posted on June 26, 2004 09:53:45 AM new
I've become heavily involved in selling vintage and antique jewelry in the last few months. Could anyone out there who has sold jewelry please tell me what your policy is on vintage jewelry breaking AFTER it has been worn?
I shipped a vintage glass bracelet to a lady - it arrived in perfect condition - as it was when it was shipped. She now asks for a refund because the stringing broke after she wore it, according to her, for only 5 minutes. I suggested a partial refund and she could have it restrung but she says the beads flew all over and she can't find them now.
What would you do knowing that I'm going to get a neg out of this if I don't refund her full price?
posted on June 26, 2004 12:53:39 PM new
why would you offer any refund? she told you it arrived perfectly, enough said on that. the key word is "Vintage". these items need to be taken care of very carefully. you check the string holding the beads before you wear it, string wears out!
i would offer no refund and tell her that once she let you know it arrived in perfect condition, the deal was complete. tell her you are sorry it broke on her but there is nothing you can do. you cannot guarantee a vintage item after completion of the transaction, ie once it has been worn.
you are not walmart selling appliances. the item became hers and she broke it. sorry about her luck.
posted on June 26, 2004 01:34:35 PM new
I don't sell vintage items, but occasionally wear them. I was also a jeweler for Houston Jewelry & Dist. for a few years, working in the repair shop.
Your clue to your situation is that she could not find all the beads. That indicates most likely the bracelet was broken with force, meaning she caught it on something and the beads went flying. I've seen it happen. No manufacturer is expected to warranty a NEW item beyond normal wear. No dealer in vintage items should be expected to warranty the item's' performance beyond arriving in the condition described in the listing.
You fulfilled your end of the transaction. You expressed or implied no warranties, I'm sure, beyond it arriving in the condition promised in the auction lisitng.
As a seller, you must get this straight. You will never please all the people all the time and remain profitable. You can make most very happy, but never all of them if you are in business very long. You WILL get negs if you are in business long enough on Ebay, simply beacuse there are truly unreasonable people who shop there. People who LOOK to create conflict, upset, or think they have a divine right to walk on you or have what they want with no consideration of any other party involved. They are few, but they are there.
Wear your negs as the "badge of courage" like a scar a warrior takes and survives after. It shows you are there, doing a job, and suviving the "slings and arrows" and buyers will compare your numerous positive feedbacks to the few crankily worded negatives from obviously pissy individuals.
Think of it this way: If a person opened a box from a seller with a priceless antique vase/lamp/dish in it and did not hold it safely, dropped it and broke it immediately, should the seller replace/refund? No way. The buyer simply did not act with due diligence to protect the vintage item from damage.
It is the buyer's responsibilty to provide any restoration/restringing/repair/replacement, etc. Not yours.
posted on June 26, 2004 02:23:34 PM new
You may also advise her that many people collect vintage jewelry and NEVER wear it, so if that was her intention, she needed to use extra care.
What meadowlark said sound right also and she must have put it on and ran out her door to a location that stopped her from being able to find all the beads??
That being said - if you are only talking about $10 or $20 dollars, you must weight that amount against a neg in a area of sales that it sounds like you enjoy.
posted on June 26, 2004 02:43:14 PM new
why weigh the amount of the sale against a neg? the buyer deserves no refund, even if the sale was only $1.00!
a neg goes down the feedback page and away so fast, what is the big deal? yes, if you get 10 or 15 in a row, that looks bad! if you have a few hundred positives and then pick up a neg, that is the price of doing business as meadowlark said.
where it with courage and go on. if you get in the habit of refunding just to keep from getting a neg, then just give everything away for the shipping charges. you'll have a lot of good feedback, but you will still get an unhappy customer eventually, then what are you going to give them?
posted on June 26, 2004 02:49:25 PM new
in certain categories,sellers can ill afford to eat any NEG.
say I sell genuine rolex watch and one neg which said it is fake,is enough to finish my ebay career of selling geunine rolex under that seller id.
Same with diamond.
In your category of vintage jewelry,you will expect some to stash them away and some to wear them.
If you feel negs will affect your selling,then offer a refund if she can return ALL THE BEADS!!!!!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on June 26, 2004 04:41:29 PM new
Stopwhining is right.
I considered adding that part of the trade into my post, but I assumed you only sold costume pieces, and left it out for shortness.
In the jewlery business, sometimes a store/dealer will eat the price of a damaged costume piece or a lesser value fine jewelry piece by refunding to keep a high spending customer coming back for the much higher dollar diamond and gold jewelry pieces they usually buy. I see this happening in brick & nmortar stores, but more difficult to engender customer loyalty online IMHO.
Yes, if you are planning to offer a refund, tell her you would need all the beads and findings back.
[ edited by meadowlark on Jun 26, 2004 04:53 PM ]
