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Getting a free item the easy way

This happened to me recently. A seller bought a repair service from me to work on an audio component. After I mailed back the completed unit I received an email claiming the work was faulty. He filed a case and I accepted a return and paid for a return label hoping he would send the unit back for followup repair. Instead he sent back a little ziplock bag of old parts. This is where I messed up. I should never had accepted a return because now eBay see's a tracking number and delivery and deducts the cost of the repair from my account. Even though repair services are supposed to be exempt from the money-back-guarantee. The buyer knew this and I fell for the trap. I tried an appeal but it was a loser. Now I'm out $300 and I hope like hell that no one else picks up on this scam.

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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

@ohmbob 

 

DELETE YOUR POST NOW!!!!

 

""Now I'm out $300 and I hope like hell that no one else picks up on this scam.""

 

Do you not realize this is a public forum?

Now all the scammers and people trying to get free repairs can see this.

 

Bro?

 

No trying to be rude but make sure not to post the best ways to scam....

I post one kinda like this and I regretted it /:

Leave It To Me
Message 2 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

@ohmbob   That is a long standing scam where a customer processes a return and sends their junk back ... the tracking shows the items is delivered and the Seller is faced with fighting an uphill battle in a "your word against theirs" situation with Home Office ... really sorry this happened.

 

Mr. L

 

 

Best regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor
Message 3 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way


@ohmbob wrote:

Even though repair services are supposed to be exempt from the money-back-guarantee.


 

I think they are if they are listed right.

Your listing shows it's covered by the MBG.

 

 

 

Have A Great Day.
Message 4 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

This forum isn't the easiest to find............I don't think scammers are looking for help this way. Thankfully 95% of the eBay users are honest folks looking for something to spend their money on. This was a warning to service sellers to not accept a return. It's not covered by the MBG and that should be the end of the story. Accepting a return is like letting the bear into your house for dinner.

Message 5 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

I really like that eBay makes it close to impossible to contact them. I think that by making it hard you'll give up. They give the buyer 2 weeks to mail their return back but just 48 hours for you to send them their refund. In the old days eBay was much easier to deal with.................now it's like the IRS with a hundred categories and menus to navigate and countless busy signals.

Message 6 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

I will look into changing listing category...............they just made the "list your item" as a seller much weirder and harder to post on. The form is simplified but takes away a bunch of options like when to start your listing.

Message 7 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

People who want to take advantage of the system will. That is a part of selling online unfortunately. You cannot avoid bad transactions or scam type orders entirely, but you can minimize the damage. The best way to minimize the damage is to opt in to seller free returns on items with values that you cannot afford to build in 100% loss into your monthly costs for a percentage or your returns. If your account is in good standing, and if a buyer takes advantage of you, you can report it to eBay and deduct up to 50% based on the guidelines set forth in eBay's seller free returns partial refund policy. In some cases eBay may either close the case or reimburse you for the item entirely, depending on the circumstances and your account history or if they have ever done that for you in recent time. Hopefully this will help you moving forward. It's not perfect, but it does help compared to 100% loss if buyers are truly taking advantage of you. Of course, if you abuse this policy, eBay will impose consequences on your own account. 

Message 8 of 9
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Re: Getting a free item the easy way

Never had an issue with ebay call center, they call back in less than 5 minutes every time

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