Marking Your Items?

[picknparley]

I started putting ID marks on some of my items quite some time ago to discourage fraud.  I've noticed a post also on the forum of another seller doing this and having some success at discouraging scam buyers claiming damage and really just looking to return something else.  Unfortunately she got kind of a derogatory response, but I wanted her to know I'm with her!  

I'm just wondering if this has proven helpful for others? 

[ittybitnot]

I'm just wondering if this has proven helpful for others? 

Likely not as far as eBay is concerned.  It doesn't matter what is returned to the seller in a "return".  The buyer will be refunded regardless. 

[this*old*attic]

Waste of time if buyer claims SNAD

[bigdeals.etc]

If you are speaking strictly as a deterrent and not a means to win any return requests, then yes it might help... not sure.

But if you do do this, make sure the “marking” is 100% noticeable so the buyer won’t overlook it.

[fashunu4eeuh]

I have had a seller ruin an item I bought by marking thru the logo and not disclosing it in the listing. It was an irritating waste of my time, a guaranteed way of causing a return. I needed the item and the seller defaced it in a misguided attempt at preventing my returning it to a retail store. So I would not mark an item unless it was invisible and disclosed in the listing. 

Marking an item does not prevent fraud. Just about any person can steal any eBay item any time by claiming a false SNAD. 

[picknparley]

Obvious care and discretion is necessary in marking items.  I've been at this long enough to know better. 

And, no, this won't stop all INADs, but it does provide a deterrent. Upon any request for return kindly ask the buyer to give you the identifier on the piece "so we're sure we're working with the same item".  Sometimes if it is an abusive buyer, they don't want to get caught and the request just closes.  If it's a legit return your buyer will communicate and you can go from there. 

Nothing is fool proof, but it's just maybe another tool.

[buyselljack2016]

A bit of a deterrent for the novice thinking about a scam attempt.

Completely meaningless for the true scammer. You can ship a diamond, they can return a walnut.

[3eyedfishcatcher]

At the very least you would probably need to include a picture of the mark in the listing. That way the eBay rep would be able to review the listing to compare the picture you requested the buyer take to show you. However as a major issue sellers have with these claims is the buyer claiming some item they already had on hand was shipped in the place of the item bought your mark would not help as the buyer is doing a bait n switch. With only pictures being aloud in a claim there is no way to prove what was really packaged and sent to the buyer. Even if videos were aloud the package could always be  repackaged off camera before shipping. 

Perhaps the better thing to do is get the carriers to offer a service where the seller shows the carrier the item and the listing, then the seller packages the item in front of the carrier. So the item and the content of the package has been verified prior to shipping the buyer can not pull a bait n switch. I am sure seller of high dollar items would easily pay a few dollars for such a service.