i recently sold a camera on ebay and the buyer is not happy with it, saying it does not function properly etc.
as far as i know i never had a problem with it so i dont know what they are on about.

anyway i have agreed to a refund, but they wont return the goods until they receive the refund first.
i am not comfortable doing this incase they decide to keep the camera and the money and really do me over.

so what should happen here? ideally the goods should be returned so i can inspect them and offer a refund but the buyer refuses to do this. i dont see the problem, as they, a buyer is protected by both ebay and paypal for seller fraud.

what are your experiences in this sort of situation? what should i do? thanks.

Well if they dont want to send it back so you can check it out tell them to go jump

Exactly. If they wont send it back first, you don't have to do anything. Whenever i'm in this situation I say the goods need to be returned for inspection/repair prior to any refund taking place.

My opinion,
get them to send it COD to you, less any charges - so at worst, you get the camera back and only pay what the auction price was.

or tell them to go jump.

well put it this way you dont go into a shop buy something and say i want my money then ill bring the item back

was it new in box?
was there anything wrong with the camera?
did you state in the listing that there is nothing wrong with the camera?
did you say that you will refund on the listing?

if you answer no to all 4 then tell them to read the manual on how to get it to work properly...

if you sent it registered post, get them to try and claim insurance...

an auction is just that and in almost all cases goods are sold as is or as described and the purchaser makes his or her own mind up whether to buy or not to buy, you didnt force them into buying it from you...

but as has been said above, the only way if you want to do things would be COD via australia post.
when you go pick up the camera you check that everything is in the box that you sent with it, then and only then do you give australia post the money, if there is something missing or not in the condition you sent it to the buyer let australia post deal with it, not your problem...

it sounds a bit nasty, but...

i dont know of any auction that gives warranty or refunds money...

As far as my experience goes, I've never been able to open / inspect a COD parcel prior to payment. I believe their policy is that you must pay before you open the parcel?

^ Exactly - never quite understood this - whats the point? someone could send you and empty box or a box witha brick in it for heavy items.

Same thing applies for couriers - they always say please inspect before signing. But when have you ever been given the chance to inspect it they want to sign and run

take it up with ebay and see what your rights are.

Just tell him to send it back or don't send it back. If he doesn't, you have your money and will probably get bad feedback, but just respond to the bad feedback to explain he was an idiot. If he sends it back and it works fine, refund him and re-list it

Tell the buyer to take it up with eBay, as they have the facility to offer the buyer upt o $400 when they feel they have been unjustly done by, due to no fault of the seller.

This would save you fcuking around with refunds/postage/etc.

Tell him 'you're not responsible for items possibly damaged in the post' if you don't ask for postage insurance.