eBay

baybgrlus · ‎06-16-2025

I sold a set of books to a buyer in May. I hadn’t sold anything for a while so I let them I want to make sure with the shipping and everything was great and the address when I do ship something I leave a notation how I take photos of the items at shipping at Post Office and drop off, etc. I thought everything was fine. I even left him positive feedback. They haven’t left me feedback because they left me this message. Are they trying to scam me and returning the books because as far as I can tell, they said that they were happy with the item.

it seems that they were more offended by what I had said but in this message there’s a contradiction because first they say they’re happy with the items and then the next one says they weren’t supposed to get them so what do I do about this or nothing?

baybgrlus

legalbeagle52 · ‎06-16-2025

While I don't think I would be offended by that message, I think it is totally unnecessary. And not very professional either. I also think it's way over the top. Much too much! Although you haven't received any backlash from buyers before now ... I'm sure many are thinking "what the heck?" ... when reading it.

I know you're trying to avoid scammers but as others have said, the photos won't do a thing to help you. True scammers will scam and your note/photos won't do a thing to stop it. I do send my buyers a quick thank you note stating that I appreciate their business and to contact me with any concerns re: your purchase. I do it so that they know there's a person behind the sale. It's worked for me all these years.

And as mentioned previously, books are not a high scam item. In fact I've been selling books for 20+ years and haven't had any scammers, not a single one with books. I've had them in other categories, but not books.

a_c_green · ‎06-16-2025

@legalbeagle52 wrote:
And as mentioned previously, books are not a high scam item. In fact I've been selling books for 20+ years and haven't had any scammers, not a single one with books. I've had them in other categories, but not books.

@baybgrlus : I'll echo what all the others have said about the unnecessary shipping photos and such, which do come off as vaguely accusatory, but the buyer seems to have buried their main issue below that whole shaggy-dog essay up front: they say you shipped the wrong book.

I would ignore all the up-front handwaving (or maybe just add a polite, one-sentence apology about how you just want to be thorough, or some such thing), and get to the point right away:

"We have re-checked our records on your purchase. You bought [title here] in listing number [whatever] on [date], which we shipped to you with tracking number [here]. USPS indicates that it was delivered to you on [date]."

"If you received a book that you do not recognize, you can search your Purchase History page to find the tracking number of that shipment and the seller who sent it to you. I hope that helps. Regards,"

albertabrightalberta · ‎06-16-2025

@a_c_green wrote:
@legalbeagle52 wrote:
And as mentioned previously, books are not a high scam item. In fact I've been selling books for 20+ years and haven't had any scammers, not a single one with books. I've had them in other categories, but not books.
@baybgrlus : I'll echo what all the others have said about the unnecessary shipping photos and such, which do come off as vaguely accusatory, but the buyer seems to have buried their main issue below that whole shaggy-dog essay up front: they say you shipped the wrong book.

I would ignore all the up-front handwaving (or maybe just add a polite, one-sentence apology about how you just want to be thorough, or some such thing), and get to the point right away:

"We have re-checked our records on your purchase. You bought [title here] in listing number [whatever] on [date], which we shipped to you with tracking number [here]. USPS indicates that it was delivered to you on [date]."

"If you received a book that you do not recognize, you can search your Purchase History page to find the tracking number of that shipment and the seller who sent it to you. I hope that helps. Regards,"

Another possibility is that @baybgrlus sent the wrong books to the buyer. It's very possible that a seller with many book listings would mistakenly send the wrong books to a buyer who purchased different ones, i.e., mixed up 2 different orders.

albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you."

a_c_green · ‎06-16-2025

@albertabrightalberta wrote:
Another possibility is that @baybgrlus sent the wrong books to the buyer. It's very possible that a seller with many book listings would mistakenly send the wrong books to a buyer who purchased different ones, i.e., mixed up 2 different orders.

That is true; hopefully the OP can rule that out before writing to the buyer, and I was answering with that assumption.

I buy here all the time via my buying account, and the package rarely if ever identifies the eBay seller who sent it to me (e.g. they'll have their name in the Return Address rather than their seller ID on the first line), so if I'm not sure which seller it was, I have to use the tracking number to trace the package back to whichever purchase it was.