eBay

heygar1 · ‎03-28-2020

Please don't wag a finger at me. A buyer scammed me, and I accept that. What I want to know is how to avoid this happening again.

A buyer purchased a knife from me on day one and another on day two. Btw, these are seperate listings, not quantities of an identical item. Then I get a buyer request to ship the two together. No problem, (so I think). Both knives get shipped in one package with one tracking number. Two weeks go by, then the buyer files "did not receive" request for the second knife. Of course, ebay sided with the buyer.

The only take-away I can think of is to never combine shipping. But there must be a way to do this for honest people and protect myself. I'll use this as a teachable opportunity. Thank you in advance.

a_c_green · ‎03-29-2020

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@heygar1 wrote:
[...] Both knives get shipped in one package with one tracking number. Two weeks go by, then the buyer files "did not receive" request for the second knife. Of course, ebay sided with the buyer.
The only take-away I can think of is to never combine shipping. But there must be a way to do this for honest people and protect myself. [...]
I thought this could be resolved by uploading the tracking number to the second sold item. That's what I do when my buyers buy multiples over a few days (since I only ship once a week), I just create a label from the most expensive order and add the tracking to the other orders. I know this doesn't work if purchased under two different accounts, but all under the same account should be fine.

It can be resolved by uploading the tracking number to the second item, but that has to be done at shipping time, not two weeks later. It's the delay that can burn you later; you have to mark all items as shipped when they go out, and get the tracking number uploaded to each sold item at that time. Do that before the last estimated date of delivery and you should have your protection against an Item Not Received dispute.

Just to be clear: none of the above is protection against a Not As Described dispute. That's a whole different area, one in which tracking numbers have no relevance.

a_c_green · ‎03-29-2020

@chapeau-noir wrote:
Sometimes these threads are like trying to carry on four conversations at once during a loud cocktail party where at least one person is drunk.

I'm thinking this needs to be posted by the moderators at the top of every page.

(Cheers! Just starting my before-dinner sherry...)

dinpavent0 · ‎03-29-2020

This is exactly what I do whether they buy the listings separately or put in cart and pay together. I package items together and copy and paste the tracking number in the boxes for the other items. That way they all have same tracking. I mostly do free shipping and never have done combined shipping. This always works for me and honestly never once had a problem with it. Never had a buyer say they didn't receive one or any for that matter.

bar-29368 · ‎03-29-2020

@1tuna wrote:
I understand about the tracking needing to be in the return already.I was just commenting on the link that was supplied,back in 2018 they were talking about the new shipping page,people still refer to it as the new shipping page when its been around for a while.

its like talking about seller hub as if its new.I have been using it for a long time but some sellers still refer to it as being new,after 15 months of using something every day its not new to me,for an occasional seller it might seem new

We call it "new" because you just know (this being ebay) that eventually, and likely with zero notice, it will suddenly become the "old" shipping page.

heygar1 · ‎03-29-2020

As the OP, I thank you all for your contributions. At forty seven replies, it felt like a get-together with my Sicilian family.😂

The one inescapable conclusion I have reached is that no matter how much due-diligence you do, (and I didn't do enough), unscrupulous types will always try to exploit the system. Makes no difference if it's one item or many. I am still mulling over future combined shipping.

Finally, as a glass half-empty kind of sentiment, I am disheartened by the fact that ebay has become as the good book says "a den of thieves". This applies to buyers and sellers alike.

Best of Luck and Stay Safe to All!

mam98031 · ‎03-29-2020

@heygar1 wrote:
As the OP, I thank you all for your contributions. At forty seven replies, it felt like a get-together with my Sicilian family.😂
The one inescapable conclusion I have reached is that no matter how much due-diligence you do, (and I didn't do enough), unscrupulous types will always try to exploit the system. Makes no difference if it's one item or many. I am still mulling over future combined shipping.
Finally, as a glass half-empty kind of sentiment, I am disheartened by the fact that ebay has become as the good book says "a den of thieves". This applies to buyers and sellers alike.
Best of Luck and Stay Safe to All!

Personally I think that is a bit of an over reaction to this issue. Combined shipping is SO EASY to do on Ebay. It does not have to be complicated or hard unless you are determined to make it that way. I've been here a LONG time and never had an issue with it. But of course you need to do what it right for you.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

Anonymous · ‎03-30-2020

@a_c_green wrote:

@fern*wood wrote:

If you didn't enter the tracking number on the second knife (am not clear on whether you did or not), are you able to enter it in the not received case?

I have a bad feeling that the answer is No, due to a change in the rules sometime last year in which the tracking number had to be uploaded to the Sold item record before the buyer files an Item Not Received dispute. eBay will no longer honor a Delivered status on a tracking number if the number was uploaded to the sale after the dispute was filed.

I should say that I'm maybe 85% sure that I have that right. The other 15% chance is that the cutoff time for uploading the tracking number might be before the last estimated date of delivery, rather than before the buyer files an INR. Hopefully someone else can remember the rule change better than I can. I think @Anonymous did some detailed explanation of that rule change when it was first announced.

Hi @a_c_green, while we did provide an update in the 2018 Fall Seller Update (here) regarding the requirement to upload tracking to eBay, the way that we protect sellers when there is delivery confirmation has not changed. This update primarily addressed situations where a seller has provided tracking via messages and not by directly uploading the information into the transaction. If tracking was uploaded to the transaction, or if it was uploaded into the case itself, and this tracking shows the item was delivered, the seller is still protected. The only issue would be if tracking either was not provided at all, was only provided via eBay messages, or was uploaded correctly but it did not confirm a delivery status.

jaf.us.hysarja9 · ‎03-30-2020

Sorry to hear about your experience. EBay cares less and less about their sellers everyday and does nothing about the rampant scamming. I was recently scammed and found that the address the items are shipped to have been scamming people for the past two years and ebay has done nothing. The buyer buys the item and then after receiving sends a message that they either didn't receive the item or it was just an empty envelope/box. They then threaten to leave negative feedback if you don't credit the item or send identical item. They've done this hundreds of times that I have tracked through buyer complaints, but eBay still is allowing it to go on.

fern*wood · ‎03-30-2020

@heygar1 wrote:
As the OP, I thank you all for your contributions. At forty seven replies, it felt like a get-together with my Sicilian family.😂
The one inescapable conclusion I have reached is that no matter how much due-diligence you do, (and I didn't do enough), unscrupulous types will always try to exploit the system. Makes no difference if it's one item or many. I am still mulling over future combined shipping.
Finally, as a glass half-empty kind of sentiment, I am disheartened by the fact that ebay has become as the good book says "a den of thieves". This applies to buyers and sellers alike.
Best of Luck and Stay Safe to All!

What did you do with your tracking number? How did you respond to the case? Did you see the ebay rep response in post 52? It might help you.

@heygar1

Anonymous · ‎03-30-2020

@jaf.us.hysarja9 wrote:

Sorry to hear about your experience. EBay cares less and less about their sellers everyday and does nothing about the rampant scamming. I was recently scammed and found that the address the items are shipped to have been scamming people for the past two years and ebay has done nothing. The buyer buys the item and then after receiving sends a message that they either didn't receive the item or it was just an empty envelope/box. They then threaten to leave negative feedback if you don't credit the item or send identical item. They've done this hundreds of times that I have tracked through buyer complaints, but eBay still is allowing it to go on.

Hi @jaf.us.hysarja9, I encourage to report the details of your concern to Customer Service. We proactively monitor for patterns of abuse, but as you can imagine those that seek to commit fraud can be quite creative in the methods they use to avoid detection. If anything like what you are describing was reported to us, we would be able to not only review for appropriate action, but also improve our automatic processes of identifying fraudulent activity overall.

heygar1 · ‎03-31-2020

I am truly glad you've never had an issue with combined shipping. And yes, now I know it is not complicated. But please re-read my second paragraph. ANY sale can be exploited if you are unfortunate to cross paths with a scammer.

heygar1 · ‎03-31-2020

My big mistake was not posting the tracking number for the second item until a late shipping statement was posted by ebay. Then the dominos fell. As I said before Mea Culpa.

fern*wood · ‎03-31-2020

I was still hopeful that you could avoid needing to refund based on Trinton's post.

richardwillardcollection · ‎03-31-2020

Make all listings free shipping and never have that problem, combine shipping when it suits you, not customer, be sure to copy and paste tracking number to the other orders.

coffeebean832 · ‎03-31-2020

@1tuna wrote:
thank you for finding that.I also read about the shipping rollout,its hard to believe people call it the new shipping, since it was announced so long ago

The new shipping label page was announced in the fall 2018 seller update I linked, but it wasn't rolled out to everybody until some time last year. Even then there was a working link to the classic page until very recently so many sellers were still using the old/classic page. And don't forget- after it launched there were a lot of errors and function issues and I'm still seeing them clean that stuff up- including changes as recently as a few weeks ago. So as far as many of us are concerned it's still "new"