Rant on every eBay seller’s mind : buyers that scam sellers
As one who has been here a long time 23 years and 50,000 items sold I think at this juncture I have pretty good instincts about buyers. 98% of my customers are fine It’s that 2% that do whatever they can to scam a seller. The worst of it is that eBay does not seem to care much about buyers that are scammers. I sell mostly in one category Digital media DVD Blu Ray and sometimes CDs. Most of what I have sold are purchased directly from distribution as I come from a family that has been involved with film distribution since the silent film era. Needless to say I am reasonably well connected in this area and have access many just do not have.
recently there is a lot of scamming going on from buyers. You send a new factory sealed item. They open it or at least they say they opened it and claim it is all scratched up or missing. Disc. They then ask for a refund or a partial refund but not a return. This makes little sense if something is wrong why not return it?
now as I am familiar with the production process discs are not packaged scratched nor does distribution sell repackaged used items missing discs almost never happen maybe once in 100,000 times. The new game is trying to get items for free by taking pictures of a different disc with scratches and calling “foul†on the seller, or saying the disc is missing. . If I ask the buyer to return the item they either take a screwdriver and destroy the disk or just don’t return it at all but threaten bad feedback unless they get their money back. Buyer bullying is uncalled for and sellers need to ban together and demand that eBay put a stop to these buyers. It’s become easy to spot them as you only have to check their feedback and see all the negatives that they left for sellers and that at least leaves sellers open to responding but does not solve this problem. I have had this happen maybe one or two out of a hundred sales, I block the buyers but somehow they re-register and I find the same buyer pulling the same thing under a different eBay name. I feel eBay is way too lenient on these buyers. I lately have demanded a return and provided a label only to get reemed out by the buyer and threatened. They only want to get items for free and never want to return them as that gets them nothing. It does however cost the seller product and money at least the shipping one way even if you’ve worked hard to become a top rated seller. There is a Union for the self employed. I am thinking sellers need a way to push eBay towards making some better decisions. I think eBay sends us these sellers and eBay needs to take on the responsibility of financing returns especially for those who have been around for a long time and earned a top rated status. The rules are really not very fair a buyer is permitted to destroy an item open a new item and use it and simply make a false claim and the seller is stuck with whatever eBay decides. There was a buyer blacklist at one time and sellers added to it but that exploded into tens of thousands of buyers.
i subscribed to it but it was just too difficult to keep adding buyers to a blocked buyer list. One of the worst things on eBay is that eBay allows more than one account to the same person. There are buyers out there who scam sellers as a buyer, then resell what they bullied to get. Look at those buyers with thousands of purchases a month and you pretty much can tell it is a seller that buys then resells. Hidden feedback should not be permitted why do buyers have privelidges that allow them to hide? There is just a lot of stuff going on that needs a more powerful group to push the eBay envelope. As sellers we are already robbed of a huge portion of shipping under the lure that this is to stop abuse of overcharging shipping. Looks like the greedier eBay gets the more buyers will have to pay for shipping as sabayon steels shipping money. Why not just tax the buyers? Sellers don’t need to lose a % of shipping. We have to pack and buy materials then charge what eBay allows us to charge and lose on every package that we ship. It has come to the crossroads and we as sellers need representation. eBay makes plenty from us and we need more rights and lower and fairer rates. The taxing on shipping needs to go, the discrepancy towards corporate sellers needs to go. We need the same % charge across the board for all categories and reduced % based on total amount of sale, not be different rates per category just because we are in a competitive category much higher charges. There is a great deal sellers should have some say about. I expect to retire soon and I want to start a sellers group from the outside that can get rights for all sellers. Those who depend on this as a self employed job need help. The nonsense of allowing sellers to be bullied should be first on the list. When a buyer requests a partial refund he should be removed It should be against policy. I get returns but I do not get bullying to get money back without a return. I could rant all day but in order to make eBay a better place sellers need to form a group and the group needs access to the brass, not customer service who needs to start an SR discussion but the actual higher ups that make eBay rules and we need to start changing many things to keep eBay a safe and a secure environment for sellers. We have built eBay and eBay needs a shake up to repay us for all our hard work.
44012
·2 years agoThanks for this post, I enjoyed reading.
It's such a tough situation.
I have tried to deal with this from buyers as we would deal with shoplifters. Take the hit and write it off at the end of the year.
Why this whole situation is such a cluster is while reading these boards it appears almost an equal number (perhaps) of buyers that are being scammed by sellers. When that happens, those buyers and perhaps their friends, family and co-workers will never come to or back to ebay to purchase again.
Somewhere there is an answer to make it a bit better for all but based on human nature I believe this is just the way now and I just don't sell anything I can't afford to lose. We've all heard that before.
annabelles-attic
·2 years agoI will not do partial refunds. I tell them to return. I have been on here since 1999 and like you came across many buyers like this. I have had a few break things, and then try and get USPS to pay the claim. When USPS said sure bring the item into to us to inspect suddenly not so important. One claimed to not have gotten a thousand dollar item, one claim counterfeit, another that item smells, etc etc. The one that claimed counterfeit I was so mad I have sold this item many times, Ralph Lauren sheet set btw, I know the product well, told her to not purchase from my shop again. Most here on EBay but also on Etsy. It’s just not as bad on Etsy. I have found that the cheaper the item the less scams. I make and sell stickers on Etsy. Under $5 item. No one has ever asked me for refund or money back. What they do do is ask for another claiming they never got it. Scams everywhere.
ghoarc0
·2 years ago100% on board with this.
dogofwar777
·2 years agoYears ago when I sold here and we could leave negative feedback on buyers, I ran into a scammer who would buy items then leave feedback on every seller. He bought a 1979 King Kong playset from me and then claimed the ape's head was dented and pieces were missing and I knew he was lying. He refused to send pictures and demanded I refund him, buy didn't want to return the item. I can't print what I told him, but needless to say he left a negative then I promptly left a negative on him and decided to check out his numerous negatives and they all said the same thing, "Seller buys items, claims its broken and demands money back with no proof." Me and other sellers hammered this scammer, his feedback rating was extremely low and he eventually disappeared off ebay.
broto_64
·2 years agoIf you need Union goons to represent you you're not a true business owner, you're someone's employee.
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoThis is the main reason we stopped listing here...
3-4 years ago we hardly EVER had scams on $10-$25 items... Scams came mainly on the $100 to $1000 items we sold... It may be different now, but imagine what your 2% with mainly $10-$25 equates to for sellers with $200-$2000 Sneakers?... $100-$10,000 Comic Books?...etc etc... The only way to make any REAL money here on this cost and labor intensive site is to sell high/higher dollar items with nice margins... Since we have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in this site as it currently stands, we consider this site 100% untenable....
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoI, like @inhawaii am not concerned about scammers.
My return rate is low, and the few I have are probably shipping mishaps. I do not bulletproof my shipments. Major mishaps can happen but my packaging is good enough to make them rare.
I have received loose CDs and DVDs in sealed manufacturer packages. I have received the wrong CD or DVDs in sealed manufacturer packages. I have had missing CDs or DVDs in sealed manufacturer packages. All from authorized distributors or one-stops.
When I get a request for return, I do not assume it is a scam.
I no longer buy CDs and DVDs for resale. Which is too bad in only one way, I cannot ship the stock with problems back to my supplier. I did when I received a return with these problems.
At this point, I would assume that anyone who buys a CD or DVD from me really wants to own it. There are so few buyers for most optical media.
Life is easier if you do not have to get upset about every return, and easier still of you do not sell merchandise which is likely to boomerang.
mopao1975
·2 years agoeBay decided long ago that siding with buyers was a better business decision for them. Do what I did. STOP SELLING ALTOGETHER, or better yet STOP USING EBAY. I used to buy stuff left and right a few years ago but no more. I've been scammed as a buyer, and scammed as a seller. So no thanks. I only come to eBay when what I am looking for isn't available anywhere else. Amazon, Walmart and other online retailers are now getting my business and they ship WAY FASTER than most eBay sellers.
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoThe returns problem is not just at eBay its all over the place in retail and retailers on the web. Two percent is actually low. According to retail associations they are seeing about 15% so obviously eBay is doing a far far far better job with site customers than Walmart, Macy's, Best Buy and Amazon.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoThe returns problem is not just at eBay its all over the place in retail and retailers on the web. Two percent is actually low. According to retail associations they are seeing about 15% so obviously eBay is doing a far far far better job with site customers than Walmart, Macy's, Best Buy and Amazon.
Nobody has any idea, other than for their own items, what the return rate is on eBay since it is information they do not publish and probably for good reason. Some of it depends on what category you sell in. Things like clothing tend to have a higher return rate than other items.
There is little eBay does with regards to the return process to decrease the return rate.
luckythewinner
·2 years agonow as I am familiar with the production process discs are not packaged scratched nor does distribution sell repackaged used items missing discs almost never happen maybe once in 100,000 times
When it comes to CDs, I am not familiar with the production process but I am familiar with the process of opening CDs that have been shipped to me.
I often receive new old stock CDs where the disc has slipped off the center spindle and is rattling around inside the jewel case. It happens way more than 1 in 100,000 times; more like 1 in 100. And often they are scratched from it.
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoYep this does happen and not all disc cases are created equal. Some the CD locking device is broke whereby the disc slides all over getting scratched. Some the disc lock is just a failed concept from word go resulting in same. Some the disc spindle lock is so treacherous getting the disc out causes a fracture at the inner part of the disc spindle. Atop all this there is sourcing. For example some years back I bought a Battlestar Galactica DVD collection for my personal viewing at a small local store, there were three sets (volumes) all sealed. Except when I opened it and inspected the DVD's it was all clearly resealed.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoParagraphs are your friend.
dqdistribution
·2 years agoI just expect to be scammed on every item I sell.
Then once I get scammed, I already expected it, so it's not really shocking or bothersome.
Then I write it off and help reduce my taxes.
rugerskick
·2 years agoI'm glad you don't personally stress about it, but not doing anything about it is enabling the scammers to continue here.
inhawaii
·2 years agoBuyers that scam sellers are not on my mind.
They represent less than a half a percent of my customers.
What's on my mind is...
Sourcing items to sell.
Listing items.
Shipping my items out in a timely manner.
Keeping my inventory correct.
chariot_badges
·2 years agoExactly ... every business, every retail business expects and budgets 'shrinkage'.
This is breakage, returns, theft, etc.
It is inventory that is wasted and not paid for but lost.
It's been along time since I was in a college level accounting class, but I seem to remember that is a line item in some General Ledgers - on the Debit side.
The increase in shrinkage is the main reason that major retailers are leaving big, lawless, democrat cities.
If OP's shrinkage gets too big he needs to consider doing what Target, Macys, Office Depot, Whole Foods and many others who have left San Francisco. Sometimes it gets to the point where there's just no point.
If OP has been doing this long enough to know what HIS specific shrinkage number is ... he should price that into the sale of each product - if it is significant enough to matter. And if its not, he should pay more attention to the list you made.
ten_o_nine
·2 years agoI couldn't agree more that sellers need more representation and protection on eBay. The instances of buyer bullying and scamming that you described are unacceptable and can be devastating for sellers who rely on this platform for their livelihood.