Scam
Maybe someone can give me a suggestion how to act in cases like this. I sold a perfume and the buyer accused me that l sold fake. Which I is an absurd because all my products are 100% authentic! I’ve been selling on eBay for years with hundreds of positive reviews! She basically was threatening me on reporting me to eBay and leaving a bad review. I was so upset, because this person was lying and accusing me. I offered her to take the perfume to Sephora so they can confirm the authenticity, to check batch code . But she kept saying it’s fake. I did a refund and let her keep $165 perfume. What to do in this situation??? How can we protect ourselves from scammers like this?
15 comments
powell-collectibles
·5 months agoI don’t assume that it is a scam. The buyer might be confused. You might’ve sold something that’s not legit. I don’t know. Maybe you bought something that you thought was legit but it really wasn’t – happens all the time.
Regardless, I’m sure most of the folks on these boards will tell you to get a return, and then refund. When I have a return, I usually don’t want the item back. If there really is a big issue, do I really want to pay for return shipping to get something that I can’t sell? Are you going to be able to sell used perfume? Do you even assume that’s what you will get back? Absolutely, I’m not encouraging capitulation to scammers – but you need to make a decision based on what’s best for your own bottom line.
Often, sellers come on here to talk about scamming buyers – assuming that any return is in a scam. I had one the other day – biyer complaint that something was damaged in shipment. I really didn’t see how – I packed very well, and I so rarely would get a complaint about something damaged in transit. Maybe one of every 500 shipments, or less. I refunded – I don’t want the item back. Even if it isn’t damaged, I don’t trust a buyer to repack something in a way that prevents damage on the way back. In the back of my mind, I thought this might be a scam. After I refunded, the buyer was really confused – he was expecting to send the item back. He offered to send it back to me – even though I have already refunded. It is a nice gesture, and indicative that I’m not dealing with somebody trying to steal my money. Buyer had a legit complaint, I shouldn’t assume that he’s out to scam me.
even though I offer free returns, I don’t have a lot of them. It is such a minor expense in the grand scheme of things. For me, it makes sense to just let these returns go – just refund. Other sellers will find that returns make a lot of sense. Others will do it just out of principle. It is a seller by seller basis, and really an item by item basis. I’ve had a couple of returns where I actually did want the item back, received it, sold it. Each time for more than the first sale.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·5 months agoWell for one don't refund without getting your product back. That just encourages this behavior.
pickapaper
·5 months ago@shoptime_4
You have gotten some excellent advice here and will now know what to do when something like this happens again.
And it will happen again. More and more, buyers are learning how to get "free stuff" on eBay. There are even videos online that tell buyers how to do it. That is coupled with the fact that there really are a lot of fake cosmetic items out there and a lot of buyers are scared they won't get the real thing. However, when a buyer is like yours, continuing to repeat it is fake, threatening to report you and leave bad feedback, it usually means they know what they are doing and are hoping to intimidate the seller. In her case, it worked. She got a refund and a free perfume. And sadly, she will keep doing it.
bonanza125
·5 months agoWell you did exactly what you weren't suppose to do which is refund the buyer and give in. What you should've done was tell her to file a return case and have her return the perfume and then you issue a refund. You could have had the authentic perfume in your hands. Instead you refunded her without item in hand. You can never fully protect yourself from buyer who make claim of scam.
ryry-jj
·5 months agoDo you offer returns? Btw, I'm not looking up if you do or don't. But always have the buyers file for a return. If you don't allow returns they will file for an INAD, but in any case have them file for a return, accept the return and you get the item back. An INAD return is always granted.
I know in this case it is now an opened bottle, but you get the item back and the buyer will then be refunded. I never allow the buyer to keep any item and receive a refund, I always want it back
christworks
·5 months ago@shoptime_4 I'm about to give you some hard advice. Trust me when I tell you this is to help you.
You've got to get the emotion out of your business dealings. Making emotion-based business decisions will only hurt you. This stuff is not personal. It is business. Period. Nobody has ever made a good emotion-based business decision. That was your mistake, and it led you to making more mistakes.
99% of what you said in your post is irrelevant when it comes to returns on eBay. As someone who has sold on eBay "for years," you should know that. Your "hundreds of positive reviews" don't matter. If someone says you are selling fake stuff, you say, "You may open a return, and I'll be happy to accept it back and issue you a refund." If you are a Top Rated Seller and they return something that is fake and you know that isn't what you sent, you can take 50% off their refund. Ideally, your margins aren't so thin that you can still make a small amount of profit. It will at least reduce the loss. Instead of stepping away emotionally, you got even more upset and refunded the buyer to be done with them. You did exactly what they wanted you to do. They saw you coming 1,000 miles away. They didn't even have to open a return. You can't be mad at them. You can only be mad at yourself for giving in to their tactics.
There are seller protections in place for when buyers make threats. I don't know if they came out of the gate making threats or if that was in response to your initial reaction. Either way, once that buyer makes threats, they need to be reported. They still need to be reported. Just stick to the facts without emotion if you make the report.
If you had been familiar with the policy, you could have told the buyer, "Making threats is against eBay policy and may result in eBay taking action against your account, including permanently banning you. We are reporting your account to eBay for this reason." Then, you end the discussion. If they open a return, send them a label. Otherwise, more than likely, they would have completely backed off, and you would have never heard from them again.
I'm sorry it happened, and I'm sorry if I beat up on you too much. This stuff just makes my head spin and I hate to see good sellers taken advantage of. Make sure you document the loss so you can take it on your taxes next year.
I'll leave you with this: Go try selling that stuff in a brick-and-morter and see how much product shrinkage you have. You will really be emotional then.
shoptime_4
OP5 months agoThanks for being so direct. You’re right that l got my emotions make me doing silly mistakes but it’s late anyway l did what l did. That never happened to me before so l was really upset because how can you argue with such statement? I understand that l should’ve ask for return and because l didn’t want to have negative feedback from a customer who’s lying l decided to close this case . This is a good lesson for me and your advices are really helpful and appreciated!
ryry-jj
·5 months agoIf you ever do get negative feedback, take it as an opportunity to respond to it that puts you in a positive light. Whenever I see negative feedback, I immediately want to know how the seller responded. Some people you will never satisfy, but I can tell more about a seller from how they respond when things go bad.
iamalwaysright
·5 months agoYou can still receive a negative feedback from the buyer even though you refunded them and closed the case. Ebay gives the buyer 60 days from purchase to leave any feedback they want.
christworks
·5 months agoIt happens.
You can't argue with someone who is lying about you. That's what they want. I do understand how easy it is to get upset when you are accused of wrongdong you've not done. It is understandable why you would get upset. The mistake isn't being upset so much as it is making business decisions when you are in a state of being upset. Really, that goes for any decision, whether business or personal.
It sounds like the lesson is learned. Forgive yourself. I would not worry about a negative feedback, even if someone lies. A lot of times the liars will go too far and also say things that violate the eBay feedback policy, then you just go through and get it removed.
ten_o_nine
·5 months agoWhat to do in this situation???
Nothing can be done now.
How can we protect ourselves from scammers like this?
Ask buyer to open a return case, once received, issue a refund.
kensgiftshop
·5 months agoWhat you do is tell the buyer to return for a refund.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoSounds to me like the OP already refunded without requiring the buyer to return the item.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoSo she did not open an item not as described case, but you refunded her anyway and let her keep the perfume?
shoptime_4
OP5 months agoShe opened it. It was my silly mistake because l got so emotional and this never happened to me before on being accused of selling fakes.