Seller Protection?!

[ampzx]

I've been selling computer parts for a couple of years now. A few weeks ago, a gentleman orders a GPU from me. It was over $750, so I had to get signature confirmation which I did as well as ship to the confirmed address. I purchase my labels from eBay, and I ship out his item. I check on it, and it was delivered about 3 days later. The money was released into my account and then 7 days after I had a dispute with the buyer claiming the item was missing/stolen/swapped. Wasn't sure why it took him so long to report it but upon checking his address is a Doral, FL address which turns out to be an overseas parcel shipping service with some very bad reviews. From my understanding, once the company signed for it (I have proof) final agent etc. there's no way I should be responsible for what happens from the time I did my part to get it to the FL destination with signature confirmation. But the whole week after they had his items, and were "reshipping" I I should not be responsible! eBay gave me a $20 refund on the "dispute fee" which is such a smack in the face! A $2000 item. I have sig confirmation. The destination buyer had an expensive package delivered to IS A FORWARDING company, not a residental address. Buyers financial institution gave him a refund and Ebay had the nerve to say I'm not covered under seller protection? Since when? Been here 19 years! I now do not have the item or the funds. (over 2k)! How in the world am I not covered in this exact instance? How can I be punished for what happens at a shady forwarding company?! I can't get someone on the phone who understands what I'm saying yet it's so simple. Please help me find someone to talk to. Thanks

[dbfolks166mt]

     If the buyer opened a CC dispute the eBay policies regarding the buyer MBG and the use of FF's mean nothing since the decision regarding the buyer being refunded is in the hands of the CC company and they are almost always going to rule in favor of the buyer/card holder. A lot of the items you have/had listed are high target items for the scammer community, especially foreign buyers. Curious what country this actually shipped to? 

     About the only recourse you have is to appeal the decision, which puts the decision process back in eBay's hands and not the seller protection under the MBG and the chargeback policies. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-dispute-seller-protections/payment-dispute-seller-protect... 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy... 

Under the terms of the MBG the buyers is supposed to loose their MBG once the FF has the item. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Like a lot of sellers your listings imply domestic sales and shipping only. However, eBay does not check the buyers location but their shipping address, which in the case of a FF is domestic. This gives foreign buyers the ability to purchase items where the seller has specified that they to not "SHIP" internationally. It is a loophole that allows foreign buyers, especially scammers, to basically override/void the sellers preference to only ship/sell domestically. 

     It has been a long standing issue and this will continue to happen until eBay fixes the buyer check and focuses on the buyers registered address/location rather than the shipping location. A lot of sellers are familiar with the FF locations and like myself will cancel orders based on a problem with the buyers address. EBay frowns on this but it's not their merchandise, money or risk. 

[dhbookds]

@ampzx  As said........ebay can't control what happens with the cc.  But they should refund the money under the seller guarantee when you appeal the case.......

[gmwhol_94]

check your shipping service

[ampzx]

Actual destination turned out to be Don Bosco, Panama.

[xadexane]

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@gmwhol_94 wrote:

check your shipping service

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they don't take checks

[74597]

Wow!.  I just had this happen to me.  Buyer's remorse, so he chose to use his CC company to claw back what he paid.  And he did return the item.  But I am really hesitant to sell anything else now that I know I'm vulnerable to this type of action.  Sorry for your loss.

[ckimodog]

@xadexane 

The person means "refer" to their shipping service.  

It has nothing to do with accepting checks. 

[ckimodog]

@gmwhol_94 

They did and it was posted in their comment.  Did you not read it? 

The topic is about a chargeback and the seller not being covered.

[dbfolks166mt]

Actual destination turned out to be Don Bosco, Panama.

     Most of the South and Central American countries are infamous for scamming. Others include China, India, Russia and the FSU countries along with Africa. When I sold/shipped internationally about the only countries I shipped to were in the EUR arena and Australia. 

https://bscholarly.com/countries-with-highest-number-of-scammers/ 

[dbfolks166mt]

Wow!.  I just had this happen to me.  Buyer's remorse, so he chose to use his CC company to claw back what he paid.  And he did return the item.  But I am really hesitant to sell anything else now that I know I'm vulnerable to this type of action.  Sorry for your loss.

     It's become the #1 method for committing fraud and both eBay and the CC companies are pretty much powerless to stop it. EBay because they have no say in the decision process regarding the buyer refund and the CC companies because they have to operate under antiquated federal laws. You can expect this trend to continue as scammers are learning to bypass the eBay claim process and go directly to their CC company. While eBay does have some seller protection against chargebacks it is pretty much useless and they have no incentive to do anything. They still get their fees. The following article provides some rather bleak and disconcerting information. 

https://chargebacks911.com/chargeback-stats/ 

[ampzx]

Incidentally, his financial institution refunded him but I'm assuming made him ship "the item" back to me first.  That's where it gets even more ridiculous. So as I was on the phone with eBay today informing them of all the evidence I have (serial number, pics, tracking, signature, etc.) The lady agreed on the phone, after letting her know everything, that I did as much I could do, and she's going to try to get seller protection for this item. I absolutely appreciate that. So I'm checking out the dispute etc. going into all the different pages as eBay loves to just have stuff all over the ui. Then there it is, an image of his return label in one of those areas. I investigated and immediately made it a point to ask the eBay CSR if she could locate that as well, as I'd like to point something out. She found it and I told her to look at the weight. The package the guy is returning is under 4 lbs in total. The GPU itself weighs around 7 lbs, and it's over 8 lbs with the box. So I asked the lady why the package I sent weighed almost triple the one he was returning? It was rhetorical. She replied, "yea, I understand". She then sent my appeal to the team. Now to hope! Thanks, anyone, for your assistance on this. Appreciate all the input!

[bonjourami]

I sure wouldnt depend on anything a csr told me. They are outsourced drones, reading from a script. If you want some real help with this, go to Ebay for Business on Facebook. They are U.S. based, American, Ebay employees.

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/

[dbfolks166mt]

Incidentally, his financial institution refunded him but I'm assuming made him ship "the item" back to me first.  That's where it gets even more ridiculous. So as I was on the phone with eBay today informing them of all the evidence I have (serial number, pics, tracking, signature, etc.) The lady agreed on the phone, after letting her know everything, that I did as much I could do, and she's going to try to get seller protection for this item. I absolutely appreciate that. So I'm checking out the dispute etc. going into all the different pages as eBay loves to just have stuff all over the ui. Then there it is, an image of his return label in one of those areas. I investigated and immediately made it a point to ask the eBay CSR if she could locate that as well, as I'd like to point something out. She found it and I told her to look at the weight. The package the guy is returning is under 4 lbs in total. The GPU itself weighs around 7 lbs, and it's over 8 lbs with the box. So I asked the lady why the package I sent weighed almost triple the one he was returning? It was rhetorical. She replied, "yea, I understand". She then sent my appeal to the team. Now to hope! Thanks, anyone, for your assistance on this. Appreciate all the input!

     In reality I am surprised the CC company even required the buyer to return the item, most of them don't, and they are not required to under the provisions of the Federal Credit Billing Act or the Universal Commercial Code.  CC companies hate chargebacks as much as the merchants who are loosing money and merchandise to friendly fraud and scammers a lot of whom are outside any US legal ramifications. 

     The CC companies expend a LOT of time, resources and money in dealing with chargebacks.