XBOX 360, PC games, and E-Bay - a bad mix

[greensinestro]

I now see why places like Best Buy and Circuit City have very, very strict policies about the purchase and/or returns of video games and computer software. Lately, I have had the worst luck with selling this stuff on E-Bay, and it usually is because of buyer's remorse.

Take this first guy I had a few months back in California. He bought a game from me for the PC, who that I had played many times and finally got tired of. So, I listed it on E-Bay, and it sold within minutes. Shortly after he received it, he told me he discovered it was a fake and wanted his money back. Now, I had bought this game myself and had no way of knowing it was a fake, and he told me how to detect it. It turned out, he wanted it for his private business so he could turn around and sell it for a higher price later on. Thing was, he would have had his license pulled for selling fake copies. It did not turn out well in the end, but I did refund this guy's money.

Just this week, I dealt with the woman who bought one of my XBOX 360 games. Before I sent it out, I made sure the game still played on my console, to ensure I was not sending out a defective game. When she offered me a price, she later on told me she thought she was buying it for a Playstation game, and was there any way I could withdraw her offer. Before I could reply, she then sent me another message stating she could give it to her friend, but that she had a Playstation 3 and would not be able to play this game at all. Well, this was the part that got me later. She sent me a message that it does not work on her XBOX 360 and she was sending the game back. It worked on my console and should work on hers. I even asked if she cleaned the game, or tried it on her friend's. No reply at all to that, except she would not give a "broken game" to anyone, plus she would not answer my questions about the e-mails she sent, telling me up and down that all she had was a Playstation 3. My feeling of it was she got this game, found she either did not want it or like it, and wanted her money back, regretting that she even got it. Or, her friend is not interested in the game at all. As of right now, it's not going good with our e-mails to each other. She pretty much got upset with my insinuations that I was calling her a liar and told me to just keep the game and her money. I do plan to give her one or the other back, just haven't decided which.

[bainsidhe]

Does she still have the game? If she hasn't returned the game and you decide to refund her money, then politely tell her to return the game at her expense and you will issue refund upon receipt. Make sure you note the game must be in same condition as sent. You may also mention to return within a certain time frame and don't pull any punches by saying that games depreciate in value, particularly after the holiday season. It will probably boil down to it being too much of a hassle for the woman to return the game. It's easy for people to request money back, but not so easy to take common-sense steps to return product. The most important thing is to remain civil and keep copies of all email communication. If she tries to get paypal to strong-arm you, you'll have backup.

If you already have the returned game and there has been no obvious misuse, you should refund her money and try again.

Good luck!

[Bagga]

Software should be on a no-return basis, even on ebay, in my opinion. So many games can be completed in a week, and even with an Xbox360 she may have only wanted the game foor long enough to rip it off, then return it for a refund.

Or there is the other alternative - buy a game on ebay and try to get a full refund at the games store...

[smileyeagle1021]

I can put in my two cents from the other side... I will give the seller credit, what happened wasn't their fault, it was really Amazon's fault (she had a game that was in russian, and amazon listed it as an english title), to give her credit though, when I explained the situation she agreed to refund the cost of the disk and handling charges and I was only out shipping. Which to give her credit is a hell of a lot more than she owed me, she could have easily said, hey it was amazon's mistake when they listed it incorrectly, deal with them.
That said, as soon as we came to an agreement I went to the main post office and shipped it back priority, I didn't dink around like the OPs customer.

[karma_gypsy]

I think bainsidhe has the solution right on the money. It's best just to get the game back from the customer and give her a refund (minus eBay/Paypal fees). She probably won't like it, but it gives her an out. She could get pretty retalitory and leave you a negative, but she has no case and couldn't file a dispute with eBay either (well, she could, but she's in the wrong).

There's been quite a few times where my co-worker and I had to just suck it up and refund the customer's money. Sometimes it's even best if you ask them "what would you like to see done?" that way you both can come to some sort of compromise.

[greensinestro]

I'm thinking the same thing many of you out there are thinking. In the end, I probably will end up refunding this lady her money, although the suspicions of I have about her are correct, I think. However, suspicion is not a valid reason to deny someone their refund.

On another note though, we did agree for her to ship the game back, let me test it, then ship it back so she can see if it works on her friend's XBOX 360. I told her after that, and assuming I can trust that she's telling the truth (meaning she actually gave it to her friend to play it), then I would consider a refund. Stay tuned......

[princess4life]

Software should be on a no-return basis, even on ebay, in my opinion. So many games can be completed in a week, and even with an Xbox360 she may have only wanted the game foor long enough to rip it off, then return it for a refund.

Or there is the other alternative - buy a game on ebay and try to get a full refund at the games store...

I have to agree that there should be a no return policy on software. I have a friend that modified there XBOX so they can rip the games to the hard drive inthe XBOX and they don't even need to original game anymore. It only takes a matter of a few minutes and then he doesn't even need to worry about the disk anymore. For the dishonest people out there they could then try to return the game clamining it is damaged or sell it on e-bay to another person.

[marty]

Sold some Nintendo games on ebay once. Tested em before hand, they worked like a charm. Bitch that bought them claimed they didn't work, wanted a refund, wanted me to give her a refund before she sent the games back.

I made her provide a UPS tracking number before I gave her the PayPal refund. "How do I know you're not scamming me?" she asks. Well, I replied, because I sent the games to you in the first place, you friggin' moron. I don't know, a lot of people on Ebay just plain suck.

[greensinestro]

I don't know, a lot of people on Ebay just plain suck.

Got that right. I think this is what I'm really dealing with, too. The big problem is she has 100 per cent positive feedback, meaning not one negative thing on her. I have a 99, all because of some bitchy lady I dealt with four years ago, someone who was fraudulent and deceptive with how she advertised her products. In the end, after many other complaints, she had her membership pulled. What gets me on this is, I know this does not stop these people. What's to keep them from getting a new ID and scamming more buyers?

[chops]

I made her provide a UPS tracking number before I gave her the PayPal refund.

I would've stuck to my guns and made her wait...the tracking number only proves that she sent a package; she could've substituted garbage of identical weight for the goods.

This is why I'm reluctant to sell on eBay; there are so many horror stories out there.

[greensinestro]

Update

I don't know what's up with this lady. She sent the game back priority mail, costing over three times what I paid to send by normal mail. The deal I made with her was to have her send it back, I would test it on my XBOX 360, then return it if it worked. Lo and behold, it works great on my console! I was able to play a couple of levels of it with no freezing, skipping, or any of what this bitch described.

This now strengthens my suspicions that she has buyer's remorse and does not wish to be stuck with a game she doesn't want. I'm sending it back today, and I have told her, without calling her a liar, that I do find it strange that it works great on mine but not at all on hers.

[greensinestro]

Update

I sent back the game today. I also sent her an e-mail yesterday, telling her there was nothing wrong with the game, and another today, telling her the game was being shipped back. I have not heard from her on this, and I think it is because she knows I've caught her lying to me. My money back offer said "for defective game only, not for buyer's remorse". Well, the game works fine on my console, and it should work on hers.

Only thing I have to be concerned about now is negative feedback. From now on, I think I will not offer a money back guarantee, and secondly, not write positive feedback on anyone, like I did because of her prompt payment, until I am certain the buyer is satisfied.

[bainsidhe]

Ultimately, any decision is up to you. But I have to wonder about the "buyer's remorse." In my experience, if someone is trying to get something for nothing, they won't go to the trouble of returning product, especially at 3 times the shipping cost. Makes their freebie more expensive. Also, if the lady agreed that you would send the game back should things work ok, then that also makes me wonder. When all is said and done, you don't have her system in front of you and you can't test the game with her system. She may have a questionable complaint, but if you offer a money back guarantee, you should honor it.

I have an old PS2. On Ebay I bought some anime and lo, it was a burned copy. That was the first thing that ticked me off, but could be overlooked, since I really wanted the series. But it wouldn't play in my PS2. It would play on the computer and in my friend's DVD player, but not in my PS2. I demanded a refund on the grounds it was a burned copy. The reason it didn't play in my PS2? Because my system is dying a slow, painful death. Games and regular DVDs are starting to freeze. The burned ones most certainly will.

[greensinestro]

Ultimately, any decision is up to you. But I have to wonder about the "buyer's remorse." In my experience, if someone is trying to get something for nothing, they won't go to the trouble of returning product, especially at 3 times the shipping cost. Makes their freebie more expensive. Also, if the lady agreed that you would send the game back should things work ok, then that also makes me wonder. When all is said and done, you don't have her system in front of you and you can't test the game with her system. She may have a questionable complaint, but if you offer a money back guarantee, you should honor it.

I have an old PS2. On Ebay I bought some anime and lo, it was a burned copy. That was the first thing that ticked me off, but could be overlooked, since I really wanted the series. But it wouldn't play in my PS2. It would play on the computer and in my friend's DVD player, but not in my PS2. I demanded a refund on the grounds it was a burned copy. The reason it didn't play in my PS2? Because my system is dying a slow, painful death. Games and regular DVDs are starting to freeze. The burned ones most certainly will.

I might agree on part of that, but my money back guarantee said for defective game only, not for buyer's remorse. If a person's game console does not work properly, that to me is not grounds for refunding one their money. And, as I stated before, this lady did not have an XBOX, then magically has one upon receipt of the game, after telling me she would give it to a friend for Christmas.

And, yes, it has occurred to me that I do not have any way of actually knowing if it works or not, because I am not there at her console. I would most likely have refunded her money, had she not spun so many yarns about what she has here.

[Geek King]

I might agree on part of that, but my money back guarantee said for defective game only, not for buyer's remorse. If a person's game console does not work properly, that to me is not grounds for refunding one their money. And, as I stated before, this lady did not have an XBOX, then magically has one upon receipt of the game, after telling me she would give it to a friend for Christmas.

Note also that it was a burned copy, not an origional copy. E-Bay also makes exceptions for unlawful mechandise, and merch that is wholely misrepresented.

Perhaps bainsidhe should contact the company who has the rights to the series and report the seller. He might even get a real copy as reward.