eBay

njsneaks · ‎10-30-2017

I sold a macbook pro earlier this month (max specs), retail is $4.5k after tax and was scammed by a buyer. I shipped using USPS priority mail signature confirmation and insured for half the value of the item (I know it was dumb not to get the full insurance). The buyer has 135 feedback all positive and has been active on the account.

The buyer signs and receives the laptop on a Friday. The next morning I wake up to my Paypal $4k less than the night before. He opened an item not as described case and stated that I had sent a bunch of magazines in place of the laptop. I've been in a situations like this before and immediately filed an investigation with the post office, filed an ic3 and then a police report in the buyers county. I knew eBay would let him return "the item" regardless of what I responded.

About a week goes by and I finally get the package back from the buyer with no laptop. I knew my only hope at this point was to file an appeal with eBay. I uploaded all the pictures that I had taken prior to shipping, screenshots of the USPS investigation, police repoort, etc. Ebay tells me that there is no way to prove that what I had mailed was actually the laptop even with all of my evidence. And since the post office has not concluded their investigation, they would be siding with the buyer. Since my PayPal had more than enough funds when the buyer opened the case, the money was automatically deducted and returned to him.

At this point I'm at a loss for what to do. I went to the post office to return the packaging that I had received back from the buyer and had spoke with the manager regarding my case. Best case scenario I will get the insurance money, which is only half the value of the actual laptop. I'm unsure of what other actions I can take at this point since I have lost the appeal and eBay is basically unwilling to do anything more.

kattinsanity · ‎11-05-2017

Also, in post #1 the OP took the box of magazines to his post office to show them what he received in return from the buyer. He stated " the best case scenario would be that he would collect the $2,000.00 he had originally insured the package for" from USPS.

Any of us experienced sellers know that $2,000.00 insurance coverage with USPS ended when the package was delivered to the buyer.

OP isn't that experienced as a seller and if he thought he could send a stack of magazines to the buyer and claim his laptop was stolen and replaced with the magazines while in the posession of USPS to collect the 2 grand insurance he was mistaken. Maybe he only insured it for 2 grand instead of the 4 grand value thinking USPS would be more apt to pay off & he would have 2 grand in his pocket. Maybe he planned that the buyer would open the package in front of his postman to verify the contents before accepting it which would make his claim of a "switch" more believable to USPS. Maybe he even sealed the package, broke the seal and taped it to make it look like it had been tampered with~~who knows?

sabrinmurraon_0 · ‎11-05-2017

@jonathankirkland wrote:
@sabrinmurraon_0 wrote:
@slati_2013 wrote:
@prescott4 wrote:
@slati_2013 wrote:
By failing to respond to, and deal with the feedback accusation that you sent an empty box, you opened the door for the scammer to scam you. He knew because you were once accused of sending an empty box or wrong thing, he could make the same claim and get away with it.

For the money involved, I would hire a private detective to trail the guy. If he has it, he is bound to take it out with him sometime. I wonder if you steal back something he claims you never sent, can he report the theft to the police?
I never take my laptop anywhere, I take my cheap tablet, so what if the Op's buyerm does the same?

What are you going to do, break in to his house and steal it?
Emmmm. That was my plan; break in the house when he was not there based on the private detective, and steal it. I agree it is a terrible plan. I am more curious what would happen if it was successfully stolen by the seller, who then put it up for sale on eBay, what would the buyer do?
The OP could ben busted for B&E/Burgelry. Chances are the OP would get jail time and the scamming buyer would get away with it.

However, I suspect there was no laptop and the OP did in fact ship magazines
I wish people would stop repeating this nonsense that the OP probably really did ship magazines.

Why on EARTH would anyone even do this to begin with? You know that for NO AMOUNT OF MONEY are you going to successfully pull such a scam on here and that is a 100% waste of time.

Furthermore, even if you were trying to pull such a dumb trick, would you really come on a public forum and draw attention to yourself from hundreds of people?
NO!!!

So please stop this nonsense suggesting "oh maybe the OP really does ship out magazines in lieu of $4000 items!", it's completely ridiculous.

You're semi new here...scammers DO come here when the scam fails to see if they can find a new angle.

The OP seems to have a track record of scamming...it seems to me the most plausible explanation is that he tried to pull a fast one with insurance and didn't understand how it works, so he came here looking for loopholes.

bocaboca2010 · ‎11-05-2017

I have had switch done many times before by ups, FedEx and even on occasion USPS. Sometimes they do have thieves among their employees. I once got a box of vitamins delivered by a UPS guy who was suspiciously holding the box over a taped hole. When I got the box all the vitamins were gone a large heavy forklift pin was in the box instead. I also have gotten many USPS packages over the years with items missing and clearly what looks like tape jobs by their staff. It happens more often especially when the economy is poor. If it was full of magazines it very well could have been someone at USPS that knew it was an insured package and swapped it.

kattinsanity · ‎11-05-2017

I've been here going on 18 years and have NEVER had that happen to anything I've ever shipped or anything I've ever purchased. Why would an employee cut a hole in the box, steal your vitamins and put a forklift pin in the box and tape it shut~~then the delivery driver hides it with his hand??? How can you tell a "tape job" was done by their staff?? I think if a buyer feels UPS, FEDEX, USPS, etc. is stealing the items shipped to them they really should figure out a way to purchase these items and have them in hand when they walk out the door. But then again, the boxes may be empty because the store employees stole them and sealed the boxes shut again.

sabrinmurraon_0 · ‎11-05-2017

@kattinsanity wrote:
I've been here going on 18 years and have NEVER had that happen to anything I've ever shipped or anything I've ever purchased. Why would an employee cut a hole in the box, steal your vitamins and put a forklift pin in the box and tape it shut~~then the delivery driver hides it with his hand??? How can you tell a "tape job" was done by their staff?? I think if a buyer feels UPS, FEDEX, USPS, etc. is stealing the items shipped to them they really should figure out a way to purchase these items and have them in hand when they walk out the door. But then again, the boxes may be empty because the store employees stole them and sealed the boxes shut again.

There have been a few cases where them scammer buys the item, carefully unseals it, puts something of a similar size and weight in the box, carefully reseals it and returns it.

Ive seen news reports about it happening at Walmart and Best Buy.

With that said, its far more likely that either the buyer or seller swapped the items, and circumstantial evidence points to it not being the buyer.