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eBay's picture requirements

eBay's picture requirements 11 years ago
A little bit of old news, but I was happy to read eBay's requirements for pictures. I don't buy perfumes from eBay that often (maybe 2-3 times a year), but I cannot stand businesses using stock photos for perfumes. Hopefully this will be reinforced.
11 years ago
Thanks, Hayven! I'm glad they're doing this. With the easy availability of camera phones, etc., it seems like it wouldn't be very burdensome for most people and should make it easier to spot fakes.
11 years ago
I don't buy from eBay either, but this is good for people who do. Any improvment to stop the fakes is good.
Update: Change in View about ebay!!!! 11 years ago
I feel that I must report this story to you, as I have expressed a lot of skepticism about ebay in the past. It turns out that their customer service is as good as Amazon's!

I have ordered from ebay only a handful of times. I wanted to test the Van Cleef & Arpel Collection Extraordinaire perfumes, but was unable to procure manufacturer-carded samples anywhere else. I was disappointed to find that one of the vials was only half full, but I decided not to complain, because at least it meant that the seller had not filled it with water--I knew that it was authentic!

Since then, I ordered two different cellophane-wrapped Lolita Lempicka limited edition bottles and a sample pack of ten Jo Malone vials, all at excellent prices, shipped free, with no problems whatsoever.

I also ordered a bottle of Coach Iris Splash. The sprayer was not only broken, but also had liquid inside, so I opened a case alleging that the item was not as described, as it clearly was not new. Within a day, my entire purchase price was refunded.

This gave me the confidence to try again (plus now I had a Paypal credit to use). I ordered a 100ml bottle of Prada Infusion d'Iris Absolue (the only one I'm missing), which was advertised as a new tester. When it arrived, the volume seemed a bit low (maybe 2ml short), but I was ready to give the seller the benefit of the doubt--until I sprayed.

As we all know, a new, never-been-sprayed bottle requires a couple of extra pumps before it will spritz out perfume. This bottle sprayed perfume with the first press, so I knew that it had been sprayed and that the apparently short volume was due to the fact that the bottle was not in fact new.

I debated with myself about what to do. On the one hand, it was still a great deal. On the other hand, I asked myself whether I would have purchased the bottle had it been listed as "used". The answer was "no". I decided to open a case just to put the seller on notice that people do not appreciate this sort of misrepresentation. My hope was to prevent the seller from doing the same again. What I was expecting in response to my complaint was an apology, and maybe an offer of a $5 credit.

Instead, to my shock, I received a nasty and accusatory response from the seller. Here is what it said:

Seller's message:
"Sorry you weren't satisfied with the Tester. But to respond to what you wrote item has NEVER been used. I inspect all merchandise prior to deliver so the bottle was NOT missing 2ML it was the full 3.4 ML so in conclusion I BELIEVE your trying to take the perfume I sent you and exchange it with a old one you have at home. "


Needless to say, I was taken aback. However, exactly two minutes later, I received another email, this one from ebay, stating that my entire purchase price had been refunded.

My conclusion: ebay does not tolerate any nonsense whatsoever from sellers. Good work, ebay: you have earned my confidence.

I wanted to share this story because everyone should know that if there is anything wrong with their purchase, ebay clearly believes that customer is queen/king, so you can shop safely there.

Very Happy
11 years ago
eBay does tip in favor to the buyers. It's bad service for a seller to make that assumption though. I have sold perfumes on eBay, and one person said a package never arrived. I looked at the tracking info, and it showed the package as delivered. I told him what I saw, and I asked him to maybe look next to his door or maybe a neighbor picked it up. Turns out it was left on his stoop. Never accused him of a false claim though.
11 years ago
Hayven:
eBay does tip in favor to the buyers. It's bad service for a seller to make that assumption though. I have sold perfumes on eBay, and one person said a package never arrived. I looked at the tracking info, and it showed the package as delivered. I told him what I saw, and I asked him to maybe look next to his door or maybe a neighbor picked it up. Turns out it was left on his stoop. Never accused him of a false claim though.

That was the problem in this case. Whoever this person is, wherever she got the bottle, she must acknowledge that unless she was there at the end of the production line, then she cannot know that the bottle was never sprayed--except of course by spraying it!

Obviously, if I were just trying to rip her off, I would have made a much more serious complaint--said that the bottle arrived empty or something along those lines. But ebay knows that I have bought other items without any problems or complaints, so obviously I am not some sort of shyster.

What she should have done was said something to the effect that, "I am sorry that the bottle had already been sprayed; I thought that it had not." Had she done that, I would have accepted her apology and been on my merry way. Instead, she attacked me, so ebay resolved the problem in my favor, by forcing a full refund.

From this case, it is obvious that ebay has the same "zero tolerance" toward shady vendors as does Amazon, which is a great policy, in my opinion, and as evidenced by the fact that I go back to Amazon again and again, knowing that their vendors have been vetted, so to speak, and also that in the event that there is a problem, it will be addressed in a professional and competent way.

There probably are people who try to take advantage of these policies, but I'm sure that ebay and Amazon can figure out who they are by examining their track record and the nature of their complaints.

Cool
11 years ago
Seller's message:
"Sorry you weren't satisfied with the Tester. But to respond to what you wrote item has NEVER been used. I inspect all merchandise prior to deliver so the bottle was NOT missing 2ML it was the full 3.4 ML so in conclusion I BELIEVE your trying to take the perfume I sent you and exchange it with a old one you have at home. "


Yeah, you will get this sort of attitude from sellers from time to time because you're dealing with a random person, not a company, and said person obviously doesn't know the first thing about customer relations and repeat business.

But out of the many Ebay purchases I've made I've had only one instance where I had to open a case. The seller became extremely immature and unprofessional when I told him there was a problem, and Ebay sided with me. You're right, Ebay will not tolerate crap from sellers.
11 years ago
Dulcemio:
Seller's message:
"Sorry you weren't satisfied with the Tester. But to respond to what you wrote item has NEVER been used. I inspect all merchandise prior to deliver so the bottle was NOT missing 2ML it was the full 3.4 ML so in conclusion I BELIEVE your trying to take the perfume I sent you and exchange it with a old one you have at home. "


Yeah, you will get this sort of attitude from sellers from time to time because you're dealing with a random person, not a company, and said person obviously doesn't know the first thing about customer relations and repeat business.

But out of the many Ebay purchases I've made I've had only one instance where I had to open a case. The seller became extremely immature and unprofessional when I told him there was a problem, and Ebay sided with me. You're right, Ebay will not tolerate crap from sellers.

"Customer is Queen/King" is a sound business strategy, in the end, at least if I'm any indication of consumer behavior. I buy nearly everything under the sun from Amazon because of their excellent customer service. In stark contrast, another company a while back gave me grief when one of their products was defective, and I never shopped there again!
Cool
11 years ago
The tendency is that kind of people to decline. This is partly due to the strict policy of ebay to protect the interests of both sides (with precedence to the buyer) in an effort to become a safer place to shopping.
This, of course, doesn't mean we should be stupid buyers and approach without attention - intelligently choosing from whom to buy.
Ratings for approved sellers is extremely important to them - they endeavor to avoid any buyer dissatisfaction and possibly negative vote. My friends have had many cases where when a defective product, even obviously not the fault of the seller - have done everything possible (rebate, refund, send a new product entirely free, etc.) - to keep the customer satisfied. Such a thing is not always found in major companies and I would even say - on the contrary (maybe even just because of contact on a personal level?).
By the way - to not understand me wrong - I've never sold anything.I bought several times quite expensive things and it's been smooth from beginning to end. At the same time, I had difficulty in communicating with companies.
By the way I'm the same - once disappointed me - not to repeat if they will be the last traders of the world.
11 years ago
WolfM,
You make a very good point. Ebay has to be extra-vigilant of customers' rights in order to counteract the potenital for distrust already built in to this process of strangers buying from strangers.
11 years ago
Dulcemio:
WolfM,
You make a very good point. Ebay has to be extra-vigilant of customers' rights in order to counteract the potenital for distrust already built in to this process of strangers buying from strangers.

+1

Also excellent is Wolf's point about sellers guarding their reputation. From my limited experience, I am guessing that complete refunds wipe the slate clean, preventing a disgruntled customer from sullying the seller's reputation. I haven't tried to rate the above seller, but I'm not sure that I even can, because when I clicked on the ebay-generated link indicating that I had received a full refund, I was taken to a place which simply states that the problem has been fully resolved. It looks as though full refunds wipe out the transaction as though it never transpired. Which is fine, of course. No one should be complaining after that sort of response!

By the way, I just completed another satisfactory transaction, procuring a new tester of "Elixir des Merveilles" at a great price and with no problems whatsoever. Proving yet again that ebay has figured out how to play this game and to defeat the negative perspective which some of us bring to their site.

Over the course of a handful of experiences, they amazingly managed to completely reverse my former opinion of complete suspicion and distrust of the very idea of buying anything there. I still would not go vintage hunting, but that's because I have a degree in chemistry and know what happens to substances over time.
Laughing
11 years ago
I am happy to report that I've been buying fragrances, both vintage and new, from eBay for years. My one bad experience was when a bottle was improperly packaged, and sprayed out almost all of its contents en route. What a mess. But I was fully refunded by the seller.

To be a successful eBay buyer, one must be vigilant, and avoid buying the obvious fakes of top-selling fragrances. It's also smart to use all of the tools at hand, like Toolhaus dot org, for instance. I would never buy a fragrance without checking out the seller's negatives at Toolhaus.
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