How To Deal With A Scammer?

[cataliner]

First: Why can't I phone Ebay anymore? This is a complex issue and I don't know what to do about it! It needs immediate attention. 

I sold a pair of vintage prescription designer glasses last week to Joe. When I ship an item, I always put a Thank you note inside that includes my phone number. Last night I got a phone call from Fred saying that the glasses were described as NONprescription. 

It turned out that the buyer (Fred) had purchased them on Grailed, but phoned my number because of the note. MY buyer (Joe) had tripled the price, lied in his description, and listed them on Grailed, providing Ebay with his buyer's address, not his own. 

Apparently Fred has opened a Paypal case against Joe, and Joe has contacted me saying the glasses are NAD. 

I really don't know what to do! WHY CAN'T I PHONE EBAY?!

NOW what do I do? 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Heck why bother to even sell on another site? Just confiscate listings right here and sell higher priced right here? 

[jesusrocks3339]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

Right. Point is that having the thing sent to a 3rd party buyer is not the scam. Describing it as having more valuable features than it really has would be the scam.

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Seems friends/family is one thing, using any ebay seller as a dropshipper is quite another. I guess I can stop going out to find and store and clean and package antiques anymore, I can just sell anything I see on ebay on other sites, confiscating descriptions and pictures. I won't make the mistake though of calling something like glasses non-rx when they are, I'll make sure to get it right. 

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Just be sure to ask your seller NOT to enclose an invoice or any other type of communication with the purchase.  Then it's all good

[a_c_green]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

Right. Point is that having the thing sent to a 3rd party buyer is not the scam. Describing it as having more valuable features than it really has would be the scam.

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Seems friends/family is one thing, using any ebay seller as a dropshipper is quite another. I guess I can stop going out to find and store and clean and package antiques anymore, I can just sell anything I see on ebay on other sites, confiscating descriptions and pictures. I won't make the mistake though of calling something like glasses non-rx when they are, I'll make sure to get it right. 

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Well, yeah, that's pretty much the situation. Keep in mind that if Joe hadn't messed up the description, then Fred (or whoever else would have bought them instead) would have been perfectly happy, and none of this would have happened. 

eBay sellers getting their listings copied on other sites is unfortunately nothing new, and I don't know that eBay can do much to stop it. Furthermore, even if the original seller is aware of the copied listing elsewhere, he can't be certain that whoever buys his item is or is not that copycat (even if his buyer is providing a different name and address with the payment, a legitimate option for eBay buyers).

The seller on the other site is sticking his neck out by hoping that when he gets a sale, he can react fast enough to grab the actual item off eBay and get it to his buyer in time. That's apparently what Joe tried to do here. Didn't go well. 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Fred would have been a little confused by the note inside with the ebay seller's identification and contact info though. Hmm. 

I found an item of mine description pictures everything stolen and used on a scam site. I did sell the item. The scam site had it listed for LESS than me! Another scam site propagated the listing and has it listed for twice mine. Neither site is legitimate. 

Yes, speed is of the essence, isn't it? 

[cataliner]

UPDATE: Fred opened a Paypal case against Joe. Joe opened an Ebay return with me. This morning Fred asked me who he should return the glasses to. I told him honestly that I didn't know and that he should call Paypal. Paypal told him to return them to me and that once I've refunded Joe, Joe will refund Fred. Joe, not being very smart, put his reason for return as Doesn't Fit. Thus, FRED will have to pay for return shipping, and because I have a 20% restocking fee, JOE will lose 20% of his original payment. So I don't lose anything, and I hope that Fred DOES get fully refunded. I'm assuming that PP has frozen Joe's account until this is sorted out and Fred is paid. Confusing!

Further confusion will occur if the glasses aren't in the condition I sent them in. Joe is asking for trouble, because i could CLAIM they're not, and he would lose out. I'm not going to do that, but someone with a little less tolerance for a criminal idiot might.

AT this point in the day, many hours after I told Fred he should return them fast, I haven't received a tracking number. I don't know if he knows how to do that. 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I'm glad that Joe will be out your restocking fee and original postage cost. Hoping for Fred that he receives all his money back, and that your glasses come back as you sent them, which seems likely because Fred sounds honest from what you have written so far. 

Again I think the lesson here is to not leave too much meat on the bone. Seems giving someone a deal on ebay is akin to "no good deed goes unpunished". 

[myescape]

Drop shipping is allowed and users can have multiple address listed  in their ebay account to chose from in checkout or can input a new one while checking out

[myescape]

account owner contact info is NOT the same as the allowed shipping address

If the phone number was not in the package Fred would only be dealing w Joe thru their sale.Then Joe with op

Either way as long as Fred's tracking shows delivery to address on return case Joe will have to refund full amount.If that address is op's return request too op would be refunding Joe

[d-k_treasures]

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@cataliner wrote:

UPDATE: Fred opened a Paypal case against Joe. Joe opened an Ebay return with me. This morning Fred asked me who he should return the glasses to. I told him honestly that I didn't know and that he should call Paypal. Paypal told him to return them to me and that once I've refunded Joe, Joe will refund Fred. Joe, not being very smart, put his reason for return as Doesn't Fit. Thus, FRED will have to pay for return shipping, and because I have a 20% restocking fee, JOE will lose 20% of his original payment. So I don't lose anything, and I hope that Fred DOES get fully refunded. I'm assuming that PP has frozen Joe's account until this is sorted out and Fred is paid. Confusing!

Further confusion will occur if the glasses aren't in the condition I sent them in. Joe is asking for trouble, because i could CLAIM they're not, and he would lose out. I'm not going to do that, but someone with a little less tolerance for a criminal idiot might.

AT this point in the day, many hours after I told Fred he should return them fast, I haven't received a tracking number. I don't know if he knows how to do that. 

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Fred should have returned them to Joe.

Now Fred doesn't have a tracking # that says it's returned to Joe, and might have his PP claim denied.

[myescape]

It just has to be the return address Joe gives in the pp case

[jesusrocks3339]

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@myescape wrote:

account owner contact info is NOT the same as the allowed shipping address

If the phone number was not in the package Fred would only be dealing w Joe thru their sale.Then Joe with op

Either way as long as Fred's tracking shows delivery to address on return case Joe will have to refund full amount.If that address is op's return request too op would be refunding Joe

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yeah, I do get that.  My original idea however has to to with something I read on policy about how it is important to give out the correct info to your buyers so that eBay can be a place where buyers and sellers are incouraged to communicate to each other.  It said something like that in the member to member contact info.   So much for that...

[retrose1]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

Fred would have been a little confused by the note inside with the ebay seller's identification and contact info though. Hmm. 

I found an item of mine description pictures everything stolen and used on a scam site. I did sell the item. The scam site had it listed for LESS than me! Another scam site propagated the listing and has it listed for twice mine. Neither site is legitimate. 

Yes, speed is of the essence, isn't it? 

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When I had my B&M store, there was a guy that would come in and take pictures of some of the items in my store and then have me hold them for him.

I am so not stupid and so I would look them up on ebay and watch them and there he listed an I Dream of Jeannie bottle that his pics were of my bottle sitting on my shelf and was being held for him.  When he came in to pick it up because for the first time something sold and for a lot more than I was pricing it at, I told him that he didn't come in to pick it up the next day so I sold it.  Actually it was under the counter, but hey, I listed it about a month later and made lots of money and I didn't see him again.

If you want to sell stuff, it's a smart idea to make sure that you have it in your hands.

I did some looking around that site and am pretty sure that Joe is not the only person duplicating listings there.

[hafoster]

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@cataliner wrote:

UPDATE:

JOE, not being very smart, put his reason for return as Doesn't Fit.

Thus, FRED will have to pay for return shipping

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Nope, FRED has to pay return shipping --

because buyers pay return shipping on PayPal:And FRED must return to JOE as proof for the refund --

because it is the PayPal account for JOE that's in the dispute --

and because JOE didn't have your address when FRED opened the dispute.

[cataliner]

Joe has my address -- it's listed in the Ebay sale. And Fred IS paying for return shipping. Paypal told Fred to return them to me, so that's what's happening.

[pvcliff]

@cataliner So did Fred get the glasses back to you and Joe receive his refund less your restocking fee? Just being nosy wondering how it all turned out. This was a doozy!