Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

[esell-resell]

Has this happenned to anyone else?

I sold a Computer Server to a buyer on Ebay, this guy phoned me, we discussed everything about the server and shipping. Now this guy was cheap I could tell just by him whinning about how much the shipping would be and how long it would take.

So me being a nice person and I know what it is like to have to wait and wait for my package, I told him to send me $90 and I would express ship it out to him and he would have it in 3 - 4 days. He agreed and sent me the extra $90 plus I gave him a deal on the server $169.99 , when I could have easily got $200. The server weighs 70lbs and is 26"longX19"highX9"wide and has to be shipped in it's proper sitting place so I had to label it with THIS SIDE UP stickers and also HEAVY stickers (70lbs) and alot of FRAGILE AND HANDLE WITH CARE stickers. It cost me $280.00 to ship it to him (no lie I have the receipt from UPS on my account) and only charged him $90. When I packaged the server I did it at the UPS office that I go to all the time and the UPS agent helped me actually. I wrapped it in packing cardboard and used a bubble packing envelope for extra cushion on the back of the tower server so that none of the conections would be broken. It was then triple wrapped with cardboard boxes customly made top fit tight around the server and several layers of red Tuck Tape were used to seal it all up.

The buyer received it I believe 6 days later because some of the paperwork for the border ( Canada to USA) were not proper so it took a few more days. When his even NORMAL shipping, like the cheapest from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada to New York USA would have been $133.00 and would have taken 2 - 3 weeks to get there. Remember he only paid $90?

Anyway 3 days after he received the server he sends me a message that it was damaged during shipping because it was not packaged properly and he wants all his money back and also the shipping money. In my listing I had listed no returns or exchanges. I want all of you to know that I have sold many of these units and I always, ALWAYS run a system check on them before shipping them out and I have never had a problem. So I replied to him that I most certainly did package it properly and I asked him to send me pictures please and I also asked him why he would accept a package that was damaged. He would not respond or nor did he send any pictures.

Yesterday I received a buyer complaint thing from Ebay and Paypal puts a $179.99 hold on my account. I responded to the complaint and explained everything in detail and informed the buyer that I would be contacting Ebay and UPS this morning.

This morning I woke up a little later than usual 11am and noticed that the buyer had already escalated the complaint with Ebay at 6am. I immediately phoned Ebay and spoke to someone in the Ebay Buyer Protection department and I explained everything to the rep and also that I packed it in front of the UPS agent who helped me and that the buyer would not send me any pictures, and I expressed to the rep that I think what the buyer did was buy a different server locally because I noticed on his account that a few days after he bought my server, he was buying Tape drives for a completely different server, and after speaking with him on the phone he had said that he was in need of a server badly because they did not have one.

So here is what the Ebay rep did during the phone call I had with him. He ruled in the buyers favor and now the buyer can take 7 - 14 days to ship it to me and he can send it anyway he wants, so I will be waiting for 4- 6 weeks at the very least to get back a BROKEN server that has now cost me 280.00$ in shipping and is probably now worth nothing because here is what I believe happenned the buyer found a server locally and then read the buyer protection policy and then damaged the server ON PURPOSE then filed the claim. I know I cannot prove it 100% but I know that is what happenned.

So now I am out over $550.00 and apparently there is nothing I can do about it. I am sooo tired of getting ripped off on Ebay by buyers that LIE and Ebay rules in there favor all the time. I have 2 kids and this is christmas time and this extra money is for gifts for them, I am so UPSET right now with Ebay that I am about ready to quit selling on here completely.

I go out of my way to ENSURE that items are packed EXTRA well so that damage does not happen, and now I get ripped off by some goon that uses the policy to get away with it.

BEWARE SELLERS this can happen to you.

I think Ebay needs to wake up and change some of this NON-SENSE policy loop holes that these scammers use to scam you out of money. Oh and get this that buyer can now leave me NEGATIVE feedback but I cannot do the same to him, I can either leave positive or no feedback!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[mageguy86]

     I've been screwed by Ebay a few times. but unfortunately, where else can we go to sell our things? Ebay knows this which is why they don't care about sellers. I am so sick of selling on Ebay but it's not like they have a competitor out there that we can go and sell our stuff. Ebay is a large company, everyone knows and goes to ebay for things, and because it's a bidding site and not a sell site sellers can sometimes get lucky and win big, so we rely on that. I mean even if we get rid of ebay, and start our own sites, we kinda are forced to use paypal... so really we just get screwed anyway.

     We have been complaining about ebay policies for years, and they don't do anything, I often send back those feedback forms ebay sends and not a single thing gets changed.

[evilangel022012]

@mageguy86.....OK so why cant we start our own site?  I mean I know I cant afford to start and advertise something like this on my own HOWEVER I also know that due to my circumstances I am eligible for ALOT of help from the Government Small Business Loans, People with Disabilites, etc....I jsut need someone that can do it with me!  But to also be committed!  Advertising is VERY expensive but I do have a few friends and there are avenues that we can use to advertise for free so what do you say?  Wanna try and work together and get it done?  THis is the problem EBay needs to know that we the Seller MATTER too!  I started selling on Ebay in February of last year, In that whole time I have a total of 3 negative feedbacks!  (YOu cant please everone) and one is a total lie and just refused to admit that she received the item even though I had delivery confirmation and EBay knew it!  THe last one, Ebay cancelled my Seller account so I wasnt able to respond and or rectify the situation!  So out of 533 feedback my %'2 was something like 97% positive and they still cancelled my account! EBAY SUX!!!!!

[megalocade]

I can sympathize with you my friend, I came away from selling on ebay a few years ago on this very problem, I had a customer a few years ago now that I sold some new floor standing speakers to, he said that they were damaged in transit but wouldn’t post pictures again like you a case was brought against me and he won, so I was £1500 worse off and no speakers returned.

Now I only sell small stuff but I take pictures of serial numbers and mark all my stuff so I know it's mine, I film my self packing up the item and I also make sure serial numbers etc are clearly shown in the video, I also film as proof that the item is working, so far when people have tried it on I present ebay with my pics and videos and they have ruled in my favour, you will always get the idiots mate usually you can suss someone out by the emails they send you, if you can do that then you can take extra precaution.

Ebay is not what it used to be and it’s largely down to to many rules and customers being more greedy and idiotic than they ever were

[goshawk253]

Only an idiot would spend $280.00 on shipping for an item they sold for !79.99 and then charge the buyer $90.00. This guy saw you coming from a mile away.

[smrhchill]

How true this is, I have had a similar experience with a £700 gas fire, the buyer claims it was damaged when it could not have been due to the amount of care I spent wrapping it in bubble wrap.

They only paid £90, damaged the item on assembly and them wanted a refund, first blamed it on postage, then said I sent damaged goods.

I advertised the item as Collection Only or the buyer arrange courier and accept any liability (due to weight and fragility of item) They accepted this....

The Parcel company had a GRN saying goods received in good condition signed by buyers. The buyers did not say anything untill a few days after delivery

Outcome is e-bay froze my account, Buyers wanted to keep the fire with a partial refund (surprise), I did all I could to resolve the matter, got negative feedback and having to pay £12 e-bay seller fees.

I will not be selling any more items on e-bay until there is a fairer system, too easy for buyers to scam sellers.

[rainman3106]

Yes this just happened to me with a MacBook Pro. Little whiney tells me that the computer is scratched and I stopped the sale so he could buy it. So he takes 3 weeks to make payment and then tells me it's scratched! And the scratches (ad said it was used!) we're nearly invisible, and there were like 3, if you could call them that. I refunded his money and its been almost two weeks as he hasn't returned the computer. Lesson learned.

[prizm43]

HI, YES. JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY THAT SELLS ON EBAY.

[smokyindy]

I have been ripped off over ten times by scammers, usually in russia/ukraine/nigeria/australia/china, we sellers fund terrorist organizations and dishones peoples lives. Ebay and other sites and the internet have become a huge income for these people, you can go to other selling sites they are there too, or a dating site for people to meet yep there too.

Im working on a facebook site and web page to start a coalition for ebay and internet seller's. More on that later but first i will explain what you guys need to do to start preventing the losses your taking and start educating others also so we can put a end to this problem.

Ebay and paypal have rules and policies for a reason and update and add polices quite often. You MUST read these policies and become experts in them if you don't want to lose your money and start helping other honest sellers to be more informed and fight for our cause. Since being ripped off those ten+ times i rarely have a case decided against me and have had numerous negative feedbacks removed from my account.

First step to keeping your hard earned cash-familiarize yourself with ebays best practices for sellers and follow them precisely, then do the same for paypal. There's differences in the policies that many fail to realize that you may have followed ebays but didnt do one that paypal requires, then the scammer opens claim on paypal leaving ebay out and gets your money back through paypal because you didn't do one little thing. Next learn to pay close attention to detail. the psychology of a scammer can be identified nearly everytime if you pay close attention. If someone asks you to package a certain way because they had previous problems this is usually a red flag that should pop up in front of you warning to not complete the transaction (not always but 90% that have asked me to package or ship a certain way follwed through with trying to pull off a scam) the policy protects buyers for damaged items, what do they care how you ship it? They are sure to get their money back if its damaged!! I use ridiculous amounts of bubble wrap and take pictures of the actual item being sent and how its packaged.

Now make sure you use ebays shipping label system to purchase labels. Yes you can use other ways and be protected still but i assure you will cut profits and watch your wallet shrink. When dropping off bring your items to a employee of the shipping service being used and make sure they scan each one in.

Be sure to meet requirements for items over $250 and $700. Failure to do so almost always ends up a loss on international sales.

When responding to cases read over the policies before you go sending a response that lacks knowledge and understanding of the policies. Your giving the buyer ammo for the gun they have pointed at you when sending responses out of anger, frustration, or with lack of knowledge! !! Be calm and thorough in responding, show you are informed of policies in place and that you know your rights. Be absolutely sure you include all relevant information. Leaving something out can result in a decision against you, i usually write down facts and wait a day before responding to give myself time to remember anything i may have left out and ensure im not responding while angry or frustrated with these idiots.

Make sure you accurately describe all items and keep pics of them.

Theres so much more i'd have to write a book lol but this is a basic guide to start preventing losses. We must further our education constantly and pass on our learnings and experiences to other sellers. If we all become experts on policies, identifying and preventing scams eventually they will look to other means of acquiring free money. Or maybe even some will legitimately work hard for it like we do.

I will post facebook pages and website's as soon as legal copyrighted names have been formed.

Im also happy to answer any questions anyone may have about policies or how to proceed with a transaction safely/ keeping yourself protected. I myself don't know everything and new scams are implemented with every policy change but together we can all broaden our knowledge and your partners. We are all business partners and none of will survive selling on ebay or anywhere on the internet without everyone else selling along side you. Noone would shop online if there was only one store.

Thanks for reading and sharing this info. Also remember boycotting ebay or any site is not the answer. They dont suck! They provide means of income for many people to keep a roof over their head and food for their families. I know thats the case for me and i have thought about boycotting at times of frustration but have come to realize i would instantly lose the majority of my income and go under without them.

Gaining knowledge and then teaching it to others is the ANSWER.

Your business partner,
Chris

Contact me on ebay by searching for seller SMOKYINDY. Any and all questions or concerns are welcome!

[felixmanuel88]

The same it's happening to me with a subwoofer..

the buyer said he received it broken and he wants his money back.

[3-2b]

This has happened 4 times to me ..the ebay Reps are a complete waste of time ,they read from a script and thats it..Ebay are slipping down a nasty slop,buyers are purchasing ,using and then want a re-fund..and get it..There only concern is profits and the very large sellers,is it worth selling on ebay anymore..?

[khurt666]

Yes twice, buy unlike you they refused to send items back, so Ebay refunded their money anyway.  So I ended up with nothing.

Ebay seem to forget that to run an auction you need two sets of people buyers and sellers, if the buyers are always right and they get their money back no matter if they return item or not, these people will continue to do this, they now have a license.

Buyers like you will soon get fed up with being ripped off, and with no way of letting others know what buyers are dodgy so  will stop dealing with ebay.  

They have forgotten that without sellers there can be no buyers.  If all sellers boycotted Ebay for a month they would all realize this and maybe change their changable policy (change it when it suits them to do so)

[timeless-sports-cards]

You know I have always wondered about that if it is not eBay workers who buy and leave bad feedback.  Long ago a eBay assistant was not nice to me on the phone and was not helpful.  I called back to complain I think a couple of times.  Then I started noticing I would have great DSRs and then every review period the next day out of no where my stars got worse again just as they got better and I would look and there would be nothing that a buyer did to cause this.  I have heard the same thing from employees who worked for eBay before that they could help each other out because they know the system.  I do not know if it is true or not.  What brought me here today was my last negative feedback was from a buyer who wanted a full refund for buyers remorse, I asked her if she read my Terms before she sent it back because I only take returns on items I grossly misrepresent as it is only a 13.00 item I felt it would not be worth her while, then after 10 or so emails threatening me to take her demands her last email if I did not give in to her demands she would leave me negative feedback so she did. 

  I think bad buyers like to mess with sellers who have 100% feedback because they know your afraid to loose the 100%.

I do my best state my terms, take good pictures, jump through eBays hoops lol. I had the 14 return policy under my terms and just removed it now I loose my Top Rated I think and bonus for discounted shipping which I could pass onto my buyers and that made my good buyers happy.  I had the 1 day express shipping removed that. I am closing my store in a month and just going back to the basics.  I wont worry about stars or a little yellow Top Rated thingy anymore.  I get mostly very very good buyers but now and then a few bad ones get in and do this.  I am also starting to list here and there on other sites and may open my own web page  as I have gotten most of my buyers from my google, twitter, facebook and other sites. All I have to do is just put up my new Web Page address on those sites and they will find me. You really can start your own Web page and advertise on these sites they will come visit, takes time but it also took them time to find you here as well.

Do not let bad make you bitter let it make  you better and wiser!  I think there are also more better buyers then the bad so I do not know why ebay has a rating and feedback.  I kind of find the whole thing childish if you think about it, it is not professional.

I have purchased from sellers with real bad feedback I can usually tell their bad feedback is being left by scam artists. I ususaly do not leave negative feedback to a seller if I am not happy with an item as it does not happen often I just do not shop with them again.  We all have different opions on what is good, very good, and so on and millions of people will not all have the same outlook on the item.  There is no way you can tell how the buyer is taking in what your trying to say about an item, and some do not speak or understand each others language.  Just get rid of the feedback it is dumb. Buyers who do not pay on time and get an eBay unpaid notice leave you bad feedback as well or leave good feedback but ruin your stars ...now what is with that, if they get a notice they should not beable to leave feedback at all. It is silly to worry about it, I think good buyers can read through your negative feedback as I can. Thank you for letting me get out my frustrations too. I am sure eBay is or will work on a way to make it better as I am sure they can see this is just not working and they are being overloaded with sellers calling them which must cost a fortune to higher people to take calls from sellers complaining about bad seller ,,,only to tell the seller what they already know ...there is nothing they can do about it lol.

[timeless-sports-cards]

Well they probably put their mail on hold at the post office and new the mail was at the post office so it does not show delivered, then they file a case get their money back then go get their mail and the post office scans it in delivered. It could be someone who works at the post office is buying items and just does not scan it in as delivered and keeps it!

[timeless-sports-cards]

Yes there is such a site I just forget the name of it and it will send you an email if this buyer is trying to buy from you again.

I wish I could remember it, if I do I will post it.

[timeless-sports-cards]

If you get a new IP address on your computers they will not know. Get a new carrier for your internet. They can tell all your computers are coming from the same IP address.  There are ways to get around it ask a good IT person.