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

esell-resell
Thrill-Seeker

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?

Message 1 of 613
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612 REPLIES 612

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

eBay customer service is useless. The 2 idiots I talked to were in Asia! I had a buyer demand to return pre-owned basketball shorts because she said they had a stain. I uploaded pictures of what was actually shipped and no stains. Then the buyer changed the story to a rip. She uploads a picture which is clearly not what I sent her. I upload the actual picture so she and eBay has it.

 

I refuse the refund. She opens a case so I call eBay & get two people who can barely speak English. They both kept saying that the buyer's pictures had stains & my pictures don't matter.

 

What good is taking 100% accurate pictures for the listings, when the buyer can just photoshop some and then send them to eBay. The crook gets to keep the shorts and eBay makes me refund.

 

All a buyer has to do to get free stuff on eBay is say the item is not as described and then photoshop some pictures. I only said item was used & pre-owned so I have no idea how eBay considers that as not as described.

 

Not being able to leave negative feedback for this dishonest buyer is just plain stupid. Basically now days every single buyer has 100% positive feedback. Feedback means nothing.

 

Eventually eBay will go the way of myspace, ubid, etc. Fees to high, dishonest buyers and the worst customer service I have ever dealt with!

Message 376 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

I agree 100%. Buyers are more important than sellers.

 

I just sold an Apple iMac 27" that was in 100% perfect working order.

 

Buyer is abusive and accuses me of lying and cheating him even before he receives his item because USPS didn't update the tracking number.

 

Buyer receives item and is very happy with it and leaves postive feedback. Buyer writes a week later saying the unit does not turn on.

 

Buyer claims he took it to the Apple Store and the unit was defective and that it needs a new motherboard and graphics card. He wants a return.

 

I ask buyer for evidence that he indeed took it to the Apple Store. He does not respond.

 

eBay automatically gives him a return label and when I receive his shipment back to me, they will refund his money back.

 

Buyer has been on eBay for 6 months (with a feedback rating of 16) and has in the past claimed damage on another, similar transaction.

 

I've been on eBay  since 1999 (with a feedback rating of 515). After 16 years, I am no longer going to sell on eBay. 

 

 

Message 377 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

 CAVEAT VENDITOR!!   I too got screwed by a buyer who decided he did not like his vintage stetson hat.  I told him my ads say no refunds and you should resell the hat if you dont like it. He sent pics to ebay with dirt or pepper thrown on the hat. I was forced to refund and had to pay $40 in postage for this scammer to send the hat back to me. I could n ot find one spec of black dirt or whatever on hat. I currently have about 100 vintage stetsons and other collectibles but have ceased operations on ebay and am looking for a new venue to sell my items on. It used to be CAVEAT EMPTOR, BUYER BEWARE, now , and what ebay should change there name to is CAVEAT VENDITOR, SELLER BEWARE

Message 378 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

WHERE CAN i GET A LIST OF ALL SCAMMER RETURNERS, SO i CAN PUT THEM ON THE ...DO NOT ALLOW TO PURCHASE OR BID... you can put people on a list of not allowed to purchase, but then I guess they will just create a new ID

Message 379 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

Yes--as long as eBay is making money they could care less about all the small business owners tyring to eek out a small profit on their website.  Their refund policy is a joke--completely skewed 100% in favor of the Buyer and their Feedback policy is an even bigger joke--who ever heard of Feedback that can only be positive--and furthermore who gives such a ridiculous system any creedende. But, they continue to make huge profits.  I can only hope that Karma does its thing and what goes around comes around---how I would love to see them forced to stop their unfair policies

Message 380 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

A federal judge in California has ruled that eBay must face a class action suit alleging that its policies are unfair to sellers and make it easy for dishonest buyers to defraud them.

Courthouse News Service reports that eBay seller and lead plaintiff Maggie Campbell originally filed suit in 2012, complaining that eBay and PayPal (the payment-processing company owned by eBay and required for all eBay transactions) always side with buyers over sellers in any dispute, allowing buyers to keep whatever items they bought and receive a full refund of the purchase price.

Furthermore, Campbell's suit claims, in such instances eBay also keeps the listing and selling fees collected from the sellers.

Message 381 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

KARMA IS WORKING..MY SALES HAVE DROPPED BY OVER 75%THIS MONTH ALONE ON E-BAY.I LOOK AT SEVERAL CATERGORIES ON A DAILY BASIS AND I SEE LESS AND LESS PEOPLE MAKING BIDS AND PURCHASES.THAT IS ONE REASON THEY ARE TAKING AWAY SELLER,S TOP RATED STATUS SO THEY CAN KEEP THAT %20 FEE THEY GIVE US BACK MONTHLY SO THEIR PORFOLIO LOOKS LIKE IT IS STILL ON THE UP TREND FINANCIALY.IF ANYONE OUT THERE EVER DOES DECIDE TO START A BUSINESS SIMILAR TO E-BAYS AND WORKS EVENLY WITH BOTH THE BUYER AND SELLER I WOULD DROP MY ACCOUNT IN A HEART BEAT WITH E-BAY.OR,WE CAN ALL HIRE AN ATTORNEY TO START ONE FOR US?

Message 382 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

I only sell top noch items. My prob is eBay wants to charge me each month for what has not been paid for. the forien people that i call for help don't even know to speak english


@kreativestiles wrote:

Yes--as long as eBay is making money they could care less about all the small business owners tyring to eek out a small profit on their website.  Their refund policy is a joke--completely skewed 100% in favor of the Buyer and their Feedback policy is an even bigger joke--who ever heard of Feedback that can only be positive--and furthermore who gives such a ridiculous system any creedende. But, they continue to make huge profits.  I can only hope that Karma does its thing and what goes around comes around---how I would love to see them forced to stop their unfair policies



. How can we stop this? Standaard oil went throught the same thing. Diffence is the government stepped in. not sure but I think the same thing is going to aply with my lawsuit.

EBAY thinks they are to big to pay attention to the small guy. what is going to happen is they pay this small guy to shut up.

Message 383 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

I agree!! was screwed for GBP210! plus sales fees whcih i had to apply to get back as there WAS no sale. I Was selling fridge and made clear that if you want to view pls arrange with me as have access to the place 24h/7 - Ahhh and collection was to be made bfore certain date!!! as lock up was expiring and i was going holidays.So the idiot buyer decided to buy & pay but forgot to make sure to arrange with me to actually come and open the lock up for him. texted me 9pm night before collection that he is coming 10:30 to which i said NO! as i had long awaited for hospital specialist apppointment. He said he cannot make it another time and screw you. So he screwed me! Not only he did not pick up his fridge where I was now paying extra for extended lock up time to allow him to collect but my lock up cost me additional 180!!!! Needless to say he didnt take opportunity to collect his item, despite the fact i left key and code to neighbour who kindly agreed to open it for pick up for me, but he requested refund through PayPal and he got money back instantly. So, here I was abroad, on holidays getting threathing phone calls from PayPal to pay there and then or else while paying lock up fees to keep 1 (i repeat ONE) item in it!!!!!! After this I am not selling on ebay no more. Instead I went on Gumtree and cleared the rest of my house sale items with success! Buy Buy Ebay on my sales! No fees for you no hassle for me.
Message 384 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

This is why people are turning to other avenues to sell their items. Like Craigslist and Pawn Shops, yes I know sounds crazy meeting buyers inside a McDonalds or visiting a hock shop to sell your old laptop but look at it this way you can accept or reject offers, you get your cash right away and they don't take 60-65 dollars out of a transaction. Ebays selling point is to say we give you access to more buyers, but this must be balanced by protecting your product, fair costs and reasonable margins. All of these have dropped in recent years on Ebay.

Message 385 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

I shipped a factory sealed in hard plastic mouse and what was returned to me was a completely different mouse (out of package) with serial numbers scratched off. As soon as tracking showed a box delivered on my doorstep they issued the buyer full refund. I tried to appeal but no setting allowed me to send photo's or explain the situation. I did this twice as the first requested did not go through. Then I spent today on the phone with ebay after getting this message, 

<"..Thank you for contacting eBay Customer in regards.. my name is Meryl and I am a specialist for eBay's Resolution Center.  I understand that you may have taken a complete loss on this transaction. We know how disappointing this can be for any seller in any line of business, and for this we truly apologize. Let’s work through this together.

Your appeal cannot be granted as eBay does not cover faulty returns.

Please be reminded that buyers who shop online expect a seamless experience and we work closely with the eBay community to make the returns process as easy as possible. As part of this, once tracking shows that an item has been returned to the seller, we refund the buyer immediately.

I understand how frustrating it is that, in this case, the item's condition changed but, unfortunately, we can’t reverse a refund without definitive proof that the buyer caused the issue.

I advise you to look at your options outside of eBay at this time.">

I explained I did not receive my item back but it still did not matter!

So  if you sell an item on ebay and the Buyer returns you a box, doesn;t matter what is in the box, could be a rock for all they care, they get full refund.  And to make matters worse they make you pay the shipping on the return!

 And there is NO APPEAL.  eBay's answer to me was to report it to the police.  Well the police don't care about $50 and this fraudulent buyer lives in another State.  So have to file a report with the FBI, ... 

PayPal does not offer an appeal either.  

Selling on eBay for little ole me just got very expensive and risky. 

Message 386 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

No negative feedback button, the only way to leave negative comments on a buyer  is to leave a positive star, so people think wow look at this guys positive stars he must be honest.  As the message spreads selling is unsafe on ebay and there are more and more people not selling on ebay, ebay's business and profits will  suffer most.

Message 387 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

I have had issues with dishonest buyers as well. What I did to help me was 1.PUT IN YOUR LISTING THAT BC OF BUYERS ABUSING THE RETURN SYSTEM NO REQUEST FOR NOT AS DESCRIBED OR AUTHENTIC WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
2. USE ACTUAL PICS OF UR ITEMS. IF YOU HAVE SEVERAL OF THE SAME THING FOR SALE TAKE GROUP PHOTOS OF UR ENTIRE STOCK!
3. TELL BUYERS TO ASK FOR PHOTOS OF THE EXACT ITEM U R GOING TO SHIP TO THEM FOR APPROVAL BEFORE BUYING OR BEFORE YOU SHIP IT MAKE THEM SEND YOU AN EMAIL STATING THEY APPROVE THE ITEM TO BE SHIPPED.
4. IF ITS A HIGH DOLLAR ITEM HAVE A 3RD PARTY VERIFY THE CONTENTS OF THE PACAKGE AT UR SHIPPING LOCATION. MAKE 2 copies have them sign both and place 1 in the package and the other u keep for your records!
5. STATE IN UR LISTING THAT ALL RETURNED items NEED TO BE VERIFIED JUST LIKE STATED IN #4 AND THE BOX NEEDS TO BE SEALED RIGHT THEN AND SHIPPED IMMEDIATELY.
6. ADD IN THAT ONCE THE RETURN ARRIVES TO YOU THAT U WILL BRING THE UNOPENED PACKAGE TO THE POST OFFICE TO OPEN IN FRONT OF THEM AND THEY WILL VERIFY WHAT WAS DELIVERED AND ITS CONDITION! ( this works!!! I have used it and won every single time!)
7. IN UR LISTING STATE THAT ANY DISCREPANCIES IN THE ITEM OR CONDITION MANDATES NO REFUND AND REPORTING TO EBAY!!
8. ONCE AN ITEM SELLS CONTACT THE BUYER AND ASK THEM TO SEND A RESPONSE BACK TO YOU LETTING YOU KNOW THEY HAVE READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE LISTING AND THE VERIFICATION PROCESS AND THAT THEY ACCEPT THIS POLICY. You need to do this b4 you ship out the item. If they do not respond resend the message. If they still do not respond write another 1 stating if you do not get the message from them accepting ur terms then a refund will be sent by a specific date and the item will not be sent.

1st of all this policy will deter scammers from even bothering if they know u will go through all this to prove ur case against fraud. Make sure to be professional and state this is the only way u r able to safely sell and this is to benefit both buyer AND seller.
Also make sure to insure ur packages and also state in the listing any damage must be reported with in 24hrs of delivery and all items are sold as is with NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED!!
That damage caused from misuse or from wearing etc is not covered. Items need to be returned in the same condition as it was received.
As of last month I was told with pictures eBay cannot determine when damage occurred so if u open it and have a postal worker sign a statement saying they saw u open it and it was damaged then it's not just ur word against the buyers. U have a 3rd party to verify ur claims. Even if they refund the buyer and u call them and complain in my personal experience I have always gotten eBay to foot the bill and send that money back to me. It wasn't taken back from the buyer but at least I got the $ back. It still makes me angry just bc it's the point of it all but eBay is in a hard place as well. I just had an international buyer claim non authentic jewelry. She said she was sending back all 10 items. No eBay involved. She pd return shipping. When it arrived I brought it to the PO. opened it and she sent back 7 /10 and kept the 3 most expensive items in the order. PO worker signed my preprinted statement where I wrote in the 3 items missing and I had 2 people sign the paper. I contacted buyer she was mad said I was scamming her and threatened to open a case. Then she said she would send back 1/3 items she kept. So she admitted she kept those 3 pieces. This helped in the case. The 1 item she tried saying it wasn't new. Well I'm sure it wasn't seeing as how she has now had it in her possession for 30 days!! 2 days later a claim in PayPal was opened by her. I uploaded 3 different emails from her admitting she kept 3/10 items as well as prices of said items and the signed statement.
AND I CALLED PAYPAL AND EXPLAINED SHE WAS TRYING TO GET A REFUND FOR ITEMS THAT WERE NOT RETURNED!!!! I didn't wait for them to not really read everything and make a messed up decision. They required her to upload tracking within 10 days. Well today is day 10. No tracking. I called PayPal again and had them look into it. She closed the claim bc no tracking was sent to them and released the funds back to my acct. HAD I NOT HAD PROOF 3/10 items WERE NOT INCLUDED THEN ITS JUST HER WORD AGAINST MINE and that holds no water. They have no way of knowing who is actually LYING! SELLERS CAN BE SCAMMERS TOO! I sell lots Of every expensive items. I cannot just pray and wait. U need to b proactive. Don't wait for PayPal/EBay to decide. Call them. Explain the situation. U can tell a lot more from a phone convo than an email!! Be professional and courteous to ur buyer at ALL TIMES!! Even if that voice in the back of ur head tells u somethings up. If u don't get the result u want call back and talk to someone else. I've had a return be refunded even when tracking showed it was nvr even picked up at the post office. BOGUS TRACKING!!! And eBay said u didn't refund ur buyer as promised so we sent it n u need to pay us back. Well I called and told them OF COURSE I DIDNT REFUND HER BC I NVR GOT IT!! SHE GAVE ME 2 different tracking numbers and if u track it u will see there is 0 scans!! And eBay refunded me right then and there. BE DILIGENT!!
Message 388 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

I sold an electronic giftcard on ebay.  The guy paid promptly and I thus emailed him the details.  Exactly 1 month after I sent him the information.  He requests a refund from ebay.  They give it to him.  I called to see if he used the giftcard.  Yes he did.  So I lost everything.  This is ridiculous.  How is this legal?  Anyone have any suggestions on what i can do?  Customer service is horrible.

Message 389 of 613
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Re: Ripped off by yet another buyer! Ebay's Buyer Wins no matter what policy.

MOST LIKELY ITEM WAS STOLEN.IF TRACKING SHOWS DELIVERED THAT'S IT.I ONCE HEARD A STORY THAT A WOMAN HAD A VAN , FOLLOW UPS TRUCK AND IF PACKAGE WAS LEFT OUT SIDE WOULD STEAL IT AND DRIVE OFF
Message 390 of 613
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