Received the wrong item scam.

[trevobarte0]

So I have been thinking about this but what if a buyer just buys an expensive item and then just says they received the wrong item and want their money back how would I as a seller combat this ? I decided to read some forum posts about this and there doesn't seem to be a solution but I doubt it would be that easy to scam someone on ebay right? So what would you guys reccomend to do if this ever happened ?

[castlemagicmemories]

The buyer is protected by the MBG, get the item you ordered or your money back, includes item price and original shipping. If you want the item back, you pay return shipping.

This is a guarantee. Ebay backs the buyer. They don't know what you shipped.
And no offense but every buyer isn't a scammer anymore than every seller is, but there are scamming buyers and scamming sellers, who may not send what they indicated they would.

Most transaction do go smoothly so hopefully all will be well.

[justagirl12]

Yes, it IS that easy. 

[trevobarte0]

Ok good to hear but that isn't an answer to my question .... I didn't sell anything I am just wondering what if that's what happened the seller would be left with nothing right?

[justagirl12]

Nothing other than a big headache.

[coolections]

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@trevobarte0 wrote:

I am just wondering what if that's what happened the seller would be left with nothing right?

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Correct. The options are you would have to do what anyone selling anything on the internet would have to do, or anyone walking the streets who gets robbed. You would file a police report, you could file a mail fraud report, hire an attorney, etc. You would need definitive proof the criminal is actually was guilty. You could hire an attorney and hope you have enough evidence of the actual theft to catch the criminal.  There is nothing Ebay can do about it as they are not a court of law and they will not take your word or get involved in possible criminal activity. The good news is it is very rare, most likely less than 100th of 1 percent chance of it happening. If it really concerns you the best thing is do not sell the item on the internet.

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@trevobarte0 wrote:

So I have been thinking about this but what if a buyer just buys an expensive item and then just says they received the wrong item and want their money back how would I as a seller combat this ? I decided to read some forum posts about this and there doesn't seem to be a solution but I doubt it would be that easy to scam someone on ebay right? So what would you guys reccomend to do if this ever happened ?

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There is some eBay seller protection, but not with a Not As Described case. There is little that can be done to combat a scamming buyer after the sale. 

Prior to listing an item, there are a couple of things you can do to mitigate the risk.

One is to set up Buyer Requirements at the strictest settings. Specifically, some helpful settings are 1) blocking members with no PayPal accounts. 2) Blocking buyers with 2 or more Unpaid Item Disputes. 3) Block members in specific international locations. Below is a link to more details and other settings.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/setting-buyer-requirements?id=...

Ebay also offers a Blocked Buyer List  for individual members who, for whatever reason, you choose not to do business with. That is mainly an after-the-fact action. For example, i block buyers who fail to both remit payment and initiate no contact.

Finally, with tracking/delivery confirmation, a seller can win an Item Not Received case by uplaoding the tracking number to the case notes.

[fashunu4eeuh]

If a buyer opens a fraudulent Not As Described case, i’d accept the return and cover my losses with “cookie jar” insurance.

I write Shrinkage/Loss into my business plan which is essentially charging a bit more per item and then setting that profit aside for any future losses. I also buy shipping insurance for expensive items and send such sold items by the most secure method available. (Shipping insurance is for the seller—the buyer has the eBay Money Back Guarantee.)

In addition, my practice is to leave an amount suspended in my PayPal equal to the highest cost sale made to date. This is so i never have a negative PP balance and can freely refund without worry or financial hardship.

Like another poster said, such buyer fraud doesn't happen often. Most transactions go off without a hitch. Even tho i have these protections in place, luckily have never been scammed, and haven't had a return in over 2 years.

Good luck to you in your future endeavors.

[righteousrelics]

If a buyer does do this to you, make sure that you request to speak to Ebay's "Trust and Safety" department by phone. They may not be able to take your word on this (he said/she said), but if the buyer gets multiple complaints they are likely to take action.  Document as much as you can and always be professional (not angry...I know it's difficult) in your correspondence with the buyer and with Ebay. Also do your best to maintain a stellar record of service yourself as it certainly makes you more credible.

I would let the buyer know that you are contacting Ebay's Trust and Safety team, USPS, the BBB, IC3, their local police department, and their State Attorney General's office with a theft / mail fraud claim. Whether you actually file a report with all these offices is up to you. But if you throw a wide enough net and the offender is dumb enough to keep up with their criminal acts, they will eventually have to answer for doing so. If you do file the reports, be sure to document them well and share them with Ebay. Never roll over for criminals because it's "just the cost of doing business" or because you fear it might leave a negative mark on your own account. These things tend to have a snowball effect.

All of that being said, I happily refund buyers all of the time (even if their return reason is silly or if they probably broke the item). We need to make a distinction between a criminal buyer and a difficult one. I would certainly consider deliberate wrong item returns to be criminal in nature. On the other hand, if they send me back a scratched dvd or broken lamp, I'll likely give them the benefit of the doubt unless I can be very sure its a "switcharoo" (I might still block them depending on their track record). Regardless,  do factor all of these things into your business expenses and expect them to happen in some percentage of transactions (just as would be done in a brick and mortar store).

Here's wishing you a happy and scam free holiday season!

Righteous Relics

[coffeebean832]

It's common to see advice- don't list anything you can't afford to lose- and this is why. There are some things you can do to lessen the risk, but there's pretty much nothing you can do if a scammer decides you're their target for that kind of claim.

Is this a general question or are you considering selling something specific? If it's expensive you can use the local pick up option. There are a lot of posts on this board that outline how to protect yourself with a local pickup, but if the buyer pays through using their creit card I don't think there's anything you can do about a chargeback for a not as described claim in that case, either. Cash on pickup would be a preferred way to complete the transaction, but eBay does require that you offer an online payment option if that's what the buyer prefers.

[castlemagicmemories]

Yes.

[tahoe-sports]

It happens to everyone, buyers and sellers.  I've bought one thing and been shipped something totally different and I've sold an expensive jersey and received a towel back in the mail.  How do you prove that towel was his and you're not hiding a jersey somewhere.  Best advise for sellers is to have a limit on the total to one customer and watch the number of feedbacks on buyers until you can fund your own e-commerce site.

[mam98031]

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@trevobarte0 wrote:

So I have been thinking about this but what if a buyer just buys an expensive item and then just says they received the wrong item and want their money back how would I as a seller combat this ? I decided to read some forum posts about this and there doesn't seem to be a solution but I doubt it would be that easy to scam someone on ebay right? So what would you guys reccomend to do if this ever happened ?

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It's a piece of cake and done on a regular basis to many sellers.  Unfortunate but true.  Fortunately for sellers, most buyer are good honest people and would never dream of doing such a thing.  But a few don't feel that way and do steal from sellers from time to time.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@tahoe-sports wrote:

It happens to everyone, buyers and sellers.  I've bought one thing and been shipped something totally different and I've sold an expensive jersey and received a towel back in the mail.  How do you prove that towel was his and you're not hiding a jersey somewhere.  Best advise for sellers is to have a limit on the total to one customer and watch the number of feedbacks on buyers until you can fund your own e-commerce site.

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You're right~it does happen to buyers and sellers.  Either is open and vulnerable to receiving anything in place of what they should have received.  While most transactions do go smoothly, there can be an alarming number that are problematic.  This discourages people, whether they are a buyer or a seller.

But this doesn't just occur on Ebay.