Got fleeced done with eBay

[bigdrunk92037]

I recently sold an expensive espresso grinder on eBay.  Worked perfect, no issues once so ever.  The buyer had the most bogus reason ever for triggering a return request.   Of course the buyer did not respond to any of my requests for more details etc.   Eventually eBay issued a return label, fraudster, I mean buyer ships my $600 grinder back.  When I get it back it is DOA.  Upon further investigation it was clear the buyer harvested parts from the grinder so it will never work again.  

- I report to eBay and get told there is nothing they will do

- ebay refunds the buyer

 - I just got my eBay invoice for the month and there is a $60 charge for commission on the item.   I call again and eBay refuses to back it out?

so not only is my $600 grinder a paper weight I lost $100 on shipping AND eBay is trying to charge me $60 commission?

i don’t know why anybody would EVER sell an expensive item EVER on eBay as sellers obviously don’t have ANY protection.   I am done, severed my paypal account and will close my eBay account as well.   eBay sucks,  their greed and garbage policies makes me wonder why anybody would use it to sell anything other than cheap Chinese goods.  

I am done and am now looking at how to deal with the buyer.  

[bigdrunk92037]

Oddly enough in this case the buyer had really good feedback scores.   But people who do this can’t have bad feedback given per other lame eBay rules.  If they pay they automatically get positive.  

[myoasisjewels]

....not to throw salt into an open wound, but you also loose your paypal fee on top of all.

so sorry this happened. sometimes i really think, the christmas time brings out the worst in some people....

please do report this person

https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

[dhbookds]

If they pay they automatically get positive.

Not true..........sellers cannot leave negatives........THAT is true, but there is no "automatic" positive by ebay unless sellers set up their feedback to automatically leave feedback...........

[1tuna]

if you got back something other than what you sold it is simple to get satisfaction with a police report,I would appeal the decison,you are then given the secret email to send the police report to,you will get reimbursed your 600 if you do not want to let it slide

as far as not selling expensive stuff that is what scaredy cats have to say

if you are afraid to ship a $1000 item to Hong Kong then you are better off not selling expensive items.I love shipping expensive watches internationally.I like to gamble and it pays off well,

not to put down and entire group of sellers but those who choose to skip using the GSP are handsomely rewarded for doing so by the GSP users themselves ,if you are using GSP its like a big bold sign that says stay away,not a serious shipper here.

no risk no reward

[mam98031]

---

@carbonart0 wrote:

That's a great reputation Ebay has developed for their company now...  It's becoming common knowledge not to list anything expensive for sale on Ebay because of the high probability of losing not only the item but any money you might make from the sale too.  

Why even bother to list inexpensive items since you'll probably get shafted here too?

---

Most have known that for a long time.  It isn't new information at all.  It is just that some are experiencing the reasons why it isn't a good idea for the first time or have had a repeat problem.  Then they come here to share there stories.  You are correct, it is very sad, but it is very true.

[mam98031]

---

@bigdrunk92037 wrote:
Thanks for the input folks, kind of like eBay is trying to be like Amazon Prime at the sellers expense.

---

No, one has nothing to do with the other.  Prime is very different and has many benefits.  Ebay has nothing even close to what Prime is.

[mam98031]

---

@bigdrunk92037 wrote:

Oddly enough in this case the buyer had really good feedback scores.   But people who do this can’t have bad feedback given per other lame eBay rules.  If they pay they automatically get positive.  

---

Hawaii wasn't talking about the buyer's FB score.  That there is no options, it is always 100%,  So the score will always look really good.  What can be very telling is the FB Left For Others.  That, many times will offer some clues as to a buyer's habits.  Negatives, false positives, just amount a couple things.  It can be a good to review this information.  It may just tell you they are a repeat offender.

[flipper2flipper]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

Let your buyer know that you will be filing a report with the USPS postmaster.  It is a Federal Crime to use USPS in the commission of a crime, in this case fraud.  Since their payment was via an electronic transfer that constitutes wire fraud which is another Federal Crime.  And you will be filing a local police report for theft.

https://www.fraud.org/

https://www.uspis.gov/

https://www.justice.gov/

https://www.usacops.com/

---

In my opinion, filing a police report is a waste of time .... it's a 'he said, she said" situation ..... and there is no way for the seller to prove to the police that the buyer took out the parts that they needed.

Filing a report with any of the other named agencies is going to be the equivalent of filing a report with Santa Claus @ The North Pole.

I feel for the seller, but unfortunately, that is the reality of selling on Ebay ever since SNAD was implemented.

This could not have happened during "The Good Old Days" when the buyer paid by check or money order, and there were no "back-sies."

[carbonart0]

@dhbookds  wrote:

" this is a general statement.........

How can Ebay tell whether you are lying or the buyer is lying? "

It's the general truth of the matter.  Ebay knows which buyers have been conducting scams on sellers.  But because the sellers don't know who these buyers are, they are deliberately being left vulnerable by Ebay - all in order to try and increase transactions and thus final value fee's....as well as more money to withhold from sellers via mismanaged payments.

[carbonart0]

@flipper2flipper 

Yes.  A police report is ridiculous.  @mam98031  like to fill topics like this one with a lot of fluff - in an effort to cloud the misdeeds committed by Ebay.

I had my car broken into a few times, and the police would not even come out and investigate it.  What makes anybody believe they are going to show up and investigate what they buyer has done here?  It's an absurd waste of memory within Ebay's server (mam's comments).

[fab_finds4u]

There's no protection for sellers anywhere.  

If you accept credit cards or PayPal  you're at risk of losing your money.

[carbonart0]

Yes.  And the risk of losing your money by using cc'ds and pay pal only became a problem after Ebay came out with mismanaged payments.  The idea is to make mismanaged payments look "good" by comparison.  It's not going to work.

[mam98031]

---

@fab_finds4u wrote:

There's no protection for sellers anywhere.  

If you accept credit cards or PayPal  you're at risk of losing your money.

---

While Ebay offers next to zero seller protections on INADs, there is no doubt about that, TRS w/ 30 day + return policies and those with Free Returns do have a few, still not what they need to be and still not for all sellers. 

But with that said, on INRs Ebay offers very good protections for sellers when tracking shows received / delivered for all sellers.

[1tuna]

a police report is not a lot of fluff,there will be no investigation,that is a given,it is not up to you to try to convince the cop of anything,it is up to the police man to take the report and give you a copy in a week.you are sending a copy of a police report to ebay,its not a copy of an investigation or a fact finding mission but merely a recitation of what you have just told the officer,you take the empty package or parts rifled merchandise with you when making a report,a police officer can report an empty package if it empty.they can see if parts are missing maybe,it does not even matter,ebay just wants you to take it seriously.if you send this info to the ebay appeal email its a slam dunk for getting reimbursed

[albany_sellers]

---

@bigdrunk92037 wrote:

I recently sold an expensive espresso grinder on eBay.  Worked perfect, no issues once so ever.  The buyer had the most bogus reason ever for triggering a return request.   Of course the buyer did not respond to any of my requests for more details etc.   Eventually eBay issued a return label, fraudster, I mean buyer ships my $600 grinder back.  When I get it back it is DOA.  Upon further investigation it was clear the buyer harvested parts from the grinder so it will never work again.  

- I report to eBay and get told there is nothing they will do

- ebay refunds the buyer

 - I just got my eBay invoice for the month and there is a $60 charge for commission on the item.   I call again and eBay refuses to back it out?

so not only is my $600 grinder a paper weight I lost $100 on shipping AND eBay is trying to charge me $60 commission?

i don’t know why anybody would EVER sell an expensive item EVER on eBay as sellers obviously don’t have ANY protection.   I am done, severed my paypal account and will close my eBay account as well.   eBay sucks,  their greed and garbage policies makes me wonder why anybody would use it to sell anything other than cheap Chinese goods.  

I am done and am now looking at how to deal with the buyer.  

---

but....but.....you are protected because eBay will refund up to $6 of the return shipping, maybe. Don't you know about the new "expanded" seller protection that is only offered to certain sellers? If you are fortunate enough to get something back broken but still kind of working, you only have to take a $300 loss on a $600 item, and only have to cover $94 of the $100 shipping on returns that eBay agrees are fraudulent. 

This could have been avoided if eBay was with the buyer in person when they got the machine, and then watched them 24/7 up until they returned the item. You totally would have been protected then. 

For real though, this is just eBay passing the buck to the sellers because they don't feel like they should be responsible for the actions of the terrible kinds of buyers they create by making fraud and theft so easy on their platform.  If eBay is lucky, this buyer will do the same thing to 50 more sellers and put a nice chunk of change from seller fees in their pockets.

If you ever wonder why something like this happens, just ask yourself who is profiting from it when it happens. You will have your answer then.