eBay

glyderman · ‎02-20-2019

Long story short, Ebay needs to do more to protect the seller! They only protect the buyer at this point, and give them a 100% protection and guarantee whenever they claim anything negative about a deal. I attempted to file an "appeal" as a seller of an item that was reported stolen/lost in the USPS system, after the buyer filed a "return claim" on me and Ebay ruled in their favor. I had proof that he signed for the item in the presence of a postal carrier accepting the item. He claimed the item was missing inside the envelope. Buyer showed me pics that depicted the envelope was obviously tampered with. So, why then did he sign for it and let the carrier walk away??? Suspicious, I know! I even contacted the Postal Inspector and filed a theft claim and missing item search. I provided all my proof to ebay and they only said to file an insurance claim with the USPS. BEWARE, Ebay will always protect the buyer, but does nothing for the seller! "Let The Sellers Beware"

glyderman · ‎02-20-2019

One more thing...Ebays customer service via the phone was horrible regarding the above issue. They place you on hold forever if you want to talk to a supervisor. After talking to a rep for 15 minutes, I waited 20 minutes to talk to a supervisor, and eventually had to give them my ph#. A supervisor finally called me back 18 hours later and still didn't make me happy as an Ebay seller.

frodobagginskennedy · ‎02-20-2019

file an insurance claim with the post office. E Bay is correct in this case

This quest stands on the edge of a blade...stray but a little and you shall fail to the ruin of us all.
"The Lady Galadriel"

dtexley3 · ‎02-20-2019

eBay won't do much unless you do the following. I know you did steps 1 and 2, but you missed step 3. You have to have a police report to get much traction.

1. File mail fraud with USPS.

2. File fraud complaint with ic3.gov

3. File with your local PD. Insist on them taking a full report, and forwarding a copy to the buyer's PD. With some departments you have to be insistent, remind them that mail fraud is a felony, not a civil matter. Tell them a police report is required to make a claim with eBay.

4. Collect copies and records of all the above.

5 Call eBay, you can try to ask for Trust & Safety (some posters have stated that they were told that there is no such department). Present your evidence, if you already refunded then you open an appeal, and upload all the evidence.

If you do all of the above eBay may refund you. Of course they don't penalize the buyer, but at least you might get your funds back. There's no guarantee, but it's been reported that the police report is required in order for eBay to take action.

This also gets the buyer on the radar with the authorities and if they get reported a few times they will receive some unannounced visitors.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

dtexley3 · ‎02-20-2019

The item was signed for in the presence of the USPS delivery person, USPS is unlikely to pay based on a claim by the receiver that the envelope was tampered with in that case.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

castlemagicmemories · ‎02-20-2019

Sorry your experience with CS wasn't a good one for you.

Opening cases with USPS was the right thing to do; hope that works out for you.

tunicaslot · ‎02-20-2019

OP - I'm going to assume it was one of the coins - so the envelope may indeed have become unglued somewhere along it's route. Unless the envelope was itself damaged and the official damaged mail sticker was on the item though - I don't see USPS paying the claim as dtexley said - but you can always try.

Since last April - Ebay CS is doing very little to assist sellers - occasionally we hear a great story - but that doesn't happen often when it's a seller problem.

dirk12955 · ‎02-20-2019

If envelope was damaged, USPS delivery person should have made a note of that fact at time of delivery.

lacemaker3 · ‎02-20-2019

More information in OP's earlier post:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/The-buyer-is-always-right-in-a-dispute-and-Eb...

@glyderman wrote:
I am a part time user of Ebay, not a business. I recently sold an item that was stolen either by a thief or possibly by the customer. They claimed they received an envelope that was tampered with on one edge without the item inside. The envelope was sent certified mail. I contacted the buyer and he sent me pics of the tampered envelope. I told him to call Ebay. I myself made a report with the Postal Inspector. I contacted Ebay and they told me neither of us were to blame. Long story short, the buyer wanted his money back and he opened up a case against me since I wanted Ebay to be fair and handle this. I thought he'd be covered under Ebay's Money Back Guarantee, and wouldn't have to screw me with this alleged theft. Ebay ruled that I, the seller, had to refund the buyer even though it wasn't either of our faults with both parties claiming to be innocent. However, I see now anyone buyer can just lie about it, "say" they received an empty envelope or box, and get both the item and refund! This isn't right, and only protects the buyer in transactions!

@glyderman, I'm sorry, I see that you were advised to file an appeal. Unfortunately, they didn't explain that filing an appeal was probably not going to be successful, because the original decision was correct.

You're right, the buyer was covered under eBay's Money Back Guarantee, but eBay doesn't pay for MBG cases. If the buyer wins, then eBay refunds the buyer, and charges the seller for the refund. Even if they believe you, that you did send the item, you are still responsible for delivering the item to the buyer's shipping address, so you are financially at risk even if it wasn't your fault.

I assume this was one of the coins you sold recently, because I don't see anything else that was likely to have been mailed in an envelope.

Unfortunately, an envelope is not an appropriate way to mail a coin, in most cases. Envelopes are processed by the automatic machines at the post office, through rollers, and it is very easy for the rollers to "squirt" a coin out of the envelope. This makes a very small slit in the very edge of the envelope, which is very hard to detect until you realize that there was supposed to be something else inside the envelope. So it isn't surprising that the USPS workers didn't realize that the envelope was damaged. This is why, when they send you a credit card in an envelope, it is always stuck to a piece of paper, so it can't be squirted out of the envelope.

I'm sorry, I don't have better information for you. I hope the USPS insurance claim goes better.

castlemagicmemories · ‎02-20-2019

@dirk12955 wrote:
If envelope was damaged, USPS delivery person should have made a note of that fact at time of delivery.

Yes, that is true. There would be a sticker or note on the envelope, especially if it was obviously damaged.

castlemagicmemories · ‎02-20-2019

@dtexley3 wrote:
The item was signed for in the presence of the USPS delivery person, USPS is unlikely to pay based on a claim by the receiver that the envelope was tampered with in that case.

That's true. I didn't consider that the item was signed for in the presence of the delivery person~I went by ebay saying that the OP should file with USPS, so that seemed to be the way to go.

castlemagicmemories · ‎02-20-2019

I thought he'd be covered under Ebay's Money Back Guarantee, and wouldn't have to screw me with this alleged theft. Ebay ruled that I, the seller, had to refund the buyer even though it wasn't either of our faults

I am really sorry you are going through this, but no offense, just so you know for the future~Ebay's Money Back guarantee does cover buyers, but usually the seller pays for the refund back to the buyer. In rare instances, Ebay may pay the refund to the buyer. Ebay is making that guarantee as to how it will be handled, get the item you ordered, or your money back, but it isn't necessarily their money that pays for that, it's usually the seller's.

castlemagicmemories · ‎02-20-2019

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@dirk12955 wrote:
If envelope was damaged, USPS delivery person should have made a note of that fact at time of delivery.
Yes, that is true. There would be a sticker or note on the envelope, especially if it was obviously damaged.

I can see from Lacemaker's post that it may not have been apparent if there was just a slit in the envelope that spit out the coin.