If you sell any EXPENSIVE item on eBay, be prepared to get ROBBED with NO support from eBay

[we_sell_hardware]

Backstory -- I've been selling on ebay for 10+ years.  Its a large part of how I make my income. I am a top rated seller with over 99% feedback.  I have never seen the support this bad. At this point, eBay has NO intention of standing by their seller protection for expensive items. If you sell anything expensive on eBay, be prepared for the possibility of being ROBBED with ZERO RECOURSE.

I sold an expensive item on eBay ($600+). Buyer had over 30 feedback and had been around for over 2 years - seems safe right? Well, they open a return request for some random reason, and returned to us a piece of plastic instead of the item.

We called eBay, and the rep says that its our word versus the buyer, and to file a police report within 10 days to have the case evaluated.

The police dept of my city told me they have a 6-10 WEEK turnaround time for a copy of any police report to be mailed out from their records department, and this is the only way to get a copy. Delays with COVID, red tape, who knows why. Apparently, this is is pretty standard protocol - I live in one of the largest cities in the US. Of course, eBay must know this, but they don't care - every rep said they need it within 10 days (this way it's IMPOSSIBLE for you to get it submitted on time, so they can deny the claim) .  I file the report with the PD and somehow manage to get a provisional copy from the police station, after calling back 5 times, and waiting on hold for over 3 hours, and begging 4 different officers to help me. All this work for just ONE transaction on eBay.

And then eBay DENIES the claim anyway, and will not specify why they denied it!

This is not the only time this has happened. This same thing has happened over and over to me in different forms during the past few years -  buyers have filed disputes with their banks, buyers have returned junk to us, buyers have opened return requests and sent back items to another address in our same zip code. EACH TIME eBay has denied the claim after we jump through their hoops if the item is over $100. EACH TIME the buyer keeps the item and gets a full refund. The only time eBay approved the claim was for a cheap, $15 item. 

So, the moral of the story is -- even if you screen out buyers with low feedback, even if you screen out new buyers, even if you jump through eBay's hoops, you can and will still get robbed with no recourse or support. It's only a matter of time. I am not a novice seller- I've been doing this for over 10 years, I take a lot of precautions and know the system, and I still get robbed. I can't even imagine how many new sellers get robbed on here daily! Buyer scams have become more sophisticated, and eBay will not defend its sellers. This is the cold hard FACTS about eBay. It's like the Wild Wild West here for sellers.

If you sell expensive items on eBay, its not a matter of if you will be robbed, its a matter of WHEN.

[numisnorway]

You should have just played by their "rules" and made a fake police report from pepperland signed by sgt.pepper and uploaded it. The third world ebay employee would not be able to differentiate between a real and a fake one anyway.

This is actually a strategy scammers use these days.. they front run their victims by making their own fake police reports and upload them when they receive an "empty box" from the seller making the seller lose the case by default. Obviously they cant be bothered to look at other aspects of the case like how long the seller has been on ebay, his feedback etc and certainly not have a look at the buyers account which often is brand new or just pumped up with feedback from purchasing cheap trinkets from China.

Sorry this happened to you.. i know how it feels and now you know the truth about selling on ebay.

[hammy.n.peeps]

Yes, it happened to me years ago.  I sold a very expensive handbag with the receipt from Neiman's.  Buyer claimed it was fake...it was not.  They filed a claim and sent me back a book in the mail.  EBay is a scammer's paradise!

[donsdetour]

Necro Thread.

[tex-421]

Last year I sold about $3K worth of used Nikon equip.  A very high risk category that brought out the troglodytes, but I recognized what was going on and ultimately didn't have any problems.  Of course all my buyers were happy campers, no one tried to claim I sent them a broken lens.

[mtgraves7984]

As you offer Free Returns, it'd probably be better to reduce the amount of the refund by 50% when this happens to you.

Were it me, I'd be issuing a half-refund the minute the item was returned in a de-valued/destroyed condition... no need to reach out to eBay... simply slide the toggle and make the reduction.

This is one of the last seller protections left and I know that it doesn't make you whole, but it does lessen the sting of the (inevitable) refund you'll be issuing... use it. Good luck to you moving forward.

[mtgraves7984]

^^^ Just noticed how old this thread is. I'll bet the OP figured things out a long time ago...

[kizz519]

I listed a Louis Vuitton bag with No Returns/Refunds. Needed to sell to pay my household bills while waiting for Unemployment to process. Bag was shipped to Ebay Authentication Specialist and deemed Authenic.  Then shipped on to Buyer. Buyer than claims item is not as Listed and starts return process. Buyer never communicated with me. Ebay notified me of Return being processed. I as Seller reach out to Buyer. Buyer than makes accusations that they had item inspected and found out what she already knew it's not real. Could find same in Chinatown. 

So item gets shipped to my childhood home. As that was address used to open my Ebay account 20yrs ago.  Which is now 120 miles and 2 hours away from my current address. Which is also listed in my profile. So bag gets re-authenicated in return process.  

So I get charged the Listing Fee $65, insurance and Shipping by UPS $70, Buyers return shipping $12.65 (no insurance on item), the gas and time it takes to drive 240 miles round trip (4hrs), to be forced to give this Buyer a Full Refund. 

First Ebay employee told me in our Chat I would be able inspect item and offer partial refund. Never found ability to offer partial refund. Got on chat with some other Ebay employee and told I had no recourse. That no fees would be returned and they could do Nothing to stop Buyer from getting full refund. 

Is taking Buyer to Small Claims an option? I made screen shot of both Ebay Employee Chats, Buyer/Seller Communication, copies of all Fees I as Seller was Charged. 

I opened a dispute and filed complaint against Buyer; but have no faith this will stop Buyer from doing this to others. 

I am left with over $100 worth of debt in process of attempting to sell item to help during a financial hardship.  Buyer takes no financial responsibility in the transaction. FINANCIAL LOSS is left on Seller. 

This was not the Ebay I sold on years ago when both Buyer and Seller was protected, respected, and dealt with Fairly.

I told down my other Listing of a Designer Watch. I won't run risk of dealing with this again.

So what recourse does a Seller have? Small Claims?

Needing HELP

[kizz519]

So sorry did you take any action. File police report. Attempt to file with bank to pull bank refund?

[inhawaii]

Most of us know this already.

That's why we don't sell expensive items on ebay.

Sorry this happened to you.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.