Updated on a post further down with a new email the buyer sent.

My sister sold a Vera Bradley bag to a lady that emailed her before and asked her if it was a non smoking home. My sister said yes. This person won the auction and when she received the item she emailed my sister:

Hi, I just got my package in and it smells like smoke. I emailed you and asked if it came from a smoke free home and you responded yes. This smells too bad to me. Terrie

My sister doesn't smoke and she sent me two Vera bags and they have no smoke odor.

She received another one before she had time to respond to the first:

Hi, I received my purse today and it smelled like smoke. The packaging, the box, and the purse smelled like smoke. I emailed you before I bid on the purse to make sure it came from a smoke free home and you answered yes. Maybe you got confused with email questions?I felt confident purchasing from you because of your feedback score and answering my questions. I need to send it back for a full refund. Please respond or call me at home at xxxxxxxxx

This is what I had her email the buyer back last night:

I don't know where a smoke odor would have come from. I bought it from Vera Bradley sealed in a bag and this is a Non smoking house. And has been stored in my non smoking home.

This is what she received this morning:

Good morning, please send me your address so I can mail your package today. Some how, some way that purse came into contact with someone smoking. For it to be in the packaging, plastic and penetrate to the purse. Make sure you open the package and smell. If you don't have good senses get someone else to smell it. Please feel free to call me anytime. Thank you,

There was no return policy stated in her auction and she isn't planning to refund. If this buyer's mail person smokes it's not my sister's fault.

Any advice or any way she should word a reply? Thanks so much if you've read this far!

__________________
Living well IS the best revenge!!

That's a tuff one. If the buyer disputes it through PP it's her word against your sister's and the buyer will probably win. (Item not as described) Does the buyer's feedback indicate she's done anything like this before?
Did you search her recent purchases to see if she purchased another bag at a lower price?

Wish I could help, but your sister may be out the loss of the sale. It's a shame!

__________________
Mary

Did your sister have a tag attached to the purse, to make a "bait and switch" harder?

Any handbag I sell on ebay has one of my "Thanks for your purchase" tags attached to it with a nylon tag (found in the hardware department at Walmart - I think I get 40 tiny ones for $.99).

Is it possible the mailman smokes?

She could file SNAD through paypal, and win, even if there was no smoke smell until it arrived at her house.

__________________
"Yesterday my life was duller, now everything's technicolor!"

How could the buyer win a SNAD when it wasn't posted in the auction description?

Maybe I should put in my auctions from now on that my home is smoke free but maybe your mailman and mail truck is not?

__________________
Living well IS the best revenge!!

You do have a point - if it wasn't in the discription that it came from a non-smoking home, PP may not be able to say it was not as described - your sister should try to fight it.

__________________
Mary

Fight it. Worst happens, a refund will need to be issued.

Betcha it's buyer's remorse. A short exposure in the mail shouldn't penetrate the bag.

I have had just regular mail delivered to me before that reeked of smoke. I know my mailman smoked because I saw him doing it, thank goodness we now have a new one!
I think it's a shame that the postal workers are allowed to smoke on the job. Some of us are very allergic to it!

This is the latest email from this buyer:

Hi Xxxxxx, I have an address that is on the box, but I don't want to ship anything until I get the ok from you. I am not sure if you are going to give me a refund. I have emailed you 3 times and I have told you 3 times I need to return the purse to you because of the smell. Maybe something has come up, I don't know but communication is important. By tomorrow if I haven't heard from you I will asume you are not going to help me resolve this situation and I will be forced to leave you negative feedback.
I have left you my home # and emailed you with only one response and no solutions. Are you waiting for me to mail the package back to you? I don't know. Please contact me, Thank you, Xxxxxx


This buyer is like sitting on her computer expecting instant responses. This whole thing has been only going on for like 2-3 days. How often do you CALL people? I wouldn't want to. My sister called me from her doctor because she's been going thru some tests the past 2 days and told me that the person emailed her again. She wasn't able to forward it to me but she will when she gets home from her current doctor appointment. I'm going to encourage her to deny a refund.

Anyone have a good response she can send? Thanks!

__________________
Living well IS the best revenge!!

Tell your sister to watch out for the package. She will probably just try to return it anyway in the hope your sister will just take it. Once she has proof it was returned, PayPal or her credit card issuer will give her a refund.

I would definitely look at their buying history. Is is possible they bought from someone else and have the items confused? Also check the feedback they have left other sellers. Have they left a lot of negs regarding similar issues?

She should respond to her. I get irritated as well when I feel ignorned. It encourages me to pursue the matter because I lose confidence the seller will help me out.

__________________
__________________________________________________

A deal is not always a deal - Some just make you pay in the end.

It is forbidden to smoke in a postal vehicle.

O.P. The buyer may be playing you. If there's evidence of prior misconduct, let it go to Paypal and respond to any neg. Some buyers now know sellers can't leave bad feedback for buyers and use this to extort undeserved refunds.

After the insinuation of just what my sister "must be smoking" that was made by the buyer in the last email to my sister she once again told her not to return it because the odor didn't come from her house. My sister checked the items she had remaining and I checked the items that my sister had sent me which were still wrapped in the box she sent to me and no smoke odor.

Of course she got a negative:

Seller lied-purse stunk and smelled like an ashtray--Beware!!!! xxxxxxxxxxx ( 19) Jun-06-08 15:56

I told her to reply to it nice, to the point, in an adult fashion


Reply by xxxxxxxxxx (Jun-06-08 19:27): Non-smoking Home, Can't control what happens in transit.


Saturnfan.......... I have seen our delivery people smoking in the vehicles.

__________________
Living well IS the best revenge!!

If they are driving postal owned vehicles, contact the postmaster or postal inspection service.

Some rural carriers use their own vehicles.

Also, make sure your sister leaves feedback. Even though she can't leave a negative, she can leave a very negative positive. It might warn another seller.

Something like:

Falsely claimed items smelled of smoke - Buyer Remorse?

__________________
__________________________________________________

A deal is not always a deal - Some just make you pay in the end.

I honestly think the buyer just changed her mind and is using the smoking thing as an excuse - I cannot believe that even if a postal worker smoked...that the smell would permeate the box and plastic in the few hours the box is in the truck.

I'm so sorry your sister got a negative from such a witch.

__________________
Mary

I would not leave the buyer feedback at all. It is unlikely that anyone will see the false positive plus I have heard that ebay has a way of finding these and will remove them. I think her reply will let any future buyers know that it was not her fault. We cant leave negs now but we can refuse to leave feedback at all which I think is better than false positives. JMTCW.

She had already left her feedback and I told her not to do that again until the transaction is really over.

__________________
Living well IS the best revenge!!

It has now gone to PayPal. After a negative is left why would she think a refund would be voluntarily given. The buyer hasn't escalated it yet and I told my sister not to. If nothing is done in 19 more days it will be closed automatically. She did reply to the buyers claim tho.

I don't see how PayPal can find in the buyers favor anyway. I'm sure it didnt smell of smoke. PERIOD. This lady is so over dramatizing it. Said it was SOOO BAD that she had to wash her hands after she opened the box. My sister sent me 4 Vera items and I would have smelled smoke on them and I didn't.

__________________
Living well IS the best revenge!!