Another buyer attempting return switch-a-roo.

[bgt_masters_of_tiki_d]

          Today  I had a buyer file a return for an item arriving damaged 5-6 days ago. The item is not fragile by any means and you'd actually have to really put in work to damage it. Its a steel support frame for a washer and designed to hold 500+ pounds. In the picture it looks like someone bashed its support frame with a hammer a dozen or so times. You can even see the missing paint outline with each hit. However the box is fine. The damaged part was a good 6-8 inches from the side of the box and its pretty much impossible for it to get damaged like that without the box being mangled with holes. 

I did a search through my old emails/messages for the buyer and sure enough back in 2023 they did the same thing (return switch-a-roo) and admitted to sending me back their old broken part (a motor) and said they'd send back the correct one. They never did and ignored attempts to contact them. I ended up winning the ebay case. I had blocked them back then at least I thought. The ebay block buyer page often errors out for me and doesn't save on the first try and I don't always catch it.  

I then took another look at the pictures and noticed its not even the one I sent them. So I wrote ebay on facebook and basically was told to kick rocks, take the return anyways and file an insurance claim with UPS. However I cannot because the box isn't damaged and its not even the same item I sold. I googled their business and its some shady warranty repair company with like a 1.3 rating online. The item was almost $70 to ship and I believe I sold it for $60 plus shipping. 

So what would you guys do. I cannot in good conscience file a insurance claim because it would be fraudulent. I don't want to pay to have it shipped back because I'd be out another $60-$70 in shipping and could only recoup $30 using ebay's 50% refund using the bogus seller protection for getting back a different damaged item.  The cheapest out would be to refund and let them keep the item but even then I have no item and I'm out $130. 

[titipeo]

You know you are going to get the damaged item back, what good will it do to you to pay for return for it? Unless you can fix it. Best to go with the cheapest option and accept your losses. Double check on blocking the buyer again, maybe bring that up to eBay.  Also post some reviews on the company website since eBay only allows positive reviews to buyers. 

[albertabrightalberta]

Eat the loss, BLOCK THE BUYER, report the buyer and deduct the loss on your taxes. 

This time, verify that the ID is on your BBL. 

[chapeau-noir]

I agree that it's best to get out of this situation with the least damage to your pocketbook, which unfortunately means writing off the loss. 

Sometimes the BBL errors out - generally I find that it's because some of the entries have been removed from eBay, and since it's so poorly programmed it treats these now-deleted accounts the same as the one you're trying to add. The only remedy is to re-add the account name to be sure it's there. 

[bgt_masters_of_tiki_d]

I had always wondered why I got error messages when trying to block buyers. I don't have a ton on my list considering how long I've been on ebay. Probably around 20 years or so but some of the accounts blocked do go back two decades so that would make sense.

I'll give reaching out to a different rep on facebook today and see if I can get a different outcome with someone. It just sucks because the proof is right in the pictures the buyer themselves produced. Not only does the damage to the item not reflect the condition of the box but its clearly not even the same item I sold them.  Writing it off on my taxes still doesn't make me whole. I can guarantee you if they have done this to me twice now in maybe 6 total transactions they've likely been getting away with doing it to many other sellers. 

As for the person who mentioned leaving feedback off ebay. I did that once before with a similar warranty repair company that did the same thing to me I believe three times in total. (They keep creating new ids to get around being blocked) and they had the feedback removed. Not that it mattered as they're feedback was horrible regardless of the one I left.

At the end of the day I think you guys are right. Eat the $130 loss and let some steal from me. Its all I can do it looks like in this scenario. I'm out the item and $70 shipping and the buyer keeps the item and gets to keep doing it to other sellers without any of them even knowing about it. 

Ebay needs to give sellers the ability to know how many cases and returns buyers have filed. Let us (sellers) act accordingly to if we'd like to put our own restrictions with our own standards on if we want particular buyers purchasing from us. Heck I'd even pay a small extra fee for it.