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| Me riding competing last year in my Vinici |
See
part I ,
II,
IV, and
V for the whole saga! for background on the saddle debacle with Ebay, Paypal, and a buyer who I will refer to as *DB.
Paypal has decided I have to refund the money to DB.
DB has had my saddle for five weeks now. She claims my saddle, which was ridden in by me and my trainer up until it was sold, was said to be "unrideable" and "defective" due to slits under the flaps.
The slits she is referring to are either:
- The slits that came from the manufacturer
- Made by them or a fitter they used
I was present at every adjustment done to this saddle, which was flocked every six months since I've owned it, and it was last flocked in August 2013. That's how I know this.
What shape will it be in?
The ruling was made on November 27, and DB has until December 7 to provide a tracking number for the return. If the saddle does not come back in the condition it was sent, I can file a claim. Yippee. But if the saddle is not in the condition I sent it, you can bet that's what I will do. My biggest fear is that the saddle will come back damaged -- and if you think this is unlikely, read the horror stories from other Ebay transactions on the Ebay and Paypal communities.
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| Me in my saddle |
I'm mystified
DB, or rather her boyfriend or SO, is a first-time Ebayer, and she had weak documentation, from what looks to be a sales person at a consignment shop; she did not communicate with me; she waited a month to file a claim. Me, I've been a good Ebay/Paypal citizen since 1999, with no negative feedback in 500 transactions, and my documentation is from the national distributor for the saddle manufacturer, and from a saddle fitter with 25 years experience. I go out of my way to make sure buyers will be happy with their saddle, and if you look at my interactions with potential buyers, you'll see that I tell people when I don't think the saddle is a good match. The notion that I would knowingly sell a defective saddle is what gives this situation emotional aspects.
The decision
Most people I've spoken to are astonished that buyers can claim "defect" after they've had the saddle a month. Paypal has some policies that explain how this can happen...
- Paypal does favor the buyer--now that I've read about changes in their policies over the years, e.g., removing the ability to give negative feedback to buyers, I am astonished at the policy of bias.
- Paypal does not put a lot of effort or scrutiny into reviewing claims. There is a thread on COTH where a seller actually had a claim reversed because, after hours of phone calls and correspondence, Paypal admitted that the claim reviewers had not reviewed the documentation.
- Paypal does not look at the respective track records of the parties. My 500 problem-free transactions versus their one, tangled mess of a transaction where they did not follow standard Paypal practice were not counted.
- Paypal does not honor the Ebay "no returns" policy that you might set on your Ebay post.
- Paypal does not let the seller see the documentation provided by the buyer.
- Paypal does not accept photos as evidence. I suppose with Photoshop, this is understandable, but it makes it next to impossible to assess what is really going on.
Interestingly, another Ebay saddle seller had an experience very, very similar to mine.
Read her story here, and think about the hours of time this dispute took. For those who want the gory details, I will have a Part
IV,. By that time, maybe I will have my saddle.
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