Had a buyer that bought a pair of shoes for $20 plus ship a few weeks ago which were delivered 2/9, message me this morning, 2/21, “Hello, What is your phone number”. Before I responded they almost immediately put an offer in on another pair of shoes for $20 plus shipping. I accepted the offer before realizing it was the same person. After accepting that offer they again immediately messaged me through that item asking my number, and a second time through the previous item. This all happened with in 2-3 minutes. At this point red flags where apparent to me. I responded that I’m sorry I do not give my number through eBay, was there an issue with the previous order or the current one I can help them with? They can let me know through eBay. About 1 hour later they responded, they never wore the previous shoes and they where blown out on the side. I checked the previous listing and these where shoes that where practically brand new and had zero defects and my listing pics showed all sides of them with no defects never less a “blow out” on the side. I replied by saying I’m sorry they where damaged they where not when shipped please send me pics of damage and original packing since it was priority so I can file a claim with USPS as they must have been damaged during shipping. Their response an hope later was they will get me the pics when they get home later today. My biggest regret is that this buyer opened their eBay account less then 3 months ago and only have 4 feedbacks which all were positive. I am now Leary this is a scam and they will purposely damage the shoes to get out of looking like a scammer and I will have to eat a defect rate. I do not sell enough items in 90 days so I can only receive 3 defects in a year to lose top rated seller status and higher fees on sales. How should I handle this from here? From what I read eBay has no sympathy for sellers in these situations.
