Suggestion on handling empty box scam?

[shoryureppa354]

Sold a PS5 with signature and delivery and as soon as it was delivered, the buyer sends me a picture of empty laptop box and opens a return. 

Suggestion now to best handle the scam? The buyer is definitely low feedback seller with few negative feedbacks. Also he’s not responding to any of my messages for proof. 

Thanks. 

[old*estate*auction*finds]

Wish even Ebay would handle this better.  Twice in 1 week I had a false return claim and then the buyer sent back a thank you note, then a Covid mask, then another buyer sent a bottle of vitamins when they should have been returning brand new ice makers.  Ebay returned my money the first time but today closed the 2nd return claim in the buyers favor and refunded them out of my account.  It seems like this is not an isolated incident and I'm sure other sellers are getting these scams regularly too.  I wish ebay would side with good sellers on these issues.  Both buyers had a 0 rating. 

[animal-house-8]

Well happened to me about 10 years ago, ebay just gives them their money back. Golden rule never sell anything on ebay that you are not willing to lose. You can pay to have the empty box send back, when you get the box ebay will require you to refund in 3 days, if you don't they will. Now if he has stuff listed for sale you may want to purchase something.

[shoryureppa354]

Yikes. 
Did you try appealing the case for your second return?

[shoryureppa354]

I’m going to start taking photo of packages at post office and FedEx offices from now on I guess. 

Sigh. Wish eBay did proper investigation and see the past messages and shipping history to know that there is no way I’d send an empty box when I still have tons of items on eBay to sell and have always been in good standing. 

[onlinecentral]

Sellers have sent these messages and then received a reply from the buyer that they found the missing items, along with a story about a roommate or relative opening the package first.

Thank you for your purchase, we are again sorry with the issues with USPS; We have filed a formal report with USPS and also with the local police concerning your empty parcel and will report back to you as soon as we know more. Thank you again!

I am so sorry to hear that your parcel arrived without the contents. I will do everything I can to assist you in this matter. I will file the lost/rifled/stolen mail report (the report is called something else now, you will have look this up for the correct name) with the United States Postal Inspectors on your behalf. Even in these trying times they usually respond with a case number within 24 hours. I will forward that to you when it is received so that you can track the progress of the investigation as well. Do you have a daytime phone number that I can include in the report? That way they can contact you directly as well.

I will also speak to your local postmaster and mail carrier about this package. If it had broken open, the USPS typically tags the box as such, so a photo of that stamp will actually help. Please keep the packing materials in case they are needed as well. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

[dbfolks166mt]

Sold a PS5 with signature and delivery and as soon as it was delivered, the buyer sends me a picture of empty laptop box and opens a return. 

Suggestion now to best handle the scam? The buyer is definitely low feedback seller with few negative feedbacks. Also he’s not responding to any of my messages for proof. 

     Best way to handle would have been to never have listed a high target and high dollar item that scammers love. Buyer being low feedback should have nothing to do with the issue and they should not have any negative feedbacks since that is against eBay policy. 

     That being said about the best you can do at this point is to accept the return. Whether you have the buyer send the empty box back or not is your decision. You are a TRS+ seller so I believe you can, once you have the package back, deduct 50% of the refund. I have never been TRS+ so not totally familiar with all the nuances to that. However you will, one way or another, fully refund them. If you take no action and the buyer asks eBay to step in they will get fully refunded and eBay will ding your account. 

     I would get the signature receipt from USPS. Open an investigation case with USPS and let the buyer know they may be getting contacted. File a police report with the buyers local police department and file a case with the FBI Internet crime complaint center at https://www.ic3.gov/ 

     You can also report the buyer to eBay but nothing will probably come of it. EBay has their money and they have little incentive to expend resources investigating this. Depending on how far away the buyer is from you there are other things you can do, none of which I can post in this forum. 

[kensgiftshop]

Contact your PO and explain what's going on and see what information they can provide.

Like what did the package weigh last time it was weighed?

Was there any damage to the package?

Does the buyer there have a history of making false claims?

If they can provide any information, have them send you a letter, then use the letter to appeal the case.

[shoryureppa354]

It was with FedEx.  How do I file a report with buyers police department? What kind of proof can I show?

[shoryureppa354]

Yeah I’m trying. The item was shipped using FedEx. 

[aproudparent2010]

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@shoryureppa354 wrote:

I’m going to start taking photo of packages at post office and FedEx offices from now on I guess. 

Sigh. Wish eBay did proper investigation and see the past messages and shipping history to know that there is no way I’d send an empty box when I still have tons of items on eBay to sell and have always been in good standing. 

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eBay won't care about those photos

[simba6]

Bummer.  Return fraud is growing fast here.    No amount of photos will or would help you win that case.  You can and should report the buyer to eBay.  In time, they will remove them from the buyer protection plan.  There were times when eBay issued a no fault refund and neither buyer or seller were out any money.  Not sure they do that anymore.

You can file a claim with the shipper.   Does not look good sorry to say.

[shoryureppa354]

Thanks everyone for their suggestion and help. 

I did talk to eBay CS and accepted the return. Will see how it goes. Interestingly the CS told me that the buyer created a lot of returns in the past. Hopefully that’ll help with the escalation when I receive the empty box. 

[dbfolks166mt]

It was with FedEx.  How do I file a report with buyers police department? What kind of proof can I show?

     Once you have the action opened with FedEx and have a copy of the delivery signature receipt contact the buyers local police department. Provide them with the listing information from eBay, the shipping information from FedEx showing the delivery, a copy of the buyers claim of receiving an empty box and any other information you may have such as a serial number off the device. 

     They may not do anything unless they have received numerous complaints regarding this individual. The police, USPS and the FBI have rolled up a number of scamming operations where they have received sufficient complaints to warrant opening up an investigation. 

[funfactorychannel]

I would talk to FedEx, and tell them they switch the item since buyer claims it was empty so FedEx must have stolen it and claim the insurance, because like ebay, it becomes he said Buyer and she said FedEx. One way or the other you have to force FedEx hands to help with fraud.. And provide you with the proof you need for eBay.