New seller. Positive I'm being scammed.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Too many words.

If the buyer opens a return, accept it, send the shipping label.

If they send you something different back, file mail fraud charges and file a police report.

Neither Ebay nor Paypal will help you, They *may* give you a courtesy refund out of their own pocket if you send in the police and mail fraud reports, but not before.

[pvcliff]

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@ohnojoey wrote:

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@ted_200 wrote: 
Should we play 20 questions?  I'll start.

Is it a comic book?

---

Apparently so. OP has written an epic-length post on this in a couple of groups now; here is one of them:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/New-seller-scammed/qaq-p/29033573

---

Epic is right!

Here is a condensed version;

"I listed the comic at $220 buy it now or best offer with free shipping.

I sent him back a generous counter offer of $200 - he accepted my offer and paid immediately.

The buyer claims there is a small rip/tear to the spine of the book

As soon as I see the pic I know the buyer is trying to scam me.

Customer service was no help

Ebay forces you to accept the return.

---

Thanks for the synopsis. I did not even read the first sentence once  the OP got his epic posted. What I did was get out of my chair and stick it under hubby's nose so I could say to him "you just think I run on and on, look at this!" An epic to beat all epics! 

[zolsmi9]

I realize that alot of people dont like to read or have short attention spans, but I feel like detail is important and I wanted to share my experience with everyone here as well as getting some advice.

My apologizies for running on and taking up a moment of your time.

Hopefully this sort of thing doesnt apply when buyers make a purchase from me. I write lengthy descriptions to serve a purpose.

If the buyers cant be bothered to read those descriptions, well thats a recipe for disaster from the start if you ask me.

Thanks for trying to help.

[zolsmi9]

Thanks for your reply/advice and your time.

[zolsmi9]

Thanks for the advice and your time.

[zolsmi9]

Thanks for the advice and your time!!

[castlemagicmemories]

No offense, OP, but Good Lord!  And I am verbose myself, and I'm a voracious reader who will read anything, even a shampoo bottle!

[reallynicestamps]

Long Descriptions are counterproductive.

Look at your listings on a smartphone.

That's what your customer sees.

If you have high value books you should consider having them certified, then all you need is the grade and name of certifying company.

Not all certifying companies are accepted by eBay.

[zolsmi9]

I now know that. It seems almost pointless to give a description at all.
The problem with certifying comics has the same kind of possible issues. You have to send a comic thru the mail...and it costs like $70 per book.

[sin-n-dex]

@zolsmi9

Most of us don't have time to read that... my breaks at work are only 10 minutes.

Try to be concise with key details. It will be easier for us to help you.

C.

[zolsmi9]

So, I recieved the comic back this morning, and I must admit I am quite confused. 

There is no tear. 

My only thoughts at this point  is the buyer must have just had buyers remorse for whatever reason and decided he wanted his money back.

I was completely dumbfounded after looking the area over well and not finding the damage he claimed. It appears I was a bit hasty in my theory as to what occured though. The buyer did not pull the switch a roo on me. 

I am thankful!

When a comic book is printed, the cover is printed on one solid sheet of paper. That paper is then folded in half to make a front and back cover. Folding any piece of paper in half creates a crease and color loss happens in said crease. It often turns white. Sometimes the corner(s) of the created spine can rip ever so slightly during the comic books production. A comic book is almost truely never MINT due to miniscule flaws of this nature.

Part of me thought thats what the buyer could be refering to when he said there was a tiny rip. I just don't see it. The spine has turned white in that area due to the process I just mentioned, but I wouldnt call that "damage", deffinitely not a tear.

You can walk into any comic book store right now at any time and pull a brand new issue off the rack and find examples of this. It happens alot. Finding an absolutely perfect and flawless copy of any book out there is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is why 90%+ new books fall into the NEAR Mint range, cause theyre not MINT.

This book still falls into the NM category in my personal opinion, and thats how I originally listed it.

I'm still not happy about the $40 or so I lost on the whole process, but at least I got the book back in the same great condition. Huge relief!

I'm happy to chalk this whole transaction up to a learning experience, it hurt, but i'm moving forward.

I did not contact ebay as there was really no reason for me to do so.

I've decided to relist the book in hopes that someone else will buy and appreciate it for what it is. I've taken better pictures of the book outside of the bag this time and I havent placed my personal grade in the listing due to that being so subjective. I've also decided to go the auction route this time and start the bidding at well below its value. 

I feel like thats a better route to take after researching this topic thouroughly. I let the buyer(s) decide what its worth and give more people a chance to own a key book at a reasonable price.

Going forward, should I decide to sell more comics or valuble collectibles I will use this method. It just makes sense. 

Thanks again for all the replies, advice, concerns and everyones time. It has been very helpful and is very much appreciated!

-Mike

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@zolsmi9 wrote:

So, I recieved the comic back this morning, and I must admit I am quite confused. 

There is no tear. 

My only thoughts at this point  is the buyer must have just had buyers remorse for whatever reason and decided he wanted his money back.

I was completely dumbfounded after looking the area over well and not finding the damage he claimed. It appears I was a bit hasty in my theory as to what occured though. The buyer did not pull the switch a roo on me. 

I am thankful!

When a comic book is printed, the cover is printed on one solid sheet of paper. That paper is then folded in half to make a front and back cover. Folding any piece of paper in half creates a crease and color loss happens in said crease. It often turns white. Sometimes the corner(s) of the created spine can rip ever so slightly during the comic books production. A comic book is almost truely never MINT due to miniscule flaws of this nature.

Part of me thought thats what the buyer could be refering to when he said there was a tiny rip. I just don't see it. The spine has turned white in that area due to the process I just mentioned, but I wouldnt call that "damage", deffinitely not a tear.

You can walk into any comic book store right now at any time and pull a brand new issue off the rack and find examples of this. It happens alot. Finding an absolutely perfect and flawless copy of any book out there is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is why 90%+ new books fall into the NEAR Mint range, cause theyre not MINT.

This book still falls into the NM category in my personal opinion, and thats how I originally listed it.

I'm still not happy about the $40 or so I lost on the whole process, but at least I got the book back in the same great condition. Huge relief!

I'm happy to chalk this whole transaction up to a learning experience, it hurt, but i'm moving forward.

I did not contact ebay as there was really no reason for me to do so.

I've decided to relist the book in hopes that someone else will buy and appreciate it for what it is. I've taken better pictures of the book outside of the bag this time and I havent placed my personal grade in the listing due to that being so subjective. I've also decided to go the auction route this time and start the bidding at well below its value. 

I feel like thats a better route to take after researching this topic thouroughly. I let the buyer(s) decide what its worth and give more people a chance to own a key book at a reasonable price.

Going forward, should I decide to sell more comics or valuble collectibles I will use this method. It just makes sense. 

Thanks again for all the replies, advice, concerns and everyones time. It has been very helpful and is very much appreciated!

-Mike

---

Actually my previous post reflects my weariness that everyone thinks they are being scammed.  While some do target new sellers, I am so glad you got your item back with no issues.

You clearly know your niche well.  

[radtech1971]

Glad you got your item back undamaged. When you set your auction starting price, make sure you put it at the lowest price you are willing to sell it.  If you start it too low you may take a big hit if you don’t get many bidders.  JMHO

[coolections]

I think the OP just set a new discussion board record for longest post to date. OP, in the future try the condensed version with only facts as it help readers understand your problem.

[femmefan1946]

Since there were multiple posts of the same saga, plus the sequel, you are probably right.

@zolsmi9

Certification may be expensive, but in my experience (which is philatelic, not comics) the presence of a cert makes the Thing more saleable at a higher price.

In our auctions, we are often requested to send purchased lots off for certification, with the cost of a good cert covered by the buyer and of a bad cert by the auction house.

It's a cost of doing business.

This is the catalogue for the auction we had a couple of weeks ago.

https://sparks-auctions.com/auction-28/catalogue/

If you look at Lots 537 through 540 which are similar, you will see that the certified item has a higher value than the uncertified items.