Well it finally happened

[kkpilchers]

It finally happened.  A person ordered a palmrest/keyboard assembly from me and opened a return for it being defective. Then he returned his old assembly on which he had unsuccessfully attempted repairs.  The part he returned had totally different identification numbers on it than the one I sent and was cosmetically a mess.  The one I sent was near perfect. This buyer was scamming me.  I made ebay aware of this sending them six pictures showing the returned unit could not possibly be the unit I sent out.  And guess what ebay did?  They settled the case in my favor!!  HAHA.  Just kidding.  They found in the buyer's favor and gave him a refund just like everybody else on these forums said would happen.  I'm an idiot for even attempting this.  Of course I have a brand spanking new defect against my account.  I should have listened.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Very happy Ebay found for you!  That's one hurdle crossed.

With the venue out of the way, now you have to wait six more months for a Paypal case or a credit card chargeback.

[duffy4444]

   I'm so happy that Ebay found in your favor... Let's hope and pray that it is not reversed again... keep in mind that you still have the hurdle of a possible CC chargeback in the coming months if it was paid with a CC, but Ebay has been helpful with me on that in the recent past, too.

   You just dodged a big bullet that not all scam victims are so fortunate to have overcome.

   Let's also hope the scammer gets NARU'd as soon as possible.

Cheers, Duffy

[mtgraves7984]

I can't afford to add the task of handling returns on top of this.

@kkpilchers 

Glad that this one played in your favor. And since you still have the task of handling refunds, I'd still recommend that you revisit your Return policy. That 50% option (on refunds) is one of the last seller protections we have left. You're already TRS... go for 30-Day (buyer pays) proactively. Good luck.

[greenie9]

I FEEL YOU. i tried to shame a predator same situation. i advertised his handle so all seller would block buyer; but ebay removed and warned me not to do again.

eBay doesn't give a **bleep** about sellers other than raking their fees from us. They go out of their way to protect predators and not sellers. Imagine that, the times we live in. terrible. all you can do is block the thief from buying from you again and not allows to warn the seller community. sucks.

[myboardid]

Yeah for you!  But please strongly consider the advice given in post #12.  Allowing returns does not create more of them, it only makes it easier for both you and the buyer, so less dishonest buyer behavior.this

[numisnorway]

so you had to reach out to them on facepuke or something?

[lightlily_arts]

We may not be able to win due to eBay's inept policies. However,  don't hesitate to file police reports, mail fraud claims and file reports of your buyer's details to external websites for bad buyers.

[downunder-61]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Very happy Ebay found for you!  That's one hurdle crossed.

With the venue out of the way, now you have to wait six more months for a Paypal case or a credit card chargeback.

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If the OP keeps a copy of the fact proof of a different item was returned, and that this is why eBay sided with the seller, this can be used to appeal any PP or CC claim

[jonathankirkland]

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@myboardid wrote:

Yeah for you!  But please strongly consider the advice given in post #12.  Allowing returns does not create more of them, it only makes it easier for both you and the buyer, so less dishonest buyer behavior.this

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@myboardid 

Hi, just out of curiosity, is that from experience? I often considered the free return things as a scammer deterrent so it would not be worth the time and effort of a scammer to try to cheat me, but always feared it would allow causal buyers to 'try out' my items and then simply return them a few weeks later if they were unhappy.

Though perhaps the 'casual' buyer is too lazy to invest $100-200 in something only to return it a few weeks later, not sure. (My selling area of focus currently is electronics/gaming related stuff).

Though if a scammer did try to cheat me, the 50% thing wouldn't be too bad honestly. For my margins, if I make a $200 sale that is usually at least 100% profit, so basically I would just be losing my profit and still paid the price that I paid even if I were to be cheated.

[jonathankirkland]

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@kkpilchers wrote:

UPDATE:  I appealed this ruling and eBay reversed it!!!!

I had to provide additional pictures as eBay apparently misplaced the ones I previously sent.

The city of Oak Ridge is erecting an Historical Marker in my front yard as I type this:

"In this place on June 14, 2021 an eBay Seller won an appeal against an unscrupulous buyer who returned a different/inferior item than was shipped."

Thank you all who suggested doing this!

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This is great news, but are you sure this was not a  'courtesy' refund from ebay?

The original money that was on hold came off hold or exactly what happened, can you tell us?

In cases like this the buyer often keeps the item/money and ebay gives a one time 'courtesy' refund to the seller so that 'everyone' is satisfied...

[kkpilchers]

Don't you have to offer FREE returns to get the 50% option?

[sell-more]

Well many years ago I fought the Law (ebay) and I won.  I shipped a engine distributor & the buyer sent one back that didnt even match.  I had to keep asking the IMPORTED CS REPS to switch me over to real live USA based managers.  I got one that spoke perfect English & sent him the photos of what I got back.. Ruled in my favor..  RARE but it was a good lesson..   I since then take photos of items serial numbers and I use an ENGRAVER to place a code on item & I photograph it..  Most these DOLT buyers lack brains and miss stuff like that.   I keep it as evidence in-case I ever have to go thru this again.   ALSO if something has a battery cover or access to inside mark or paint swab it.