How to deal with a buyer who is a scammer
Hi everyone. Recently I received a message from one of my buyers. They told me that they received the item that we shipped but there was nothing inside of the box. We keep a reference for all of the items sold on our store. This reference is a USPS receipt that has the weight of the item we shipped on it. This particular item, weighed about 9.4 ounces. The buyer said that they received an empty box. But that couldn’t be true because the receipt clearly states that there was something in the box when we shipped it. An empty box would weigh far less than 9 ounces. Now, I have no problem with refunding the buyer but they have threatened to leave us negative feedback if we don’t give them their money back. They insisted on leaving us negative feedback and said because we are a new store it would and I quote, “hurt your salesâ€. It seems as if they are trying to extort us. Maybe trying to get something for free? We have no way of knowing if they are telling the truth, and it is hard to verify their claim. However, via the USPS receipt, we know for a fact that we shipped the item. The receipt is evidence of this. Now to protect other sellers on eBay, we are seriously debating on whether we should involve law enforcement. Stealing from USPS is a federal crime in any capacity and we want to make sure that the responsible parties are held accountable. The only problem? eBay does not allow you to talk to a real person if you are a seller. We have no way to know if this would be frown upon by eBay. We tried to contact the customer service number but never got a real person on the line, and the help from the robot agent kept sending us to the help articles. But they don’t exactly tell you how to deal with a situation like this. We reported the buyer through eBay that doesn’t stop them from using blackmail to get what they want. If they leave us negative feedback, how could we mitigate it without complying? We don’t want the negative feedback, but more than that, we don’t want the buyer to take advantage of other sellers. If the buyer is authentic in their claim, this should be verified by the postal service. What would you do in this situation? And why does eBay make it so difficult for sellers to contact them when a problem like this arises?
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoBuyer needs to be reported to eBay if they are threatening you.
What was the weight on your receipt when shipping?
Has buyer sent you any photos of a damaged / tampered box? If a box is damaged at delivery via USPS, it is usually marked.
I'm not sure about the other carrier's process.
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoI find it interesting that this is the second post I have read today that a buyer is claiming an empty box.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoContact the buyer and ask them to retain the box. Let them know you are contacting USPS regarding the delivery and possible mail theft and that USPS will need to touch base with them and more than likely request they bring the empty box to their local post office for inspection. Then proceed to file a case with USPS. If they are simply requesting a refund without opening an official eBay case they may just be phishing, not sure what the value was on the item, when you sold it or how you shipped it. If I had to take a guess I would guess it was/is the Nintendo Switch.
farmalljr
·2 years agoWell here is the deal.....
If the buyer opens a case, it will be recorded on your metrics. Takes a year for it to go away. Get enough cases, and you will pay higher fees to sell here.
IF you refund the buyer before they open a case, they can't leave bad feedback OR open a case that would ding your metrics.
I would not bet that eBay would see what the buyer did as extortion for feedback. The buyer said they wanted a refund after they said they got an empty box. Did they get that? Who knows. It IS possible but probably not likely. Doesn't matter to eBay, they side with buyers.
Sellers are between a rock and a hard place. They can refund and head off possible problems, or they can make the buyer open a case. Seller still has to refund. They then can file reports, that likely will go absolutely nowhere, and get the seller zero results. They get dings for INAD cases, and with enough cases, start paying penalty fees. Yes it sucks, but that is the nature of selling online on someone else's platform.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoIF you refund the buyer before they open a case, they can't leave bad feedback
Yes, they can.
The buyer can leave any feedback he likes, refund or no refund.
IF you refund the buyer before they open a case, they can't .... open a case that would ding your metrics.
Yes they can.
The seller will have to prove that they refunded to win the case, or pay out twice.
ittybitnot
·2 years agobut they have threatened to leave us negative feedback if we don’t give them their money back.
@volteratek
You can report that right on the eBay message page under the "ACTION" tab.
Do not refund this person just because they messaged you.
winklers549
·2 years agoDid you ship with Tracking? If so go to USPS and they can pull history and it will show the weight of the package at each processing center.
onlinecentral
·2 years agoSellers have sent these messages and then received a reply from the buyer that they found the missing items, along with a story about a roommate or relative opening the package first.
Thank you for your purchase, we are again sorry with the issues with USPS; We have filed a formal report with USPS and also with the local police concerning your empty parcel and will report back to you as soon as we know more. Thank you again!
I am so sorry to hear that your parcel arrived without the contents. I will do everything I can to assist you in this matter. I will file the lost/rifled/stolen mail report (the report is called something else now, you will have look this up for the correct name) with the United States Postal Inspectors on your behalf. Even in these trying times they usually respond with a case number within 24 hours. I will forward that to you when it is received so that you can track the progress of the investigation as well. Do you have a daytime phone number that I can include in the report? That way they can contact you directly as well.
I will also speak to your local postmaster and mail carrier about this package. If it had broken open, the USPS typically tags the box as such, so a photo of that stamp will actually help. Please keep the packing materials in case they are needed as well. Thank you so much for your cooperation.
gamersbaystore
·2 years agoYour buyer is violating ebay's policies, I would never refund in such a situation. Report the buyer for the feedback extortion, file a mail fraud report with USPS.
Likewise, USPS will not just deliver an empty/tampered with package. They will put a sticker on the package that states it was damaged if that is the case, which is also recorded into their system.
ebay is not very forgiving when it comes to feedback extortion either, they will typically terminate the buyers accounts.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agobut they have threatened to leave us negative feedback if we don’t give them their money back. They in
Report him for Feedback Extortion. Attach the message. It was left through eBay Messages right?
eBay does not allow you to talk to a real person if you are a seller.
No.
The phone clerks are not 'real people'. Obviously they are human beings, but they work and are paid by subcontractors, are poorly trained and have no authority.
The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.
Avoid them
The Real People are eBay direct employees who are assigned to the social media Chats.

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
Meanwhile.
Tell the buyer "I regret you are disappointed with your purchase. Please return it for refund."
There is a good chance that they have made too many Claims and are no longer allowed to use the Money Back Guarantee.
If they don't open a Claim, don't refund.
If they do, you will be told to send a return shipping label.
If they don't use the label, you win. Don't refund.
If they do-- you have that Report of feedback extortion to fall back on.
They are bullying you as a newbie. Let the head games begin.
And keep us advised of what's happening.
vintage-camerastuff
·2 years agoTell the scammer buyer "I regret you are disappointed with your purchase. Please return it for refund."
If you tell them to return the item, they may return an empty box. I would wait for their next move before I tell them anything. If they leave negative feedback, that should be easy to have removed because of the feedback extortion.
lakefor94
·2 years agoIf the buyer leaves you a negative, you should be able to get that removed due to the feedback extortion attempt. Just keep the messages.
Some buyers have lost their eBay MBG privileges so this could be their only way left to scam items because they can't file a case.
Up to you if you think it is a bluff. You can wait and see if they open a case with eBay.
Good luck
stainlessenginecovers
·2 years agoThis site makes it 'difficult' because there is NO reason to contact the site. This site is automated.
Also note: A 'receipt' showing 'something was in the box' means NOTHING!!
Not that buyer ISN'T a scammer...so all you can do is ignore the message and see if buyer opens a 'refund' for item 'not received' at which you then reply with the tracking number- which will show it delivered and close the return.
volteratek
OP2 years agoThanks for your reply!
Now what exactly do you mean by nothing? The receipt shows that something was in the box at the time of shipment. My buyer said that the box was empty when they received it. How would you go about faking the weight on a USPS receipt? It’s the weight so if we did ship an empty box, wouldn’t the weight be far less than 9 ounces? I guess what I am asking is what do you mean by the receipt means nothing?
lakefor94
·2 years agoCould not resist chiming in. It means nothing because nobody at eBay is going to investigate it for you.
eBay expects sellers to handle these cases when they arise. Do not expect eBay to assist you.
Your best bet is to refund now or allow the buyer to show their hand by filing a case or not filing a case. See if they leave a negative and deal with it if they do.
Experienced buyers and sellers here on the boards can walk you thru.
Trust this. ---> beats bringing eBay into the situation.
Okay, you can show that you printed a label for a certain weight, but that does not mean that you shipped the item in the box. Even if you did, you don’t know that a USPS employee didn’t open the box, pocket the contents, and re-taped so that it looked like you shipped nothing.
not really that far-fetched. Many months ago, seller came on to complain that he suspected that his PO was swiping his items, as he had gabbed about selling valuable coins, and his shipping envelopes were easy to open and reseal.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoIf that buyer is smart, he would not open an INR case, because he did indeed receive something.
The case that the buyer would open would be an item not as described case, in which case the seller could ask for the item back before refunding, but it would seem counterproductive to pay the buyer to send back what he claims is an empty box.