Help! Am I screwed and SOL?

[rix9321]

Buyer claims shipping damage to a laptop that I shipped him. My wife in a rush to buy the postage left with the package and went to USPS to ship the product and didn't buy shipping insurance.

The buy sent some not so clear, highly suspicious, and self incriminating photos and claims the unit powers on and can see the keyboard light and hear a chime, but no picture on the screen and wants a refund. See the hammer on the bottom right of one of the pictures? The marks on the box look like the hammer was used.

What can I do to prevent being taken advantage of? I've never had to deal with this before, so any help is appreciated!

[thallidguy]

If you buy Priority Mail postage online, come insurance coverage comes with the basic cost of postage. Don't know if that applies if you buy postage at the PO counter.

[billm77]

You need to send the buyer a return slip and refund or send another computer when you receive back the broken one. You have insurance up to $50.00 with priority mail unless you pay for more insurance.

eBay will refund the buyer if you try to fight this. You will also receive a seller defect if eBay issues the refund. Only sell what you can afford to lose. I have first class packages disappear every so often. Put it in the books as an expense- lost or damaged goods.  

[timemachine777]

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@rix9321wrote:

Buyer claims shipping damage to a laptop that I shipped him. My wife in a rush to buy the postage left with the package and went to USPS to ship the product and didn't buy shipping insurance.

The buy sent some not so clear, highly suspicious, and self incriminating photos and claims the unit powers on and can see the keyboard light and hear a chime, but no picture on the screen and wants a refund. See the hammer on the bottom right of one of the pictures? The marks on the box look like the hammer was used.

What can I do to prevent being taken advantage of? I've never had to deal with this before, so any help is appreciated!

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Contact eBay's trust and safety dept, before you do anything, and show them the photos with the hammer in it. If you have to do a refund, request a return of the laptop. I would suspect that the buyer is banking on you doing a refund and telling them to keep the claimed damaged laptop. If they used that hammer on the package I bet you the laptop was removed first.

[timemachine777]

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@rix9321wrote:

Buyer claims shipping damage to a laptop that I shipped him. My wife in a rush to buy the postage left with the package and went to USPS to ship the product and didn't buy shipping insurance.

The buy sent some not so clear, highly suspicious, and self incriminating photos and claims the unit powers on and can see the keyboard light and hear a chime, but no picture on the screen and wants a refund. See the hammer on the bottom right of one of the pictures? The marks on the box look like the hammer was used.

What can I do to prevent being taken advantage of? I've never had to deal with this before, so any help is appreciated!

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I just blew up the photo of the grey box and the holes in the middle of the box was done with a hammer claw. You can not only see that the claw made two separate holes, but that the edge of the holes were shaped by the shape of the claw prongs. Take a hammer claw to a cardboard box and you'll see what I mean.

[timemachine777]

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@rix9321wrote:

Buyer claims shipping damage to a laptop that I shipped him. My wife in a rush to buy the postage left with the package and went to USPS to ship the product and didn't buy shipping insurance.

The buy sent some not so clear, highly suspicious, and self incriminating photos and claims the unit powers on and can see the keyboard light and hear a chime, but no picture on the screen and wants a refund. See the hammer on the bottom right of one of the pictures? The marks on the box look like the hammer was used.

What can I do to prevent being taken advantage of? I've never had to deal with this before, so any help is appreciated!

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I would also show the photos to your post master, as this could be considered postal theft. They're claiming that the Post office damaged an expensive item that looks to be just the packing boxes damaged by them.

[itz_stacey]

@rix9321

The PO would have/should have placed a label on that box indicating that it was damaged/open. I see no such label on that box. I think a call to the buyers PO is going to in order here. 

There is a bonus to calling them too...........the buyer apparently doesn't know this but the PO is taking pictures of every piece of mail processed through their system. See -Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) [USPS]

Again, it might be an extremely good idea to call your buyers local Post Office. They do not keep photos for long (1 week to 30 days, I think) so you need to get on the phone ASAP. Be sure to ask for the Postmaster when you call. 

[missjen831]

Well this is rare! Your scammer left a crucial piece of evidence in the photo and sent it to you! Wow! I’d bet that it’s also his old broken laptop and not the one you sent. Good luck to you OP. Something is very fishy here.

[sparkysretroelectro]

you might want to blur out the addresses in that picture.

[sparkysretroelectro]

ooh crud. thanks for reminding me.  i need to start recording the serial numbers on electronics again before i ship, to prevent the "wal mart returns"

[luxe_auto_parts]

Didn't know about that! Thank you for the info.)

Everybody knows eBay is a perfect place to scam sellers (mostly). Some people use their right to open a case to get their money back and keep the item. eBay does nothing about this. Even if a buyer sents you back a package you can't be sure you'll get your item back. It can be literally anything in the box. The best way to protect yourself from the actions like this is to use a warranty stickers/QR codes. You can also use UV markers and mark your items before sending. I can't guarantee you'll be 100% protected, but you can at leaset prevent some scammers from blackmailing you or scamming you.

[lookng2015]

There's no way the PO would have delivered that outer box without a note attached re the damage

[luckythewinner]

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@luxe_auto_partswrote:

The best way to protect yourself from the actions like this is to use a warranty stickers/QR codes. You can also use UV markers and mark your items before sending. I can't guarantee you'll be 100% protected, but you can at leaset prevent some scammers from blackmailing you or scamming you.

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How do warranty stickers, QR codes, or UV markers help prevent scammers from scamming you? 

[swenson8781]

I agree with others who said to get a hold of the buyers local post office (Postmaster), and I'd gladly send a message to the buyer letting them know that I am doing so.  That way the buyer at least knows that you are trying to resolve the problem.

Like others have stated, if the post office/carrier damages an item in that way, the package is usually re-wrapped, with a notice on the package that it was damaged during transit.

[luxe_auto_parts]

It makes more difficult to send "replaced" (read: fake, wrong, not originally shipped) item back to the seller. It also will be noticeable, if buyer will attempt to open/disassemble/unplug/etc. something from originally shipped item. These steps may help when another scammer will attempt to open Item is not as described/return case/request.