Scammers returning useless items and eBay siding with them- I can't be the only one!

[gear4sportsmen]

In the last few months I have had a group of scammers that have figured out how to exploit the eBay return policy.  They buy an item from me (always the same item), receive it, start a return thru eBay, print the label and send me back a worthless item in a tiny envelope.  I've received stickers, surgical masks, scrabble tiles and various other worthless items. 
When this happens, I will take a picture of the envelope it came in that shows the buyer's return address as well as the tracking # (which eBay has record of) and the item that was returned.  It's happened enough that I have even gone so far as to video myself opening the unopened package. 
To attempt to cover all my bases & do things correctly, I will send the buyer a message saying that the item I received was not the item that was supposed to be sent back and attach the pics of the envelope/worthless item in the message.  
I then report the buyer from the link in the return details, explain to eBay what happened and attach pics of the envelope/item.  Every single time, eBay will say that they refunded the buyer out of my funds.  I then have to file an appeal to that, explain what happened and attach pics AGAIN and there have been several times when eBay STILL sides with the buyer and says that they won't overturn their decision.  If an actual human with any amount of common sense would look at it, it is more than obvious what happened.   Needless to say, all of this is extremely time consuming, frustrating and anger inducing.  
Since it is always the same item that they are buying and using this scam with, I contacted another seller who sells the same item and they said they have the same thing happening to them. 
I have to assume that this is going on with other sellers across eBay selling all sorts of items.  It seems to me like eBay is doing little to nothing to stop it and when it happens they are doing little to nothing to help the seller out.  At least that's the case for me. 
I guess I'm hoping that maybe if enough sellers raise enough stink about it that they might actually do something, but realize that probably won't happen either.  
This is pretty far fetched, but we are supposed to have 'Seller Protection' and when we get an item back that is an obvious scam, provide proof of it and eBay does nothing and we are out both the item and the money that the buyer paid for it.
Rant over. 

[heckofagame]

Never fight the refund. You will seldom win. Never let eBay refund for you. That will hurt your account. 

As you offer 30-day free returns, you have the option to withhold 50% of the refund when items do not come back in the same ship that they were shipped. This does not remove the chance that the buyer may file a chargeback, but if they are stealing, they might not want to draw that much attention to themselves.

Also, suggesting a lawsuit is a violation of the community guidelines.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Everything @heckofagame stated is right on the money. Follow that advice and the only thing I can add is

1.) Add them to blocked list

2.) Report buyer on the refund

3.) Take picture of what you were sent as you can add that to the 'report buyer' and/or the 50% off the refund amount.

4.) Know that this is a loophole on many websites and not much can be done. Similar to backalley mugging.

[gear4sportsmen]

First of all, I didn't realize that was a violation- thanks.  I've never even posted here- is there a way to edit it, I don't see a place to. 
2nd, I didn't go into complete detail of this ordeal, but the first couple times it happened, I didn't have eBay refund them, I did nothing and the buyers did immediately file a chargeback and when that happened, I was told and found out that I'm 110% SOL and there was absolutely nothing I could do to get my money back. 
I know that I can give a 50% refund, but I'm not going to do that if they ship me a scrabble tile instead of the item that was supposed to be shipped back.  
The buyers are from all over the country, but it's obvious they are all in the same group.  It's always the same MO- it's the same item they buy, they are a new member that just signed up in the last day with no feedback, they do a return saying the item wasn't as described, ship the worthless item in the same type of plastic envelope and a lot of times, it's the same item that different people are returning. 
I've been selling on eBay for over 20 years and am a Top Rated Seller.  eBay says that I'm a 'valued member of the selling community'.  I have a liberal return policy and get legit returns all the time and gladly issue refunds immediately when they're legit.  But when they send back a worthless item, I'm literally being robbed, provide proof to eBay and they do nothing. 
If eBay wants to give them a refund out of eBay's money- fine (even tho it's really not fine), but there is no possible way that the refund should come out of my funds when I am providing CLEAR proof that they are abusing eBay's system. 

[nanniestreasurechest]

@gear4sportsmen 

Along with the other useful information given to you by other sellers, I would not hesitate to file a complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  They have a website where you can fill out a form or if you prefer they also give you phone number that you can use to report fraud using the U.S. Postal Service.  People like this need to be reported to some authorized law enforcement other than eBay.  eBay can only do so much and while I think they could probably do more it's just not the reality of it.   You can also report to the IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center).  

[gear4sportsmen]

Ya, I forgot to mention that I've done that with all of them as well. 
And while I appreciate the replies from other members, I really haven't found anything that they have suggested (that I haven't already been doing) to actually be helpful. 
I take pics, report the buyer with pics, send pics in the appeal with an explanation and sometimes still am out the money.  Some of the time I am able to fill out an affidavit and I'll get a refund, but sometimes eBay's reply is 'we didn't have enough evidence to overturn the decision', which is absolutely crazy if a real human with a shred of common sense would actually look at the appeal, explanation and attached pics.  
And as I said, if I do nothing, they file a chargeback in which case I'm totally screwed; and I'm not about to give them a 50% refund for a scrabble tile when they would prob file a chargeback for the rest of it. 

[nanniestreasurechest]

@gear4sportsmen 

Hopefully some day in the near future eBay will figure out we need "real" people looking at some of these problems instead of some automated robot.  I'm so sorry this is happening to you and others.  I would feel the same you do if it happened to me. 

[buyselljack2016]

I know that I can give a 50% refund, but I'm not going to do that if they ship me a scrabble tile instead of the item that was supposed to be shipped back.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm confused.  So,rather than salvage 50% of the refund you choose to refuse, causing a "forced" refund from your funds, and a seller defect for "unresolved by seller" just for the principal of it ????

I see that you sell a lot of items, so the "defect rate" may not affect your seller level.

[gear4sportsmen]

Yep.  
I'm not at all worried about the defect.  I have very close to zero defects on any transaction that is legit.   If I get a defect for the scams, they aren't enough to affect my seller rating. 
And when a chargeback isn't filed and eBay issues the refund, I'd say 75% of the time I am able to jump thru the hoops and get it reversed.   Plus, like you said, the principle of it does come into it too.  If eBay doesn't reverse it after I've given concrete evidence that I've been scammed, I have a legit complaint against/to them.  If I issue a 50% refund, I'm completely giving up and letting the scammers win; plus I have no doubt that they would file a chargeback for the rest and I'd be out that too with zero recourse. 

[krazzykats]

I guess there's no way you would remove the product that is giving you some much heartache.

Just something I would consider if a product was being stolen like this.  

[gear4sportsmen]

I could, but don't want to and am not going to.  For every scam I get, I sell 100 of them.  

[xadexane]

---

@gear4sportsmen wrote:

I could, but don't want to and am not going to.  For every scam I get, I sell 100 of them.  

---

That's a lot of active shooters!

[vintagecraze50]

There may be a strong possibility this group may be doing it to others as well. The biggest problem is they may create new id’s each time they do this. There has to be a way nowadays to be able to figure out who these people are even using different accounts.

[vintagecraze50]

That can only be done finding habitual abusers of the system with some kind of sophisticated process and a staff in the trust and safety dept doing this, Seller protection should include this.

[gear4sportsmen]

They do create a new accout each time and I have reached out to other sellers that sell the same items I do and they are experiencing it as well.  I can't imagine it is just happening to sellers that sell the same types of items that I do either. 
And yes, there has to be a way to figure out who is doing it.....if eBay would only want to. 😡