"Goods not as described" is the most expensive sentence in your inbox, and almost every supplier misreads what it means. It does not mean the buyer is disappointed. It does not mean the goods are bad. It means the goods don't match the description that became part of the contract — and the brutal part is that you probably wrote that description without realising it was binding.
A photo can be a description. A sample can be a description. A number in your catalog can be a description. This is a reference for what counts, what doesn't, what the windows are, and the one clause that turns a clearly published dimension into a defence.
Goods not as described: the working definition
Goods are "not as described" when they fail to match the quantity, quality, or description the contract requires — meaning the standard is whatever was communicated and agreed, not what the seller privately intended to supply.
That framing comes straight from the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), adopted in Vienna on 11 April 1980 and in force since 1 January 1988. Article 35(1) puts it in one line: "The seller must deliver goods which are of the quantity, quality and description required by the contract and which are contained or packaged in the manner required by the contract."
Two facts every exporter should know about whether this applies to them:
- The CISG has 97 contracting parties, including China, the United States, Germany, France, Japan and the Republic of Korea. The United Kingdom is not a party.
- Under Article 1, it applies automatically to sales between businesses whose places of business are in different contracting states. Under Article 6, "the parties may exclude the application of this Convention" — so plenty of contracts opt out. Check which of your contracts do.
If you sell B2B across borders and your PO doesn't exclude it, this is very likely the default law defining "as described" for your orders. Not the marketplace's dispute page. Not your own opinion of what's reasonable.
What counts as a specification, and what doesn't
This is where orders are won and lost. Article 35(2) sets out what goods must be, absent agreement otherwise:
| CISG Art. 35(2) | The rule in plain terms | What it means for your paperwork |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Fit for the purposes goods of the same description are ordinarily used for | A chair has to take an adult's weight even if nobody wrote it down |
| (b) | Fit for any particular purpose expressly or impliedly made known to the seller | If the buyer told you it's for a hotel lobby, that's now in scope |
| (c) | Possess the qualities of goods held out to the buyer as a sample or model | Your golden sample is a specification, measured or not |
| (d) | Contained or packaged in the manner usual for such goods | Packaging is part of conformity, not an afterthought |
Now the practical translation. Not everything you send a buyer carries the same weight:
| What you sent | Is it a spec? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A dimension in the PO or contract | Yes — the strongest kind | Art. 35(1): the description required by the contract |
| An approved golden sample | Yes | Art. 35(2)(c), explicitly |
| A dimensioned spec diagram attached to the quote | Yes, in practice | It's a description you communicated and they relied on |
| A photo with no measurements | Sort of, and unpredictably | It describes appearance; it says nothing measurable — so a buyer's assumption fills the gap |
| "High quality," "heavy duty," "premium" | No | Not measurable, so not enforceable — by either of you |
| A number in your catalog you never restated in the PO | Arguable | Depends on reliance and the contract's terms. This is where the fights live |
The pattern: specificity protects the party who published it. A vague listing doesn't shield a supplier — it hands the buyer room to argue their expectation was reasonable. A photo without dimensions is not a safe description; it's an invitation for the buyer to imagine one.
The disclosure defence most suppliers never use
Article 35(3) is short and almost nobody in this trade quotes it: "The seller is not liable under subparagraphs (a) to (d) of the preceding paragraph for any lack of conformity of the goods if, at the time of the conclusion of the contract, the buyer knew or could not have been unaware of such lack of conformity."
Read that again, because it's the whole argument for publishing exact numbers. If a characteristic was disclosed clearly enough that the buyer could not have been unaware of it, they can't later call it a nonconformity under 35(2). A visible, unmissable "820 mm seat height" on the product image isn't just customer service — it's the record that the buyer knew.
The honest limit, which matters: 35(3) only covers subparagraphs (a) to (d) of 35(2). It does not rescue you from 35(1). If the contract expressly says 1200 mm and you ship 1198 mm, disclosure somewhere else doesn't help — an express contract term governs. So the defence works for characteristics you disclosed, not for promises you broke. Publish generously; then hold what the contract says.
Claim windows and who pays
Two different regimes, depending on the channel. Suppliers routinely apply the wrong one.
| CISG (cross-border B2B) | eBay Money Back Guarantee (marketplace) | |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer must examine | "within as short a period as is practicable in the circumstances" (Art. 38(1)); may be deferred until arrival if carriage is involved (Art. 38(2)) | n/a |
| Notice deadline | "within a reasonable time" after discovery (Art. 39(1)) | Return request at the latest 30 calendar days after the estimated or actual delivery date, or within the seller's stated returns window, whichever is longer |
| Hard cut-off | Two years from actual handover, unless inconsistent with a contractual guarantee period (Art. 39(2)) | Governed by the policy, not a statutory long-stop |
| Who pays return shipping | Determined by the contract and the remedy claimed | The seller, when the item is being returned as not as described |
| If the seller concealed it | Seller can't rely on Art. 38 or 39 at all (Art. 40) | n/a |
Two things worth internalising from that table.
"Reasonable time" is not a number. Article 39(1) requires notice "specifying the nature of the lack of conformity," and what's reasonable varies with the goods and the trade. The only hard boundary is the two-year long-stop in 39(2). A buyer who sits on a defect and complains eleven months later may well have lost the right — but you won't know until you're already arguing.
On marketplaces, "not as described" makes you pay the freight. eBay's policy is explicit that where an item is returned under a not-as-described claim, the seller is responsible for return shipping. For anything bulky this is the entire economics of the dispute: the return leg on a heavy or oversized item can cost more than the item's margin. Before deciding your listing is "detailed enough," it's worth running your real numbers through a return cost calculator — the freight on one returned cabinet tends to reframe the effort of publishing a dimension.
One exclusion that catches industrial exporters off guard: eBay's Money Back Guarantee excludes industrial equipment and heavy machinery (covered separately under its Business Equipment Purchase Protection), along with motor vehicles, real estate, and services. Payments completed outside eBay aren't covered either. Never assume the marketplace's protection covers your category — check the exclusion list for the goods you actually ship.
Requirements by claim type
Dimension claims
The most common, and the most preventable. Publish the number, the unit, the tolerance, and the state it was measured in. "1200 mm" is an assertion; "1200 ±3 mm (assembled, excl. handle)" is a specification. If your listing shows the assembled size and the buyer receives a carton, you've generated a claim out of nothing but an unstated assumption — the split between folded and assembled dimensions is one of the cheapest claims to design out.
Material and finish claims
"Solid wood" is a description with legal weight; "premium finish" isn't. If you say oak, ship oak. If it's oak veneer on MDF, say oak veneer on MDF — a buyer who could not have been unaware of the construction can't call it a nonconformity later. Vagueness feels safer here and is the opposite.
Quantity and packaging claims
Article 35(1) covers quantity and packaging in the same breath as description, and Art. 35(2)(d) makes packaging conformity in its own right. A short carton count and unusual packaging that damages goods are both "not as described" — they're not separate, lesser categories.
Common reasons suppliers lose these
- The listing had a photo and no numbers. The buyer's assumption became the standard because nothing else was on offer.
- The golden sample was never measured. Art. 35(2)(c) made it the spec, and its actual dimensions are now whatever the buyer's tape says.
- The catalog and the PO disagreed. Two numbers exist; the buyer cites the one that helps them.
- The tolerance was never published. Any deviation reads as a deviation.
- The buyer's purpose was known and ignored. Art. 35(2)(b) catches purposes made known "impliedly" — that email about the hotel lobby counts.
- The problem was known and not disclosed. Art. 40 strips away the notice defences entirely.
Pre-publish checklist
Before a listing, quote, or catalog goes to a buyer:
- Every dimension carries a unit, a tolerance, and the state it's measured in (assembled / packed / inside / outside)
- The catalog number, the spec diagram, and the PO all say the same thing
- Material claims are literal and specific — species, grade, construction, not adjectives
- The golden sample's real measured dimensions are recorded and signed by both sides
- Packed carton dimensions and count are stated, not just product dimensions
- Anything a buyer might assume but you don't provide is stated as excluded
- The contract's position on the CISG is known — applies by default, or excluded under Art. 6
- The dimensions a buyer will actually measure are visible on the image, not only in an attachment
FAQ
What does "goods not as described" actually mean?
It means the goods don't match the quantity, quality, or description required by the contract. Under CISG Article 35(1) the standard is the contract's description, and Article 35(2) adds that goods must be fit for their ordinary purpose, fit for any particular purpose made known to the seller, match any sample or model the seller held out, and be packaged in the usual manner. It's about mismatch with what was communicated — not about whether the goods are objectively good.
Can a buyer claim the product is not as described if the dimensions were on the listing?
Much harder, and that's the point. CISG Article 35(3) says the seller isn't liable under Article 35(2)(a)–(d) for a lack of conformity the buyer "knew or could not have been unaware of" when the contract was concluded. A dimension published clearly enough that the buyer could not have missed it is evidence they knew. The limit: this doesn't override an express contract term under 35(1) — if the PO says 1200 mm, you owe 1200 mm.
How long does a buyer have to claim goods are not as described?
Under the CISG, notice must specify the nature of the problem and be given within a reasonable time after the buyer discovered it or should have (Article 39(1)), with an absolute cut-off of two years from the date the goods were actually handed over (Article 39(2)), unless that conflicts with a contractual guarantee period. On eBay, a not-as-described return request must be made at the latest 30 calendar days after the estimated or actual delivery date, or within the seller's stated returns window if that's longer.
Who pays return shipping for a not-as-described claim?
On eBay, the seller does — its Money Back Guarantee states that where the item is being returned, the seller is responsible for return shipping. In cross-border B2B under the CISG, it depends on the contract and the remedy the buyer claims. Note that eBay excludes industrial equipment and heavy machinery from the guarantee entirely, so category matters before you assume any coverage.
How do I stop size-related "not as described" claims before they start?
Make the measurement impossible to miss and impossible to misread — which is a documentation job, not a photography job. The dimensions have to sit on the image the buyer actually looks at, carry a tolerance and a stated measurement state, and match the PO exactly. In practice that means generating the diagram from the product's real measured geometry rather than drawing arrows onto a flattened photo: dimension and spec annotation software snaps each label to the product's actual edge and re-exports the same diagram at each channel's required size, so the number on the listing, the quote, and the catalog is one number instead of three. This is also where AI image tools are the wrong tool — they restyle a picture and will happily produce a measurement that looks plausible and isn't yours, and an invented dimension published to a buyer is a nonconformity you manufactured for yourself. The same discipline that makes a product spec sheet buyers actually read is what makes a claim fail: one set of numbers, everywhere, with the tolerance shown.
Sources & References
- UNCITRAL — United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980) — full convention text and explanatory note; Articles 1, 6, 35, 38, 39 and 40 govern application, exclusion, conformity, examination and notice
- UNCITRAL — CISG status table — 97 contracting parties, with ratification and entry-into-force dates by state
- eBay Money Back Guarantee policy — coverage when an item doesn't match the listing, not-as-described return time frames, seller responsibility for return shipping, and category exclusions including industrial equipment and heavy machinery