How to protect against buyer fraud?

[bkondo]

How do you protect yourself from buyers who make bogus claims to get their money back.

For example, a buyer claiming there was nothing in the box?

I havent come across a buyer like this yet but some of my friends have lost a case to these scumbags.

Does ebay keep tabs on these buyers who do this often? 

[tripper101]

Perhaps you need protection from your friends spoofing you.  A buyer claiming item not received because they got an empty box would lose the case because the seller would have a valid tracking number showing delivered.  This would be a mail fraud case and that is no joke and would be handled by postal inspectors.

[orangehound]

Two truths.

1. There is nothing you can do to provide 100% protection ... it is just a cost of doing business.  There are shop lifters on the internet just like there are shop lifters at brick and morter stores.
2. There are four dishonest practices that are often seen with eBay buyers:
   • The most common fraud is a buyer who doesn't want to pay return shipping and lies about the condition ... but you'll get the product back.
   • A buyer doing a return who substitutes a used/damaged item for the new item you sold them - it is rare, but some have gotten back a brick, or they steal valuable parts from the original item.
   • A buyer who violates your return policy by "renting" or perhaps breaking your item after use.  You get back the item in a condition that has less value.
   • A buyer who preys on inexperienced sellers who don't know how to navigate policies and procedures, causes the seller to make a mistake (such as shipping prior to payment), and ultimately scams the seller.  Sometimes, buyers will threaten a seller in some way that causes them to give partial refunds.  Sometimes buyers will trick sellers into doing transactions outside of eBay to "save money".

What protections can a seller put in place?

1. Put scam repellant in your listings.  Your photographs and listings need to look professional and business-like.  If a scammer is searching for a mark, you want him to pick someone else over you ... scammers will tend to go to the seller that looks like they will be easily fooled or manipulated.  Professional listings make you look smart, savy, and experienced.
2. Get experience, grow slowly.  If you are a new seller, do not sell items that are expensive, and (in particular) do not initially sell items that have high levels of fraud such as iPhones, iPads, etc.  Dishonest buyers prey on new sellers with expensive gear.
3. Educate yourself.  Learn eBay policies and procedures ... similar to #2, education can also come from experience.
4. Keep it on eBay.  Do not communicate outside of eBay messaging.  eBay only uses the communications in their rulings.
5. Warn ... I mean, "reassure" buyers.  I've only done this a few times, but if you should suspect that a high dollar value purchase could be high risk, video/photograph as much as you can (including serial numbers) ... get delivery confirmation if the neighborhood looks high risk ... you might eventually use this information for a police or FBI report.  If I am highly suspicious, I will send out a polite email to the buyer to let them know that I am taking steps to protect their purchase against theft or mishandling by proper documentation, insurance, and delivery confirmation in the event of any mishap.  I word it very carefully so as not to include any suggestion that the buyer is dishonest - it is just a "matter of fact" note to demonstrate that it is being protected.
6. See if you can get admission.  The thing I hate the most is false SNADs.  If you are dealing with a return from someone clearly being dishonest, stay calm, and "coyly" try to see if you can get them to admit that the item was received in the condition expressed in your listing.  Should they open a return request for a dishonest reason (INAD/SNAD reason on the return), give eBay CS a call and point out that the return is fraudulent ... many times, eBay will use the gathered conversation and shut down the return and rule in your favor.
7. Report dishonesty.  Nothing will likely come out of the reports unless it is a high dollar item, but you can still report scamming/thefts to the FBI and you can report abuse of returns from a buyer to eBay (I would assume that if there are multiple reports against a buyer, eBay might then take some action).  If the item is of particular high value, you can take the buyer to court ... the documentation done in #5 would be used as evidence.
8. Stay professional.  Not everyone who has a problem with your transaction is lying or scamming you.  In my experience, it is more common that they genuinely have a problem.  So, above all, keep calm and stay professional.  There is no benefit to cursing, being irate, accusing someone of lying/theft/scamming ... treat people decently.

With all that, still you will pay for a dishonest buyer from time to time.  As mentioned earlier, it is a cost of doing business.  You just need to factor such losses into your overall business model ... if you can't tolerate a total loss on an item, then don't try to sell it in the first place.

[thatsallfolks]

---

@tripper101 wrote:

Perhaps you need protection from your friends spoofing you.  A buyer claiming item not received because they got an empty box would lose the case because the seller would have a valid tracking number showing delivered.  This would be a mail fraud case and that is no joke and would be handled by postal inspectors.

---

The buyer would file a "not as described" case, not a "not received" case. The seller's tracking # is worthless in that situation.

[frankligeorg-8]

Buyers can and do scam sellers a lot on Ebay.  Out of six sales, I've been scammed four times.

The first one.  The buyer bought a video game.  I mailed it, the next day, to the  address provided.  After I mailed it, the buyer emailed me and wanted me to ship it to a different address in Peru.  I told him I sent it to the address Ebay told me to.  The buyer then emails me that unless I send him $500 through Pay Pal, he will leave negative feedback. I didn''t send him the money. I reported him to Ebay. The buyer left negative feedback for me. Then, he filed an item not recieved case.  Despite all my proof, Ebay refunded him.

The second one.   The buyer paid with Pay Pal.  Within hours, a chargeback was filed.  So, I did not ship the item.  I wasn't going to ship it knowing I wasn't getting paid.  Then, a few days later the buyer emails me and wants a tracking number and wants to know where there item was.  I told her I didn't ship because of the chargeback.  She filed for an item not recieved case.   Somehow Ebay refunded her and she got a double refund , which came out of my bank account.  I've been calling Ebay and Pay Pal daily, but no one wants to help get my money back.

The third scam, a buyer said he did not get my item.  The tracking number said he had it.  So, Ebay found in my favor, but the same day before Pay Pal released the money, he filed for a refund saying the box was empty !  Ebay gave him a refund even though I had the slip from the post office with the package weight on it, clearly showing the box was not empty.

The fourth scam.  The buyer paid with Pay Pal.  I shipped with tracking and signature confirmation.  The buyer refused delivery.  Then, said he didn't get the package.  Ebay gave him a refund, eventhough he refused delivery.

[iart]

Having read a lot of compalints about this in the boards I'm convinced that the  level of problem buyers is directly related to what categories you sell in.

Electronics, especially modern cell phones and lap tops and such? Watch out!

Clothing? Better get good prices to cover all the returns.

Collectibles? Iffy. Be careful of items that are expensive or hard to ship.

We sell in a pretty cozy little spot. Vintage books. And we rarely have a problem (though I smell one fast approaching!).

Good luck!

[rrrrrrrrrrandman]

I chalk up the fraud as part of every day ebay activity.  It's the negative feedback that's so disillusioning.  I have had an ID on ebay since 2001 and never gotten negative feedback.  I have generally refunded without question the not as described and empty box claims.  I once contested a scammer who bought my laptop, harvested out all the parts he wanted, smashed it up a bit with a hammer and demanded his money back.  I paid for return shipping, took photos to compare to the before photos and still "lost" the case with ebay.  Oh well.  Recently, a buyer kept messaging me demanding I send him an invoice to pay for purchasing multiple lots of cheap sports cards.  I responded to one of the 6 irate messages explaining I could not send an invoice for what he has in his cart as it is only visible to him on his computer and I would at least require a list of the items he was interested in.  He found this response to be "rude".  After he figured out he could "buy" the items and ask for an invoice prior to payment - I was able to offer him a massive shipping savings and complete the transaction.  Upon receiving the items, he puts in 6 negative feedbacks and claims they were poorly packaged and all damaged.  Since this has never happened I report the buyer.  He then sends me messages admitting he made it all up because I am rude and that if I refund all the money he will retract the feedback.  I report the buyer.  In the end - my 16+ years of perfect feedback is tarnished and the feedback stays.  I could care less about the money and would happily refund the psychopath - but the feedback isn't going anywhere.  I can't possibly trust this guy to remove it - if that is even possible.  I've never seen any link t remove feedback when I'm leaving it.  So I ithink that is fiction anyway.  Does anyone out there know if I have any options to get the obviously bogus feedback removed?

[tracyeprettyswankyboutique]

Thank you for these very helpful tips.  I do have a question though, in your experience with scammers, did any of them have negative feedback from buyers in their history?  Just curious because I think I am being scammed by someone but see no negative feedback.  

[tracyeprettyswankyboutique]

I meant to say negative feedback from sellers, not buyers in my previous comments

[pikabo-icu]

---

@tracyeprettyswankyboutique wrote:

I meant to say negative feedback from sellers, not buyers in my previous comments

---

Sellers can't leave negs for buyers. EVER. That ended many years ago.

If you leave a positive FB with neg comments, it will be removed as it's a policy violation.

So the answer to your question is no, unless they also sell & received a negative for that. 

[retrose1]

If you become the target for a scammer- there is absolutely nothing you can do to protect yourself and/or get the scammer on ebay's radar so they can not do it again.

So the solution is to list only items that are worth only what your recent selling feedback is.  Which means that most sellers will never list a $600 smartphone - but they will never be scammed out of it, either.

[mr_lincoln]

@bkondo  There is absolutely no full proof way to protect oneself against a Buyer who lies.  There are enough loop holes in the online sales industry that Buyers who are dishonest will find them and exploit them.  Sad but true ...

[enzo7117]

thats mildew LOL

[mr_lincoln]

@rrrrrrrrrrandman  It may be a long shot but call and ask for the Turst & Safety Depart. and discuss the FB case with them.  The more of these I read the more obvious it becomes that the entire FB system needs to be revamped or replaced.

[otterseller2017_5]

I saw some scammers that took advantage of the buyer protection, but all you can see is the positive feedback along with a negative warning from the seller (victim)