eBay Seller Protection. Buyer thief, swapped item. Reported with Police Department and got refund.

[bestfinepens]

I recently had a nasty situation with a dishonest buyer. He bought a Montblanc pen from me and few days later he opened a return request saying that he "changed his mind". The return was accepted. When the returned package arrived, I noticed that he had returned a diferent item. He sent me an pen with silver trim instead of the gold trim that I shipped to him. And that's not all, the item he returned was a counterfeit. He also kept the case box. I called eBay and the representative asked me to file a report with the Law Enforcement Office in order to qualify for Seller Protection. They asked me to upload the report within 10 days. I gave my declaration before a Police Officer and got the report. I submitted the report to eBay and to my surprise they sent me a full refund within few minutes. They also removed the defect rate and prevented the buyer from leaving negative feedback. It seems this dishonest buyer got a refund, but because I had proof of a thief report, eBay covered me for the full value of my stolen item. I am very surprised and pleased with the outcome of this case. I had other issues like these in the past and I was never able to get a refund. No eBay representative has asked me ever before to file a report with the Law Enforcement to qualify for seller protection. This time I was lucky to talk to the right eBay representative. As you may know, some eBay representatives are not very helpful so, if they don't offer you a good solution, hang up and call again until you find the right one. It takes some work to go through the process but it is worth it. Reporting not only helps you to get your money back but it will also discurage dishonest people from stealing.

Note: The report needs to be filed with your local Police Department. Make sure you make no mistake by acussing somebody innocent. The Police Officer will ask you for the buyer's personal informacion such as name and address. Also, explain that you need the report mainly to claim a refund from eBay. I found out that makes it a lot easier.

[juststuffisell]

Good Stuff! Good to know, filed away in my most important online selling information 🙂

[blueeggsandspam]

I would also get him on the radar of the Postal Inspectors by filing a mail fraud complaint:

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/investigations/mailfraud/mailfraud.aspx

Glad this was resolved so easily in your favor!

[tunicaslot]

I'd also fill out the IC3 Federal form - get this buyer on everyone's radar! We do not need buyers like this on Ebay.

[thevintagesilvershop]

That is great info, thanks!

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Did ebay say it was a courtesy refund? Ebay will do this one time for sellers, for some sellers, depending on which way the wind blows. The real challenge is getting ebay to do a refund in scam cases TWICE or more. My understanding is the "courtesy refund" is done once a year max, or once on a selling account, not sure which. I do read sometimes that filing a police report helps. I just don't want all us sellers to get too giddy and optimistic over this one case situation. 

[siayan]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

Did ebay say it was a courtesy refund? Ebay will do this one time for sellers, for some sellers, depending on which way the wind blows. The real challenge is getting ebay to do a refund in scam cases TWICE or more. My understanding is the "courtesy refund" is done once a year max, or once on a selling account, not sure which. I do read sometimes that filing a police report helps. I just don't want all us sellers to get too giddy and optimistic over this one case situation. 

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Nailed it

[lugro_30]

This wouldn’t work for me, we have no police, we are unincorporated and the local state troopers would scoff at such a request.

[castlemagicmemories]

Congratulations on your refund.

[sodelight]

I'm glad you were made whole, but the buyer still got away with the theft and then some. They got the item for free and will likely do the same again!

When a sworn police report has been filed the culprit shouldn't be rewarded by getting the item for free! Ebay should retract the monies from their account or place a hold on it if the funds aren't there. They shouldn't release them so quickly to begin with! Why not confirm with the seller they've received the proper item returned before releasing any refund. The same way they ask a buyer to confirm they've requested a transaction cancellation.

[emerald40]

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@lugro_30 wrote:

This wouldn’t work for me, we have no police, we are unincorporated and the local state troopers would scoff at such a request.

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Unfortunately I am in a big city.  The police would tell you to file it in civil court as they are too busy to be bothered with it.

[dtexley3]

Congrats on getting your refund!  When I see these posts I always list the following:

1) File a fraud complaint with the shipper, especially if it's USPS.

2) File a fraud complaint with IC3.gov

3) File a police report with your local PD and have it forwarded to the buyers local PD.

4) File an appeal with eBay using the above doumentation.

5) If it's a cell phone take the above information to the carrier and report the phone stolen.

6) If the dollar amount is high enough consult an attorney about additional actions that might be available.

For those stating the local or regional police refusing to take a theft/fraud report.  Insist it's needed for insurance purposes and if they still balk, contact your county sheriff and state attourney general.  This is theft in the form of fraud and IS NOT primarily a civil case, it's criminal.  You can pursue civil damages if you choose but you have the right to having the criminal case on file.

Insisting that the police report be forwarded to the buyer's local PD is important too.  The seller's local PD may not know that there's an active investigation already in progress for the buyer. If they scam on eBay they are usually scamming locally and are probably already on their local PDs radar.

[emerald40]

Some of us come from very small towns.

Others from very large cities.

And just like you should never make a stink in a federal business it is not a good idea to do it in a police department.

When someone ran over the $1,000 heavy platinum band I brought it to the attention of my big city police department.  They told me file in civil court.  I did not think it a good idea to argue with them.

[e-rabbit-516]

THERE IS NO SELLER PROTECTION ON EBAY!

EBAY GIVES ALL BUYERS A FREE PASS TO RETURN ANYTHING THEY WANT EVEN IF BUYER SAYS NO REFUNDS!  THEY AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THE BUYERS POSITION AND BASICALLY FORCE YOU INTO TAKING ITEM BACK EVEN IF THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH IT.  THEY FREEZE YOUR FUNDS IN PAYPAL WHICH I THINK IS ILLEGAL WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.  IT THEN IS UP TO YOU TO APPEAL AND WAIT ON EBAY TO PROCLAIM IF YOU ARE RIGHT OR WRONG.  

I FIND THIS OFTEN HAPPENS WITH BUYERS WITH A LOW RATING. 

WHAT ABOUT THE SELLER?? WE ARE BASICALLY ASSUMED GUILTY UNLESS PROVEN OTHERWISE! I AM TIRED OF THIS **bleep**. 

IF YOU ARE SELLING YOU HAVE NO PROTECTION AT ALL FROM BUYERS WHO HAVE REMORSE, THEN DAMAGE THE ITEM AND PUT IN RETURN REQUEST.  YOU GET A DAMAGED ITEM BACK, AND THE BUYER GETS A REFUND!!!!

I HAVE BEEN A MEMBER FOR 16 YEARS, AND THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE THE SIDE OF A BUYER WITH A RATING OF 2 WHO HAS BEEN HERE A MONTH?? 

IT NEEDS TO CHANGE NOW.  NO AUTOMATIC RETURNS IF YOU HAVE A RATING UNDER 100.  AND EQUAL PROTECTION FOR BOTH SIDES!

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

send your buyer a pic/screenshot of the police report too. Let the buyer know you took action....might help the buyer reconsider trying this again?