like them and asked for a refund even though I said no refunds, but I stated I was willing to work with buyer.  Anyway, I relisted them and stated no refunds and gave a more detailed description of them.  I put one picture of them up and was about to upload another, but they were already sold(within 30 minutes of listing them).  Now this second buyer is disappointed and wants his money back or something.  What should I do?  I understand it sucks to spend good money on something and get complete junk, but I clearly stated what I had and what was known about them.

Here's my description straight from the listing:
"The previous owner of my truck installed some Autometer gauges in my 1982 Silverado. Only the tach and the voltmeter were hooked up at the time I bought it, but I was told they all work. They are several years old and have some bumps and scrapes on them.  One of the gauges is marred up pretty bad up on the outer ring, I guess someone tried to remove it, but didn't know how.  I'll get better pics soon if anybody is interested. It's a set of 6 gauges:Tach, Speedo, Volts, Water temp, Oil press, Fuel lvl, and an external shift light.  They are not pretty, but they looked good in my race truck.  I was told that there may be an issue with the fuel level gauge...it wasn't tested, but it appears to say full though it's not hooked up.  I don't know if that's any indicator or not, just thought potential buyers should know.
These parts are sold as is, no refunds."

What do ya'll think?  I'm pretty much willing to give his money back, but should I? 

[80stepsideguy]

If you clearly stated NO REFUNDS then thats how it is.The buyer knew what he was buying and you gave the best description you could of the knowledge of what you had.You cant please everyone man if you get a neg feedback just leave in a reply to his responce" CLEARLY STATED "NO REFUNDS, AS IS" paypal or ebay wont take his side cause he knew the risk of AS IS. I say just let it be man 1 neg feedback wont end the world for you.

thanks
pat

[eventhorizon66]

Seems like you described the item fairly.  If you are really concerned about your seller rating, then you should go ahead and work with him, because you can count on negative feedback (as unjustified as it may be) if you deny him a refund.  Otherwise keep the money and tell him a deal's a deal, no refunds.  Who's gonna pay return shipping if you do refund the money?

[Lt.Del]

as is means as is
no refunds means no refunds
because of these two phrases, the price surely didnt go as high as it would have.  Keep the money.

[VileZambonie]

Take back your gauges, refund the money and throw them in the garbage. No matter what the fine print says if you're selling something unless you say "this does not work, you are buying defective crap" Don't even bother selling it. It sucks to think you're getting a bargain and get garbage instead.

[Irish_Alley]

if he pays to return it i would go ahead and return it. but if he doesn't pay then no return. since you did say AS IS you don't even have to do that

[80stepsideguy]

I agree irish  Team tell him if he pays for the return shipping you`ll give him his money back ,if he says no tell him to go pound sand and forget it... Your not losing more money on this deal ..
thanks
pat

[Russ130]

Well you can avoid the negative feedback but you will have to fight it through eBay. I did this when I sold some used tools and the guy complained they where scratched, lol. I said they where used and sold as is. He gave me a negative feedback which ticked me off so I wrote to eBay and explained everything and after questioning him and looking over the listing decided I was right and removed the negative feedback and threatened him with disciplinary action if he continued to behave like this. When he first complained I almost gave him his money back but after looking at his feedback details I realized another guy had the same problems with him. With the other guy he tried to steal the stuff and get the return. Well eBay made it right for me and for the other seller too. SO if you specifaclly stated 'no refunds' and 'as is' you have a few options. First is just refund the money and go on with life, you can always say sorry no refunds and you could offer him a partial refund after you receive the gauges back and inspect them to make sure they are not damaged. It is assumed the buyer always pays the return shipping on refunds through eBay. Personally I would not give him a refund but if I was going to it would only be a partial refund at best. Make sure you get eBay involved so you can avoid the negative feedback as well.

[team39763]

I'll give him his money back if he'll pay to ship them back.  I didn't purposely sell junk, I personally used the tach, shiftlight, and volts gauge.  I had seen the oil pressure gauge work when I first bought the truck, but I disconnected it during the engine swap.  The temp gauge was never hooked up correctly.  The fuel lvl gauge wasn't hooked up since I was running a fuel cell with no sender(but the first buyer said it "looked" broke since it said full while not hooked up).  The speedo wasn't hooked up because previous owner didn't know how.  I would have kept them and used them myself, but I wanted one of those 4-in-1 summit tachs with all the gauges built into it.
  I don't mind giving him the money back, I'm not trying to rip anyone off.  I just wish he would have read the entire description and waited for more pics to decide if they were up to his standards.  I did include a picture of them and stated I would add more.  His complaint was that he didn't like the hack job on the shiftlight wiring and the appearance of the gauges(rings scratched) and he said the volt gauge didn't work correctly(it worked just fine before I took them out).  No VILE, my gauges were not garbage.

[DnStClr]

It looks like the problem started when you told your 1st buyer you would take the gauges back and work with him in the return charges. Then you change your way of doing business with the 2nd buyer and refuse to work with him on the return charges. It creates a dilemma for you as a seller, and it looks like you tried to do the right thing in the original listing. It's too bad people can't read but they're out there and working their mischief every day.
 I guess i would either work with the 2nd guy and relist ( 3rd time's a charm ?) or be firm and refuse to give a refund to the 2nd buyer, as your add states.
Good luck with it. Hang  in there.

[Russ130]

If you don't mind me asking how much did you get for them? Did you include the mounting surface in the pic with them? The fuel gauge is probably reading full because there is no power to it and subsequently no ground. My ground broke off on mine and it read full.

[80stepsideguy]

TEAM
pm sent

thanks
pat

[team39763]

I got $120 for all of it shipped.  I offered to include the faceplate with the first buyer, but he didn't want it.  Then I decided to just throw the faceplate in my parts pile...I'm not planning to use it, and it needs to be resurfaced.  I'm willing to bet that all the gauges work when hooked up correctly.  I asked the guy what is acceptable to him, I'm willing to give him a full refund if that's what he wants.  Thanks for the input guys.

[Stewart G Griffin]

Further i might add that you may want to try to sell on Craigslist from now on because it's free and the potential buyer can come look at the item which may help to eliminate any misunderstandings.

[VileZambonie]

Don't take offense but if you post a pic and it paints a prettier picture than what the buyer is actually going to get they are not going to be happy. Many people buy on eBay based on impulse so you have to be careful as a seller. Two times to me wouldn't be worth the aggrivation and I would either scrap them, swap meet them or do like stewart said and craigslist them.