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[SD]

Ebay does appear to carry material risks for sellers with little recourse against buyers acting in bad faith

The only thing you could do would be to issue a claim in the small claims court for the damage caused to the bats.

[Bungle]

Hello everyone, after spending 30 minutes on the phone with eBay I was told that I have no option but to refund the buyer fully, no dispute available and no ability to offer a partial refund. As the return reason is "doesn't work or defective" the lady on the phone said that eBay can't prove that he has used the item and damaged it despite him literally saying that in his return reasoning..

Very disappointed.

Thank you to all that responded and gave their advice.

[MichaelM]

Hello everyone, after spending 30 minutes on the phone with eBay I was told that I have no option but to refund the buyer fully, no dispute available and no ability to offer a partial refund. As the return reason is "doesn't work or defective" the lady on the phone said that eBay can't prove that he has used the item and damaged it despite him literally saying that in his return reasoning..

Very disappointed.

Very disappointing indeed.

[Kai]

Hello everyone, after spending 30 minutes on the phone with eBay I was told that I have no option but to refund the buyer fully, no dispute available and no ability to offer a partial refund. As the return reason is "doesn't work or defective" the lady on the phone said that eBay can't prove that he has used the item and damaged it despite him literally saying that in his return reasoning..

Very disappointed.

Thank you to all that responded and gave their advice.

Sorry to hear that. Really a shame, sounds unreasonable.

[jonny77]

Hello everyone, after spending 30 minutes on the phone with eBay I was told that I have no option but to refund the buyer fully, no dispute available and no ability to offer a partial refund. As the return reason is "doesn't work or defective" the lady on the phone said that eBay can't prove that he has used the item and damaged it despite him literally saying that in his return reasoning..

Very disappointed.

Thank you to all that responded and gave their advice.

As a business, what's your returns and it warranty policy mate? I know this might not help in this case, but might in future?

Also, what's your deal with your suppliers? Is there any recourse there for you? Again, although it seems to have been abused/under prepared, it's still even then pretty heavy damage for a bat to be sustain early on.

[Bungle]

As a business, what's your returns and it warranty policy mate? I know this might not help in this case, but might in future?

Also, what's your deal with your suppliers? Is there any recourse there for you? Again, although it seems to have been abused/under prepared, it's still even then pretty heavy damage for a bat to be sustain early on.

I was told by my supplier that GN (India) don't give warranty for the edges/toe and offer no cover for "wrong shot selection". The damage is quite extreme you are right, never seen anything like it for a first net.

[jonny77]

I was told by my supplier that GN (India) don't give warranty for the edges/toe and offer no cover for "wrong shot selection". The damage is quite extreme you are right, never seen anything like it for a first net.

Same, so this leads me to question if there's an issue with the bats too rather than just the prep/usage. It's extensive damage and maybe due to drier willow, manufacturing, hidden issues. Then compounded by poor prep, cheap balls and misuse. I'm not having a pop here, just speaking from experience of a few brands who I've spoken to who had switched to new suppliers, as they'd been down the route of buying bats from cheaper suppliers and found it was giving them more headaches/costs in terms of returns etc. So wanted to have more control of the production/buying side more, to lessen returns/issues but also have some recourse to their supplier if things have gone wrong. In the same way, I'm sure UK retailers who demand support/warranty from brands etc if there are issues. If you're buying bats from India cheaper than you'd get them elsewhere, then you maybe won't get the same level of support maybe.

As @KettonJake mentioned, returns are part and parcel of being a maker/retailer. Sometimes, even though you may feel a bat hasn't been prepped correctly etc, you can't prove it. So your choice is you take the hit, or alienate a customer and get a bad name for service/quality. Just chalk it off and go again imo. Maybe look at the supply chain if u have no comeback and your route to market (eBay isn't great imo due to lack of control you have, as this demonstrates). However, with the amount of dodgy stuff sold on eBay, it's maybe necessary from a consumer safety pov. I bought some golf grips recently which were obviously fake when I received then. Got a refund straight away, which obviously worked in my favour.

This was why I asked about your returns. If you were selling through your business site, you have more control of the returns process and could offer a repair under warranty, or replacement. Both options leave you not so much out of pocket. Obviously, there are then other costs to factor in though.
 

[MichaelM]

Yes, I would. Call it madness but there's no way of knowing it's 'clearly' been abused. I haven't knocked in bats since I started playing again 5 seasons ago. So a H4L, Keeley and various bats I've made myself. None of which have sustained damage such as this. I'm not saying the buyer shouldn't have taken more care, but some bats are more prone to damage now due to how they're  made and how the cleft is processed.

I'm confident my bats are made to a standard I'm happy with. So if there's an issue, I'll accept it and move on. I've had two bats returned after a few wks use in over 3 years. Both times I've provided a new bat no question to the customer. I don't want unhappy customers, part of the reason I wanted to control the whole process. Every brand/company has issues, imo it's how you deal on with my them in and safeguard against future issue s which sets you apart. Maybe thats madness, but to me it's just how I'm comfortable operating.

The reasons why bats are damaged in this way aren't so solely down to knocking in and be a scuff sheet, there are far many more factors to take into account

Excellent Post!
To be honest, these bats did look extremely dry, unlike GN.

[Bungle]

Same, so this leads me to question if there's an issue with the bats too rather than just the prep/usage. It's extensive damage and maybe due to drier willow, manufacturing, hidden issues. Then compounded by poor prep, cheap balls and misuse. I'm not having a pop here, just speaking from experience of a few brands who I've spoken to who had switched to new suppliers, as they'd been down the route of buying bats from cheaper suppliers and found it was giving them more headaches/costs in terms of returns etc. So wanted to have more control of the production/buying side more, to lessen returns/issues but also have some recourse to their supplier if things have gone wrong. In the same way, I'm sure UK retailers who demand support/warranty from brands etc if there are issues. If you're buying bats from India cheaper than you'd get them elsewhere, then you maybe won't get the same level of support maybe.

As KettonJake mentioned, returns are part and parcel of being a maker/retailer. Sometimes, even though you may feel a bat hasn't been prepped correctly etc, you can't prove it. So your choice is you take the hit, or alienate a customer and get a bad name for service/quality. Just chalk it off and go again imo. Maybe look at the supply chain if u have no comeback and your route to market (eBay isn't great imo due to lack of control you have, as this demonstrates). However, with the amount of dodgy stuff sold on eBay, it's maybe necessary from a consumer safety pov. I bought some golf grips recently which were obviously fake when I received then. Got a refund straight away, which obviously worked in my favour.

This was why I asked about your returns. If you were selling through your business site, you have more control of the returns process and could offer a repair under warranty, or replacement. Both options leave you not so much out of pocket. Obviously, there are then other costs to factor in though.

Thanks for the advice mate, it's much appreciated. I don't have a site right now but this situation has definitely put it at the front of my mind to get one ASAP. As you said this is unfortunately one of the downsides of buying from India as some of the willow can be dry and the overall support isn't great. Of course eBay returns do massively help for items like you mentioned, clear fakes or something that actually doesn't work. I've had countless bats arrive with cracks that weren't mentioned at all, eBay is good in that regard.

[Chalkie]

Assuming you are a registered and approved GN retailer/ importer then I would imagine they may be able to help.

However if you are a grey market importer bringing in Indian GN models without UK GN approval then you will probably have very little recourse