EBAY SCAMMER PROTECTION PROGRAM

[clarknumismaticllc]

I just learned today after months of selling valuable items on eBay, that a buyer with no previous bad history, and a decent amount of positive feedback, can wake up one day and order an expensive item, and claim is parcel containing the wrong item.

After returning the supposedly wrongly received item, eBay forces the seller to issue a refund.

The fact that eBay put either the buyer or the seller at liability high value transactions is bad business, and should be explicitly explained before listing each valuable item. And is forcing me to conclude all business on ebay.

Use your selling platform, use your delivery method, but hold us the seller liable for loss under your trading platform?

Will not sell another item on ebay unless this policy is improved.

[mistwomandancing]

Bye.

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See, the thing is.. while the vast, vast majority of humans are honest and trustworthy, a very, very small number of them aren't.  They are the ones who grab a purse and run, who scam old folks out of money with shoddy home repairs, who quietly break into your car during the dark wee hours of the night and who even break into your home and kill you while you sleep.  There simply are some bad fellow humans.

And if you are in business, transacting a retail-type business with them, there may well be the occasional  shoplifter who slips back out the door with something they haven't paid for, the low-class buyer who brings in an item that they are claiming was broken when they opened the box after they bought it from your store.  They want to return the clearly-worn boots, or the lovely silver serving bowl, which is noticibly scratched now...

REAL businesses know there will be a certain small amount of this and their merchandise is priced accordingly.  Every transaction is a few cents more expensive to -overall- cover the financial losses a business suffers from the scammers, the scum, the thieves.  I'm sorry.  Yes, it happens.

But rarely.  I've sold on here from very close to the beginning.  There have only been a couple of buyers I've dealt with who I ????? sort of disbelieved. 

If you want to close up and stop selling on eBay, that is certainly your choice, and I will wish you well with whatever you do next.  Or wherever you go.  But since the incidence of buyers trying to scam sellers here is so exceedingly low in proportion to the financially profitable sales, I certainly will be remaining here.  And I expect the fellow sellers here who deal in the items that you offer will likely remain sellers here, happily taking up the sales from the buyers you are giving up.

[best-now]

Since you are relatively new to ebay, you may not know that sellers are only permitted to give buyers a positive feedback. No seller can ever leave a neutral or negative, so all you will ever see is a positive for all buyers.

eBay had transitioned their return policy into what the big box stores have. Unconditional refund to the buyer upon return of the original purchased item, regardless of the reason.

All the buyer has to claim is that it's not as described without having to prove it and the seller has to refund, regardless. The phrase "Not As Described" is so loose in interpretation that you can miss describing a microscopic scratch on the item, and that would be enough to get a refund.

I learned to live with it, and just like the big box stores, it's now just the cost of doing business.

So don't "Cut off your nose to spite your face". eBay is still the largest site to sell your wares, with very few even come close to matching their traffic.

[expaik]

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@best-now wrote:

So don't "Cut off your nose to spite your face".

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Again.  Do people actually find this saying witty?

The nose cutter is assumed to be doing so with the intention of spiting someone else.  Not his own face.  So the expression makes no sense and bugs me.

OP, don't cut off your nose to beam it at Ebay's face.

[clarknumismaticllc]

As theft and loss are an itemized deduction on federal taxes, ebay should shoulder the burden of the refund to provide their buyer guarantee.

Also let me clarify this is for items exceeding 1000$ only

[tippyalway]

sorry for your loss.

Gold is high risk high scam items,unfortunately to sell on EBAY, we cannot ask for cash or wiretransfer.

[redbud_farm]

Right , eBay is going to pay for seller's mistakes with their own funds, not ever going to happen.

Sellers agree to the guaranty by using the site, the risk is theirs not eBay's

[tippyalway · Accepted solution]

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@clarknumismaticllc wrote:
As theft and loss are an itemized deduction on federal taxes, ebay should shoulder the burden of the refund to provide their buyer guarantee.

Also let me clarify this is for items exceeding 1000$ only

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Ebay is a corporation, and it does not hold inventory ,it is just a venue.

it cannot claim theft or loss as it is not their gold coin.

You can claim tax deduction on your Schedule C.

I wonder if Ebay will ever open EBAY Community center across the country in major cities and towns where a seller if he wishes to sell for local pick up ,can meet the buyer at such center and take cash for payment, buyer gets to inspect his coin on premise. 

A community center manned by Ebay staff and volunteers,it could be in strip mall and should not cost much,

[mistwomandancing]

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kidmag.clarknumismatic wrote:..........let me clarify this is for items exceeding 1000$ only

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Regardless of whether the venue an individual seller chooses is eBay or one of the many others out there, each one of us has to decide at what $$ point they simply don't want to chance dealing with a complete stranger, somewhere out there in the big world, through the mails, in transactions that can take days to complete.

Face-to-face transactions in your store can at least have cameras catching the action, the transaction, the faces and exchanges taking place.  When you choose to do business online with unknown people at greater than arm's length, there is always, always that slight risk.

The vast majority of eBay 'deals' go just fine, and end up very satisfactorily for both buyer and seller.  In looking at the tiny mini-fraction that don't, only you can decide how much you are willing to risk.

[clarknumismaticllc]

What does the yeild of this claim on Schedule C look like? Is it deducted dollar for dollar on the amount payable for the forms taxes?

[gramophone-georg]

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@mistwomandancing wrote:

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kidmag.clarknumismatic wrote:..........let me clarify this is for items exceeding 1000$ only

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Regardless of whether the venue an individual seller chooses is eBay or one of the many others out there, each one of us has to decide at what $$ point they simply don't want to chance dealing with a complete stranger, somewhere out there in the big world, through the mails, in transactions that can take days to complete.

Face-to-face transactions in your store can at least have cameras catching the action, the transaction, the faces and exchanges taking place.  When you choose to do business online with unknown people at greater than arm's length, there is always, always that slight risk.

The vast majority of eBay 'deals' go just fine, and end up very satisfactorily for both buyer and seller.  In looking at the tiny mini-fraction that don't, only you can decide how much you are willing to risk.

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Malarkey. I'll deal with any stranger, any where, any day. I just won't allow eBay or PayPal to aid and abet thievery, because that is exactly what they do.

[gramophone-georg]

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@clarknumismaticllc wrote:
What does the yeild of this claim on Schedule C look like? Is it deducted dollar for dollar on the amount payable for the forms taxes?

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There's a section on Schedule C that's titled 'refunds and allowances'. You'll enter the full amount that eBay/ PayPal encouraged your scammer to shaft you for there.

[mistwomandancing]

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gramophone-georg wrote:..........I'll deal with any stranger, any where, any day. I just won't allow eBay or PayPal to aid and abet thievery, because that is exactly what they do.

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 That a YAY then. 

Those are the same folks I deal with.  Never had a problem.  Some folks seem to run into difficulties.  Regardless of the reasons why, I never have.

[tippyalway]

Like Gramaphone said-

On schedule C.

When you get your Paypal 1099 form, it show gross intake for the year and breakdown by month.

It does not take out the allwance for losses,refund,sales tax which you collect for the states which is not yours to keep,

so on the next line below gross sales, you book all these above as allowance etc and come up with net sales.

 that takes care of the sales of the coin you never make.

Now you have to account for the loss of the coin,which should be on the second page of schedule C, you need to speak to your accountant how you should account for the loss.

[gramophone-georg]

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@tippyalway wrote:

Like Gramaphone said-

On schedule C.

When you get your Paypal 1099 form, it show gross intake for the year and breakdown by month.

It does not take out the allwance for losses,refund,sales tax which you collect for the states which is not yours to keep,

so on the next line below gross sales, you book all these above as allowance etc and come up with net sales.

 that takes care of the sales of the coin you never make.

Now you have to account for the loss of the coin,which should be on the second page of schedule C, you need to speak to your accountant how you should account for the loss.

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It depends how you treat your inventory.

I do mine as a "cash basis". The way this would work for me is that what the coin cost me is part of my cost of goods sold. I then list all the profit I lost under returns and allowances.

It's pretty straightforward- basic bookkeeping. I've never had an accountant, and I have been audited several times without getting hurt. It's all simply about documentation.