Easy to get conned out of your expensive items on ebay

[oldasdirt2012]

Sold a pin and bangle braction using the auction format high bidder paid 200.00 for 13.4 grams 10kt. gold.A week after recieving items I recieved an email that said "Pin not gold? Instead of argueing or causing a riff I told her to send it right back and get a refund for the pin. Didnt here from her and sent her an email and ask if she had sent the pin back? Please let me know and send a tracking number so I could look out for it and how much do you want for the pin or expect? 3 days later shee said she wanted 80.00. (3 grams) (10kt.) I talked my self out of argueing the price and just agreed and told her to send it to me for a refund. Several days went by and she sends me a phone number and tells me to call her.I figured she wanted to send the bracelet back (Iwas hoping) No, she wanted me to refund her first then she would send the pin back.This I did argue about and told her she had to send the pin back before I sent her a refund thats the way its done on ebay. She told me she couldnt trust me I sold phoney gold to her.This went on for another 10 minutes then she says ok I want 90.00 I said fine just send back the pin,then she makes a reference about my feedback and I held my ground. Then she says give me 100.00 I said lady send back both pieces and you get your 200.00,I am not giving you 100.00 on that pin. She did not want to send back the bracelet. She said ok send me money now,I said no and she hung up. Week later the pin shows up no message with a tracking number she didnt bother to send me. I sent her 90.00 that day. A couple of days later I get a email from her saying she sent back the jewelry on the 13th, I thought maybe she hadnt checked her account were it should have shown up and paypal would have sent her a notice of the refund. A week later she opens a case against me for 75.00. Paypal changed their site around (page) for cases in resolution and its confussing which doesnt matter they dont really do anything for the seller .Cant buy anything with empathy. Paypal sent her another 75.00 and charged me another 20.00 for chargeback. I emailed the buyer a few days ago and ask her very nicely to check with her bank because all of the money was taken. I didnt expect to hear from her, and didnt. She had a very thick accent and hard to understand but she sure knows how to argue and insult someone out of their stuff.

 Now I am out almost 160.00 and my gold bangle bracelet. What bothers me most is she made sure she avoided ebay since she didn't trust me and I could show the timeline of the emails. The buyer drug out the time of return on the pin causing me problems trying to take out a case thru ebay.

PS- Pin still acid tests gold.(deep cut)

[loveyourimagination49]

Return for refund should have been all you should of said.

OT: iPhone 10?

[emerald40]

Exactly.

Return for refund.

Rinse and repeat.

And you should have never asked her when she would be returning the items.

The ball was in her court to do so, which is 5 days after opening a case.

If she never returned it you could have closed it in your favor.

[emerald40]

I wonder if she avoided ebay because she has too much history there of pulling the same thing and was in danger of losing her account.

That is why if you want to return something I insist you open a case through ebay so it is all documented.

[rixstuff]

Never do a partial - all or nothing.  That said, be sure you respond to any Paypal disputes and explain that the listing was for TWO items but she only returned ONE and that you had already refunded for the one you received.  If she wants the whole refund she will need to send back the bracelet too.

[rixstuff]

Oh and NEVER talk to a buyer (or seller) ON THE PHONE.  Going through Ebay leaves a nice record of what was agreed to.

[oldasdirt2012]

It was out of my hands when she opened the case on paypal and I tried to open a case on ebay but too much time had expired for me to do so. You are right about wondering why she didn't open a case on ebay. Her feedback is high,but no viewing because its private.

[luckythewinner]

Using a SNAD on eBay, any buyer can steal any item from any seller at any time, as long as he does not make a mistake while stealing it.

It is probably no comfort to you, but your buyer could have gotten all their money back and stolen the item, so you actually came a little better than some.

My mantra is to never sell anything on eBay that I cannot afford to lose (along with the money it costs to mail it to the person robbing me.)

And I have that rule even though fraud has never been an issue for me.

[oldasdirt2012]

Just never had a problem like this before I should have trusted those small hairs on my neck sticking out. (warning system) I called paypal (twice) and talked at length about how it all transpired . The lady at paypal said I would have to write a detailed account of what happened and submit to the resolution board which I tried to do. However in the new resolution page it would not allow a submittal on the seller button. At the same time it was telling me there was no case open. The buyer button was lit up and said the buyer had made a complaint and I would be notified to reply. Couple of days later I got notice of 95.00 being taken out of my account. Went back to the resolution page (same day) and the seller button was still off but I was able to post the entire story of what had transpired then called paypal again only to find out We had to give the Bank the amount they ask for. A lot of work, time for nothing.

[marsdaman]

WHAT EBAY SHOULD HAVE DONE TO MAKE EBAY SHOPPING AN ALMOST SCAM FREE SITE AND WHAT THEY SHOULD DO NOW:

The old system, where everyone could leave the feedback they wanted, was better; even though, it was not perfect. Not perfect in that a seller could wait for you to leave feedback and they could leave negative for your negative when you did everything that you should to make a great transaction and they messed up.

EBay should have kept it the old way, but tweaked the rules a bit.  They should have asked sellers to record every step of the transaction: shipping/tracking receipts, documented messages, actual packaging of that item(s), the product working(if applicable), etc. VIDEO WHERE POSSIBLE. When this happens, a scammer has no loopholes to do anything. Then, have sellers leave feedback first. That way, buyers can leave feedback without having to fear that a negative is coming when they had to rightly leave a negative.

Then, if a buyer "unjustly" leaves a negative 3 times based on evidence to the contrary(what are the odds of that and them not be a scam artist or crazy), then they should receive a demerit and, from then on, receive one every time afterwards(and eventually be expunged--maybe after 3 more times). The seller, in the interim should have their negative removed. Ebay also should no longer allow a buyer or seller to be removed and setup a new alias again. I was scammed by someone that setup a new alias--years ago. Also, sellers should check their listings as they are doing them so that auctions are not cancelled(demerits should start after the 3rd time doing so and should be a 3 strikes and you're out after that)  and sellers should have the right to cancel after a buyer has agreed to pay. THIS IS A BUY AND SELL SITE--NOT A REFUND SITE! Therefore, a seller wouldn't be able to automatically cancel an auction that was won for $3 that's worth a $100, because they knew what could happen when an auction was created. Also, a buyer wouldn't automatically be able to renege on what they agreed upon, solely because The auction went higher than they expected and caused buyer's remorse later or the auction is being sold cheaper somewhere else.  That's one of those scamming aspects of eBay that needs to be fixed. IF YOU AGREE THAT THIS WOULD BE A GREAT PLAN, PITCH IT TO EBAY AND SEE WHAT THEY THINK.

[marsdaman]

I would say that all of those measures are tied together. You can't stop the cancelling of bids, for instance, if you don't first do something about the riftraft. A seller should be able to protect themselves.

IN THE HERE AND NOW:
Put a stipulation in your listing saying that I do my homework on my customers and may cancel if the customer is deemed, whether by past documentation or current negative incident, to be of problem-causing or unsavory caliber. New aliases(those with not many transactions and/or with only a year of experience) will be cancelled IN EXPENSIVE ITEMS. I have the right to protect myself and what I have from those who have proven themselves to be untrustworthy.

[baantiques]

Return for refund.  End of story.

I had a guy try that.  He wanted a return for not as described, which I approved even though it was his fault, but then he refused to send it back until I gave him a refund.  So I let him sit on it for 5 days, then called Ebay and had the case closed in my favor.  They also removed his subsequent negatve.

Then I blocked him.

That's all you need to do.

[oldasdirt2012]

There was no time left for me to file a case with ebay because she ran the clock out on me to do so. It was a big surprize when she had her bank come in and demand the extra funds to be returned. She purposely waited a week and half to do or respond to my emails. That was between 4 emails and a phone call and "POOF" it was over.

[oldasdirt2012]

When paypal got thru with me, I ended up with 15.00 for my gold bangle bracelet.

[ambintne0]

Sellers can't file anything but unpaid item cases against buyers...