UK seller selling bad ponies with false descriptions...

[Artemesia's Garden]

I bought three lots of mixed ponies. Never again will I fail to read detailed seller feedback. There is almost no real reason for a seller to have negative feedback these days, I've been selling for a while and always manage to sort things out. If someone has said a seller has been rude then that's a massive warning sign because things may have gone wrong umpteen times before someone actually follows through and leaves negative feedback statement.

I asked for a partial refund, she wants me to pay shipping to return them for a refund. I already cleaned them up a lot to assess whether or not they were in restorable condition but time after time I found permanent damage that I can't fix. Mainly great big cancer spots, a ripped neckline, ugly permanent stains, haircuts. I'd rather get a partial refund and pass them on as baits(they are all common ponies) to the community where I know there are people who can restore them or make them into something beautiful. I spent all weekend working on them. I really regret it now. Why didn't I think to just send them back straight away? I'm tearing my hair out.

This person has already blatantly lied in the description and when rejecting my request for a partial refund. Her statements are not even logical! All I can do is escalate and risk getting first negative feedback ever...

Looking at the photos again I think they may actually have been photoshopped. For example, Bluebelle has pink highlighter all over her face. Suds has a ripped neckline and a cut mane. I won't go on, it's gruesome

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-My-Little-Ponies-Pony-1980s-Lot-2-/350903601736?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=JiqydxXdgqPGiulh%252Fbh40kCftHM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Here is specifically says 'hair all in tact(sic)' and Wind Whistler has a cut tail...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-My-Little-Pony-Lot-3-80s-Ponies-Pegasus-And-Unicorns-/350905126899?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=JiqydxXdgqPGiulh%252Fbh40kCftHM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

[MikeysGrrrl]

First let me start by saying that I'm sorry to hear that you're unhappy with your ponies.
Secondly, a seller CAN'T leave anything but positive feedback for a buyer, so you have no worries there.
Third, the auction pictures aren't very good, and yeah I can see how her descriptions are lacking, however I don't see how she blatantly lied? She states good condition, with marks on them, and they need tlc. To me that says drastic work needed. Maybe it's just me but I don't see the issue, I do hope that you can get it resolved

* Also, I would like to point out that you're statement "If someone has said a seller has been rude then that's a massive warning sign because things may have gone wrong umpteen times before someone actually follows through and leaves negative feedback statement" is a little assumptive and not always correct.

As a seller I have 2 negatives, 1 from a buyer who never bothered to contact me, and the other from a buyer who I bent over backwards for and ending up losing out on a lot of money because of their demands and trying to do whatever it took to avoid a negative.  I'm a great seller, polite, understanding, easy to work with, so just because I have 2 negatives, doesn't make me a bad seller, or even indicate that I was in the wrong.*

Sorry I wasn't trying to hijack your thread, I just wanted to point out that not everything is black and white, there are grey areas and it would be great if you didn't lump everyone together.

[MiRaja]

First let me start by saying that I'm sorry to hear that you're unhappy with your ponies.
Secondly, a seller CAN'T leave anything but positive feedback for a buyer, so you have no worries there.
Third, the auction pictures aren't very good, and yeah I can see how her descriptions are lacking, however I don't see how she blatantly lied? She states good condition, with marks on them, and they need tlc. To me that says drastic work needed. Maybe it's just me but I don't see the issue, I do hope that you can get it resolved

* Also, I would like to point out that you're statement "If someone has said a seller has been rude then that's a massive warning sign because things may have gone wrong umpteen times before someone actually follows through and leaves negative feedback statement" is a little assumptive and not always correct.

As a seller I have 2 negatives, 1 from a buyer who never bothered to contact me, and the other from a buyer who I bent over backwards for and ending up losing out on a lot of money because of their demands and trying to do whatever it took to avoid a negative.  I'm a great seller, polite, understanding, easy to work with, so just because I have 2 negatives, doesn't make me a bad seller, or even indicate that I was in the wrong.*

Sorry I wasn't trying to hijack your thread, I just wanted to point out that not everything is black and white, there are grey areas and it would be great if you didn't lump everyone together.

This.

It's easier now more than ever to get negatives as a seller.  We can't hand out negatives to buyers anymore, which used to keep buyers in line.  It's always been more the buyers than the sellers that has been the issue on ebay, but, ebay thinks it knows best! 

[lunar_scythe]

At first I wondered if the seller was unfamiliar with ponies, but then I saw the second lot s/he says 'only selling because they are duplicates'

To me, that does make it sound like this person knows what they are talking about, and should be able to recognize a hair cut and a ripped neck?  They DO say the ponies have marks, so the marks can't really be counted against them, to me.

[Artemesia's Garden]

First let me start by saying that I'm sorry to hear that you're unhappy with your ponies.
Secondly, a seller CAN'T leave anything but positive feedback for a buyer, so you have no worries there.
Third, the auction pictures aren't very good, and yeah I can see how her descriptions are lacking, however I don't see how she blatantly lied? She states good condition, with marks on them, and they need tlc. To me that says drastic work needed. Maybe it's just me but I don't see the issue, I do hope that you can get it resolved

* Also, I would like to point out that you're statement "If someone has said a seller has been rude then that's a massive warning sign because things may have gone wrong umpteen times before someone actually follows through and leaves negative feedback statement" is a little assumptive and not always correct.

As a seller I have 2 negatives, 1 from a buyer who never bothered to contact me, and the other from a buyer who I bent over backwards for and ending up losing out on a lot of money because of their demands and trying to do whatever it took to avoid a negative.  I'm a great seller, polite, understanding, easy to work with, so just because I have 2 negatives, doesn't make me a bad seller, or even indicate that I was in the wrong.*

Sorry I wasn't trying to hijack your thread, I just wanted to point out that not everything is black and white, there are grey areas and it would be great if you didn't lump everyone together.

Oops, perhaps I should explain what I meant by lying...

WRT to auction 1, she states " Here are lot 2 of my My little ponies.
Selling these as they are duplicates in my collection.
All in good condition with no cut hair although there may be slight marks, colour discolouration etched due to age. For any queries or more photos please just ask.
The pink pony with the blue bath on her belly,s hair need a lot more TLC but the others are all good.
Some nice ones here, bluebell, butterscotch, baby blossom etc.
Please check out my other vintage toy lots. "

1. The marks are clearly not 'slight' e.g. Bluebelle is not nice and she does not have 'slight marks' if she has pink highlighter literally strewn across her whole face.
2. She said that one of the ponies has hair that needs a little TLC but did not mention the huge jagged gash at the neck seam where her head has been taken off. This pony cannot be described as in 'good condition'. It's not 'good' it's damaged.
3. And finally nothing in my opinion is in good condition if it's obviously moldy.

WRT the second auction as I said above, she states that the hair is "in tact" however Wind Whistlers tail is cut.

I wasn't expecting to post this and then have to discuss the subjectivity of my descriptions at length but I can see that to people who have replied, this doesn't seem like a reasonable complaint. Perhaps thereason for this is because it's too long and complicated, for example I haven't posted our exchange of messages, so perhaps I should not have posted as it's too long and therefore not appropriate for the forum. Anyway, I won't be posting on this any more.

One thing that's good though, I obviously haven't kept myself up-to-date with recent changes to ebay so I thank you for the info.

[MikeysGrrrl]

To the OP, I wasn't trying to be rude or offensive to you in any way. You posted about an issue with a seller, I was just giving an opinion, you are not required to justify your actions regarding this seller to anyone on this forum, however if you're posting, you're bound to get opinions that you may not see eye to eye on.

I don't think she sounds like a collector even though she states that she has some duplicates, so good condition to a non collector vs collector are 2 different things.

[Artemesia's Garden]

To the OP, I wasn't trying to be rude or offensive to you in any way. You posted about an issue with a seller, I was just giving an opinion, you are not required to justify your actions regarding this seller to anyone on this forum, however if you're posting, you're bound to get opinions that you may not see eye to eye on.

I don't think she sounds like a collector even though she states that she has some duplicates, so good condition to a non collector vs collector are 2 different things.

Sorry i didn't mean to imply that. And I guess I should realise that bad feedback can happen to anyone especially selling that many units. I'm not going to get into the legalities of the wording any more and I do appreciate your input

[Sunshine]

I'm definitely not trying to jump on the bandwagon here but... in my experience of buying lots of ponies on eBay - if you don't ask the seller a million specific questions about condition, and they have a statement like "needs TLC" or "needs to be cleaned" - then you need to take that as meaning that those ponies are in ROUGH shape.

I've had plenty of times where groups of ponies come to me with lots of spots I can't see in the photos, or might only be able to notice in the photos now that I saw it in person... but...

My only advice is, if you don't like that person's ponies, stay away from them and just be a really picky buyer I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this, it's not any fun to get something in worse condition than you expect but, it does seem to happen quite frequently, especially buying in groups off eBay...

[ponylady]

Just a friendly reminder to make sure to keep this on topic.

Artemesia I will not get into to depth regarding her descriptions and one picture. I believe by yours and others responses above that you understand that already.

I think your best course of action to be honest is to return the ponies if you are not happy. There is no use keeping them if you are going to be unhappy. While I understand you most likely do not want to pay for return shipping, it is eBay's policy that the buyer pay return shipping. She is not obligated to give you a partial refund or to pay your cost of shipping back unless she agrees to it. I am assuming she did not agree to either by your statements in the first post.

If you are not comfortable posting the email messages between the two of you, you can PM me them. I would be more than happy to take a look. 

[Artemesia's Garden]

Just a friendly reminder to make sure to keep this on topic.

Artemesia I will not get into to depth regarding her descriptions and one picture. I believe by yours and others responses above that you understand that already.

I think your best course of action to be honest is to return the ponies if you are not happy. There is no use keeping them if you are going to be unhappy. While I understand you most likely do not want to pay for return shipping, it is eBay's policy that the buyer pay return shipping. She is not obligated to give you a partial refund or to pay your cost of shipping back unless she agrees to it. I am assuming she did not agree to either by your statements in the first post.

If you are not comfortable posting the email messages between the two of you, you can PM me them. I would be more than happy to take a look.

Many thanks for this, much appreciated.

I'm actually going to stick to my guns on this seller because I just received a very rude question about some items I have for sale from another ebay account located in the same part of West Yorkshire as her. I doubt it's a co-incidence, I would say she is harassing me via someone else or someone else's account. If I posted a retort no doubt it would have appeared at the bottom of the listing... Needless to say I just reported it straight to ebay. Buyers, I suggest you avoidavoidavoid this seller!

[Unicorn_pops]

Also just like to add if you decide to ship them back (at your expense) please use a tracking method so you can prove she received them. You will get your full amount plus shipping returned, just not the cost of shipping them back. So your only out the cost to ship back...hope I made sense...Good luck in what ever you decide.