One question decides this: were the measurements given?
If measurements were given and you misread them
That is a change of mind, and it depends on the store's policy. Disappointing, and not the seller's fault.
It is worth being honest with yourself here, because claiming a misdescription that the listing disproves is the one approach that reliably fails — the seller has the listing text in front of them. Can I return something just because I changed my mind?
If no measurements were given
Then you have a much stronger position. An item whose size was never stated and turns out to be a third of what the photographs implied is not as described — and that comes back for 7 days whatever the store's returns policy says.
"Not as described" does not require the seller to have lied. It requires the item to be materially different from what a reasonable buyer would have understood. A photograph with nothing for scale, no dimensions, and a price suggesting something substantial is a description problem.
If the measurements were wrong
Clearest case of all. Measure it, photograph the tape, and raise it. How to raise a problem
Where the grey area actually is
A photograph that made it look bigger, with no measurements and no scale object. Reasonable people disagree, and a dispute will be decided on what the listing actually said rather than on what either of you felt.
Which is why the useful move is a conversation first: "I'd understood this as roughly A4 size and it's postcard sized — was that my mistake?" A seller who realises their listing was unclear usually sorts it out, because the alternative is a dispute they may lose.
What to do, in order
- Re-read the listing. Decide honestly which case you are in.
- Measure it and photograph that.
- Message the seller with the measurement and what you had understood.
- If you cannot agree, raise it. The seller has 48 hours to answer a return before you can ask Metzee to step in, and a dispute is decided within 48 hours of being opened.
How to never be here again
Ask in the chat before you bid. "What are the dimensions?" takes ten seconds and sellers answer it live.
For anything where size is the whole point — furniture, frames, clothing, jewellery — do not bid without it. The seller is holding it up and I still cannot see it
For sellers reading this
Measurements and one scale object in the photographs prevent nearly all of these. A coin next to a brooch, a tape beside a frame. It is the cheapest dispute prevention available. How to photograph an item
More: how to describe condition honestly, how returns work, the colour is different to the show.