eBay

inkspotgallery · ‎09-10-2017

What do you do with scammers that admit to asking sellers for partial refunds repeatedly?

You can ALWAYS find something wrong with a vintage or antique item -

scammers are why so many of our friends stopped selling on ebay.

I reported them but will they be asked to stop? What a scam.

mr_lincoln · ‎09-10-2017

@inkspotgallery wrote:
And they actually threatened to leave bad feedback if I didn't give them a partial refund.
What they "found wrong" was completely made up to ask for a partial refund.
So we banned them but so many antique dealers quit selling on ebay because of these scammers.

Then you can tell them that is a violation of eBay's Feedback Extorsion policy (link below) and NO, Sellers do not give partial FB all the time. As @a_c_green mentioned, I suggest they process a claim in the Resolution Center to return the item for a full refund ... even if I have to pay to get the item back I don't want THEM to have it, period. And yes, any dishonest Buyer can find or make up some problem with any item they want a discount on. Just send another polite message as suggested then go silent.

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

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a_c_green · ‎09-10-2017

@inkspotgallery wrote:
What do you do with scammers that admit to asking sellers for partial refunds repeatedly?

If you mean that this is the same buyer asking repeatedly for a partial refund, you can respond (the first time) with, "I'm sorry that you are not satisfied. You can return it for a full refund." There's no requirement for you to haggle a partial refund, nor do you have to vary your answer just because they ask again.

There's no scam involved in getting you to partially refund them, beyond the fibbing involved in claiming there's a problem with the item when there isn't, so don't play the game.

@inkspotgallery wrote:
I reported them but will they be asked to stop?

No.

inkspotgallery · ‎09-10-2017

Yes we did that and they came back with "you should just give us a partial refund, other sellers do it all the time". So this is their gig.

inkspotgallery · ‎09-10-2017

And they actually threatened to leave bad feedback if I didn't give them a partial refund.

What they "found wrong" was completely made up to ask for a partial refund.

So we banned them but so many antique dealers quit selling on ebay because of these scammers.

retrose1 · ‎09-10-2017

Because scammers keep getting refunds when they complain, they buy a lot more off ebay. That means more sales for ebay. So of course ebay isn't going to do anything about them.

When the scammer, because once they start complaining about nothing they become scammers, says to give them a partial just keep saying return for refund. And ebay no longer counts negs against a seller - and you can report them for feedback extortion so if they leave a neg, ebay will remove it.

AND put them on your blocked bidder list. And you might want to make a note of the buyers address just in case they want to buy from you again.

If a buyer was so bold to admit something like that to me, I might have decided to toy with them a bit and told them that I know how the game is played - how do you think I got that item so I could sell it a cheap as I did. Sometimes you have to fight a scam with a scam.

(*Bleep*)

mr_lincoln · ‎09-10-2017

@inkspotgallery

@inkspotgallery wrote:
And they actually threatened to leave bad feedback if I didn't give them a partial refund.
What they "found wrong" was completely made up to ask for a partial refund.
So we banned them but so many antique dealers quit selling on ebay because of these scammers.

Then you can tell them that is a violation of eBay's Feedback Extorsion policy (link below) and NO, Sellers do not give partial FB all the time. As @a_c_green mentioned, I suggest they process a claim in the Resolution Center to return the item for a full refund ... even if I have to pay to get the item back I don't want THEM to have it, period. And yes, any dishonest Buyer can find or make up some problem with any item they want a discount on. Just send another polite message as suggested then go silent.

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

a_c_green · ‎09-10-2017

That later message from the buyer is clear feedback extortion, yes, although I don't know that I would go telling them that; let them find out by leaving feedback and getting it yanked by eBay, as you will have their message on file for eBay to see. Although it will not be visible to other sellers, that will also put a policy violation on their record that can get them blocked from other listings. (What does their current Feedback Left for Others look like?)

Just tell them to file for a refund after return, and leave the ball in their court.

muttlymob · ‎09-10-2017

That later message from the buyer is clear feedback extortion, yes, although I don't know that I would go telling them that;

Ditto.

Lecturing or chastising buyers on eBay policy usually does not end well for sellers - either in added stress, or in eBay not following their own policies. Or both. Don't tell the buyer you are going to report. Just file the report.

odditiesandantiquities1 · ‎09-10-2017

@inkspotgallery wrote:
What do you do with scammers that admit to asking sellers for partial refunds repeatedly?
You can ALWAYS find something wrong with a vintage or antique item -
scammers are why so many of our friends stopped selling on ebay.
I reported them but will they be asked to stop? What a scam.

There is an additional problem though. I found out the hard way never ever to give a partial refund. But, there are those who maybe have already spend the money that came in or need at least some of that money to survive, and those sellers will cave in and give a partial refund, like it or not. The scam continues because some sellers allow it.