If you are selling on eBay, heed this warning.
After many years of selling on eBay, I rarely utilize this platform anymore. I am highly selective on which items to sell due to the "Broken or Damaged Item Scam." It works like this.
A seller purchases an item from you that was correctly described and shipped accordingly. Upon receiving the said item, they need only report it as damaged or not working. In turn, eBay offers only two choices in this situation.
First, you can offer the buyer a refund. They usually request a full refund (including shipping), but they may only ask for fifty to seventy-five percent off on rare occasions. Second, the buyer can return the item, but you, as the seller, are now responsible for any fees, including shipping both ways. If you choose this option, at best, you will receive your original item that is now non-functioning or damaged. At worst, you will receive a complete or partial (parts missing, replaced or removed) substitute.
In response, and if they are caught, eBay may suspend or cancel the perpetrators account, but this does not stop them from creating a brand new one a few moments later.
After losing consumer confidence and, subsequently, significant market share, one would think that eBay would address the issues. After more than a decade of seeing this scam, sellers have been offered no additional protections.
Sellers, you have been warned.
