Buyer Scam?! Immediately filed CC Dispute, freight forwarder address, bad phone #

[profitweb]

ATTEMPTED SCAM BY BUYER - BEWARE!

Yesterday, I received a $124 order for an item (I have more expensive ones) very early in the morning. Before I shipped the item, a Payment Dispute was made with the Credit Card company, citing "The buyer did not recognize the transaction".

The dispute was filed so quickly, and buyer only had 10 feedback, I figured they were new to eBay, changed their mind about the purchase, and didn't know about submitting a Cancellation Request in eBay.

I didn't know what to do. Usually, sellers are charged an extra $20-$24 for processing of CC disputes. Of course, I wanted the dispute closed and for the Buyer to cancel via eBay. eBay Support suggested calling the buyer, since they hadn't responded in eBay messaging.

I called. Buyer's phone number wasn't real.

Luckily, the dispute came through to eBay before I shipped their item.

After an address search, I found it was a "freight forwarder" warehouse address. Buyer had added an "Apartment" # to the address. An internet search pulled up a lot of fraud associated with this business address:

8020 NW 66TH ST
APT-##-#### (some numbers I'm not writing here to keep exact address I was provided private)
MIAMI, FL 33166-3900

I accepted the dispute so the Credit Card company would reverse the charge and the order would automatically be cancelled. I messaged buyer to let them know. I also said if they had changed their mind after ordering, next time, they should submit a Cancellation Request in eBay. Not file a CC dispute if no fraud was committed.

Buyer messaged me early the next morning, saying, "I don’t understand what is going on. Will you cancel my order or what?"

I responded, saying again, that I accepted the CC dispute and their CC will be credited, order is cancelled. THEN, they immediately respond, "The dispute seems to be a mistake. Please do not accept it or refuse it. I want the item. I never intended to cancel the order."

I'm guessing they didn't think the CC dispute would come in before I shipped. I got out lucky. I'm sure they intended to get the item and not pay. I'm located in Florida.

I'm waiting for eBay's Customer Support to open and I'll call/email to report this buyer. Hopefully, it stops them from successfully scamming someone else!!

[mam98031]

This is typically the easiest of the Chargebacks to win when they use the reason they didn't recognize the charge.  

When a Chargeback is filed, Ebay sends you an email notifying the seller that the chargeback was filed and what the buyer said the reason for the Chargeback.  When a Chargeback if filed because the buyer didn't recognize the charge, Ebay tells the seller that the seller doesn't have to do anything, Ebay will handle it.  

Typically the seller doesn't have to do anything with this kind of Chargeback.  Ebay protects you on them and sends information to the Credit Card company to prove the transaction.

So why is yours different from how Ebay normally handles this type of Chargeback?  What did the email Ebay sent you when they notified you the Chargeback was filed say?

[profitweb]

@mam98031 
This ended up being a Buyer who was trying to scam (get product and get their $$ back from the Credit Card company).

Looks like IT WOULD NOT have been covered by eBay's Seller Protections. eBay has an exception for items shipped to Freight Forwarder addresses... which we had no idea it was being shipped to one. It just looked like a normal address and they made their # look like a residence by including a 2nd address line with an APT ###.

This freight forwarder address has tons of complaints for being used for online scams, like this. Not sure why eBay doesn't block these addresses from being entered... this particular address has been in use for years.

Seller Protections state item must be eligible for ebay Money Back Guarantee for Seller Protections to apply... and for that ebay's states freight forwarders are excluded from any Money Back Guarantee.

Luckly, I received the CC Chargeback notice before we shipped. Otherwise, we might have been out of product and $$$. It true, the seller protection loophole would stink because that's exactly who will use chargebacks the most, scammers!

[kensgiftshop]

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@profitweb wrote:

Seller Protections state item must be eligible for ebay Money Back Guarantee for Seller Protections to apply... and for that ebay's states freight forwarders are excluded from any Money Back Guarantee.

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They say that, but they don't stick to it.

[lisa5768]

Another thing to consider is it may have been a stolen credit card the buyer used, the card holder saw the charge or received a fraud alert so they disputed it.

[mam98031]

I agree that some Freight Forwarders have a lot of complaints, but the complaints are not related to the FF company itself but the people that USE the company.