Help - Buyer says they received a empty box in leu of a $400 item

[cdyl_us_sdbectc8r]

The buyer with 0 feedback claims to have received an empty box. I know, I should have cancelled the order when I saw they had no feedback. I just didn't check at all, I thought eBay had buyer protection. I don't sell things as a business or to make money. I sell things to just get by right now.

I shipped it with UPS Ground and I have the Proof of Delivery with the weight listed.

I hope some more experienced sellers can offer some advice and experience on how to proceed. This is probably the last higher value item I will ever sell on eBay. If this buyer manages to scam me out of $400, I will not have a fun time in the coming weeks. This is basically my last $400

I contacted eBay as soon as this happened. They said they will back me up and they believe me and to wait until the 16th when I can ask eBay to step in.

Thank you in advance.

[monster-deals]

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@cdyl_us_sdbectc8r wrote:

They said they will back me up and they believe me and to wait until the 16th when I can ask eBay to step in.

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Oh dear.

That is most certainly not going to happen.

[jahood1984]

It's unfortunate eBay backed both the buyer in this case and many others, the buyer has likely already created a new account and is it doing it again.  Even if they lose, they win. 

[rosemary6525]

Ize glad you got your $$$$$    back.  If this was a watch/jewelry and  thus  NO SCREENSHOTS   you be out $400  as obvious and blatant as this is.  

Just shows how an average SELLER has NO SELLER PROTECTION and are 100% at the mercy of any scammer. 

This is only going to GET WORSE in future.   Ebay letting criminal keep $400 item for free is a reason why FEES are SO HIGH     $10 item on here, the fees are about 17%

[cdyl_us_sdbectc8r]

Yeah I am not excited to sell anything else on here. It's crazy to me. Obviously, there is some kind of grey zone here where a seller could try to scam a buyer with the same concept. But these huge companies that have no soul and don't care that it's the most obvious case of fraud. It's why I was actually kindof surprised that eBay's social media thing actually gave a crap and did anything. It's a far far different experience than the live chat...

I really wish there were a different platform like this. There's Mercari but their support is even worse, somehow.

[michigancolor]

There's a solution to this.  eBay needs to partner with someone like The UPS Store or FedEx (using FedEx Office.)  The seller can pay a few extra dollars to ship an item for in-person pickup and inspection.  A UPS Store / FedEx Office employee opens the package in front of the buyer, and the buyer must raise issues like it's an empty box or it's totally the wrong product at that time or they lose their ability to do so.  You could do it with the post office in theory, but that would be a gigantic mess in practice.  kyle@ebay 

[michigancolor]

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@cdyl_us_sdbectc8r wrote:

... This is definitely the last expensive item I sell on eBay, at least without insurance... 

FYI, no carrier or third party insurance company is going to pay an insurance claim except in the following 2 scenarios: there's proof the package was given to the carrier (a real scan or dropoff receipt) and there's no delivery scan; or you claim the package is damaged, the buyer is willing to work with the carrier to let them inspect it, and the carrier agrees the shipment was packaged properly and admits fault for the damage.

They will not pay an insurance claim when a buyer claims they received an empty box, except in the extremely rare situation where the carrier noted or remembers delivering the box torn open and without weight or being empty.  It's just not going to happen.

They will not pay an insurance claim when an item is damaged quite often, because they'll say you didn't follow their crazy rules on properly packaging an item because it would have made the box gigantic and cost a lot more.  They won't pay if you have the buyer ship the item back, like the buyer and eBay are going to push you to do.

They will not pay an insurance claim when the buyer says they didn't receive an item, and there's a delivery scan, unless the carrier can look at GPS and see the driver misdelivered which is quite rare.  Doesn't matter if the buyer "provides" video showing no carrier came by.  You just let them deal with eBay, because a delivery scan means you completed your obligation.

[blueplanetvintage]

Call the local police and report stolen. Share the locater details showing they are at their address.

[kyle@ebay]

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@michigancolor wrote:

There's a solution to this.  eBay needs to partner with someone like The UPS Store or FedEx (using FedEx Office.)  The seller can pay a few extra dollars to ship an item for in-person pickup and inspection.  A UPS Store / FedEx Office employee opens the package in front of the buyer, and the buyer must raise issues like it's an empty box or it's totally the wrong product at that time or they lose their ability to do so.  You could do it with the post office in theory, but that would be a gigantic mess in practice.  kyle@ebay 

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Hey @michigancolor that's a great suggestion!  I'll be glad to pass that along to the appropriate teams.  

[michigancolor]

kyle@ebay Thanks, 2 for 2 today!  🙂  P.S.  They might think to use the authenticity team, which I'd be a bit nervous about.  If eBay could document what's in the box there and reship it, that would be alright, but the second shipping fees might not make the whole thing worth it.  Also, so many sellers are having issues with the authentication team that I'd be wary of using it if what they did was more than just document what's in the box.  P.P.S.  Sellers who used a partnership with UPS Store or FedEx Office could also choose to have inspected returns, to make sure a buyer wasn't sending back an empty box, the wrong product, etc.  I guess it would really only make sense if they were used for the delivery as well, and they could verify if the same item given to the buyer was being sent back.  They could weigh it before giving it to the customer at opening and take photos.  Yeah, I know there's things buyers could do to get through this, but it would help.  As a seller, I'd be fine with the same location the buyer picked up at doing the verification, but I guess another possibility would be for it to be sent to a location near me for me to pickup.  I wouldn't like that as much.

[cdyl_us_sdbectc8r]

I'd be willing to pay extra for this. I wonder how it compares to a signature delivery. Is the customer then responsible for having inspected the item upon receipt and ensuring that it's not an empty box?

[deosil111]

They’ll tell you not to sell anything on eBay that you can’t afford to lose. Most people can’t afford to lose anything, hence have nothing to sell on eBay. End of an era. Sad 😢  

[cdyl_us_sdbectc8r]

I'm not really a fan of the "don't sell anything you can't afford to lose" opinion. I get that it's usually high volume/low value sellers that say it, and it has some sad truth to it, but if they lost a good chunk of their inventory at the wrong time they would definitely be screwed as any random guy selling his stuff to pay bills. And honestly, that just makes eBay seem like a completely unsafe place altogether. And I'm not gonna sell anything then because it's like just giving it away. I'll give it to a donation center or family member then, not some random lying piece of garbage. I suppose it's just about luck I guess, and maybe cancelling orders from new or low feedback accounts.