New Seller Needs Help
The buyer was delivered my shipment today. She says it contained pillows instead of the school teaching supplies I sent. No way- I have a USPS receipt for 30lbs with tracking. She wants a refund. I need the 100% eBay guarantee because I did everything right. Either she is scamming me or the box was opened and replaced with pillows. I’ve been on eBay since 2007 with 100% feedback. I was shocked to have this happen. Does she need to file a claim to get help? I’ve looked on eBay’s website but can’t find any answers. Please advise me.
26 comments
gurlcat
·11 months agoMy goodness you must have lost money already, as there is no way the original shipping label was under $15 to ship a 30-pound box to from Florida to California!!
And now that box probably weighs only a pound or two at most (of pillow weight) .... but you are still paying the price of a 30 pound box for the return label, just to get these pillows. Jeez I hope they're nice new ones still in the plastic wrap at least.
heyhaney_1
OP11 months agoUpdate: The buyer must be telling the truth. She took the box with my shipping label attached and showed it to the PO in her town. They put a reply in writing saying they were sorry, that sometimes packages were opened, lost, and had theft. She requested a return and refund. I paid, of course. Lesson learned, I will pay insurance with tracking going forward, so I won’t be at a loss. Makes me so sad that someone would take out teaching/school materials that will probably get tossed. Brand new resources-I hate this so much-I hate waste. (It was shipped Media Mail and they couldn’t take my claim.)
~ I can’t thank everyone enough for their help and advice! ~ ; D
Note: So far, no feedback has been received. Hopefully, if so, it won’t be negative.
christworks
·11 months agoCan you post the "reply" they supposedly gave her? Is it on USPS letterhead?
gurlcat
·11 months agoYou never answered @orangehound 's question (message #8) about if you also happened to sell any pillows in the same timeframe, and could have accidentally put the shipping label on the wrong box.
That is the ONLY way the buyer could be telling the truth. The idea of some postal worker opening a box, seeing a bunch of used school workbooks and flash cards and deciding it would be worth losing their job and going to prison for a federal crime .... to somehow steal the big conspicuous stash of school supplies and put pillows (from another illegally opened box, apparently) into this box .... is AB-SURD.
Not sure what you mean when you say her local post office "They put a reply in writing" -put it where? And how do you know the buyer didn't write it herself?
She is a scammer, period. If you'd rather not believe that, fine. There would be no way to refuse an Item Not As Described return anyway, so it's really a moot point. But if you had free returns on the listing you could withhold 50% of the refund for not receiving back what you sent.
reallynicestamps
·11 months ago"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
If they don't you keep the money.
If they do you get the product.
"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
"I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and sent the items back."
heyhaney_1
OP11 months agoThis was never about the money, but I wanted these excellent materials to be used.
I’ll be in the hole after refunding a 30 lb box. This is so discouraging! Buyer paid- why would she do this? She will have my materials and my money if it was her. If not, someone did this on the way from FL to California.
caldreamer
·11 months agoThere is no such thing as 100% EBAY guarantee to protect Sellers. EBAY has 30-Day Money Back Guarantee which protects the buyer. If customer returns item as "not as described" EBAY will force you to refund (purchase price + shipping BOTH ways).
EBAY always rules in favor of the customer (they don't care about the Sellers).
Sorry that this happened to you (I cannot believe someone would stoop so low and to scam a teacher out of school supplies).
heyhaney_1
OP11 months agoI know. This was never about the money, but I wanted these excellent materials to be used.
I’ll be in the hole after refunding a 30 lb box. This is so discouraging! Buyer paid- why would she do this? She will have my materials and my money if it was her. If not, someone did this on the way from FL to California.
albertabrightalberta
·11 months agoEvery time the buyer sends you a message, respond with "I'm sorry you aren't pleased. Open a return request and send the items back."
Do nothing until a claim/return request is opened.
albertabrightalberta
·11 months agoIn your seller hub, you can see which ID bought the item from you.
If that's the buyer who is claiming to have received pillows, respond with "please return for a refund."
If the ID claiming to have received pillows is not the ID as shown on the order, don't even respond. (Or don't respond further.)
ETA: BTW, the IDs are similar enough that I do think they're the same person. But you need only to reply to the actual buyer ID.
gurlcat
·11 months agoI agree it's probably the same person, but I don't understand how she could access the messages of one account while logged into the other. I've never seen anything like that before!
albertabrightalberta
·11 months ago@gurlcat
I don't think that the "pink L" member who sent the message about the pillows sent it through the order.
I think she went to the completed/sold listing and clicked on "contact seller." Anyone can do that; they don't have to be the buyer.
@heyhaney_1
Please check your messages and verify whether the "pink L" person actually contacted you through the order or just sent a message.
gurlcat
·11 months agoWell that makes sense, but it still doesn't explain why both accounts would be in the same message thread. Maybe eBay software 'knows' they're the same person somehow, that's the only thing I can think of.
ryry-jj
·11 months agoignore the pink account and stop communicating with it
heyhaney_1
OP11 months ago I don’t know if this means anything, but there are two different accounts for this person. I think I saw a note from eBay telling me that this wasn’t the person I sold to, but I can’t find it again. I told the green L person I hoped she was pleased with her purchase. The pink L person is the one giving me grief. I told her to ask for a return.
Thank you all for the advice!
christworks
·11 months agoShe is probably scamming you. If you look at the feedback she has left others, there are likely red flags...even among positive feedback. Unfortunately, at this stage it is irrelevant. Letting her know she can return her order for a full refund is the best way to handle it. Don't accuse them of scamming. Don't offer details. If she is scamming, she may push you for even a partial refund. Don't fall for that either. She needs to return the order for a full refund, or she can keep what she got and you'll keep her money. My guess is that after a few times of trying to get you to refund her, she will move on and you won't hear from her again. The scammers do not want their account flagged.
orangehound
·11 months agoI know this may sound like a dumb, or condescending question, but did you recently ship pillows to someone else?
The reason I ask is because I'm just checking to see if you might have gotten labels mixed up ... it is also possible that the buyer ordered some pillows recently, and is confusing your shipment with another purchase. It seems odd that someone would scam a seller over school supplies.
gator08041971
·11 months ago@orangehound
They look to only have had one sale, for school supplies.
bonanza125
·11 months ago"Does she need to file a claim to get help?"
YES! She would need to file a "item not described" case. Have you checked her feedback to see if she has done this before? I would definitely notify Ebay and have this on record. Even though you might have to issue a refund if she files a case at the very least this situation has been reported to Ebay.
luckythewinner
·11 months agoI need the 100% eBay guarantee because I did everything right
What is this "100% eBay guarantee" you are referring to? I have been here 20 5 years and have never heard of it.
gator08041971
·11 months ago@heyhaney_1
What @reallynicestamps posted is the best way to handle it. But I would replace the word "claim" with "return". eBay doesn't show it as a claim, but as a return.
The buyer has to open a return before you should do anything. As stamps pointed out, a scammer buyer may be discouraged from doing so, but they might leave negative feedback. So be braced for that. If they do, ask us what to do next.
kensgiftshop
·11 months agoThere's no such thing for a seller.
heyhaney_1
OP11 months agoI know. I’m naive and old school. At 71 years old I still believe people tell the truth.
chapeau-noir
·11 months agoI'm older than you are and know, sadly, that some people have never told the truth.
But over school supplies...SMH.
roccotacodad54
·11 months agoI'm also 71 and I know they lie.
reallynicestamps
·11 months agoTell her "I regret you are unhappy with your purchase. Please return it for refund."
If she demands a refund again, "I regret you are unhappy with your purchase. Please return it for refund."
No need to tell her anything more.
If she persists:
Tell her to file a claim.
That stops a fair number of scammers who don't want to get on eBay's radar.
If she does file a claim, you will be required to send a return shipping label.
If she doesn't use the label, its cost will be refunded (actually never charged).
If she doesn't want to "go to all that trouble" the label may not be used.
If the purchase is not returned the claim fails.
Be polite but it is not your responsibility to instruct her on how to file a claim.