eBay scamming again

[itemfinderco]

Buyer does not receive item

Buyer gets refunded

Buyer goes and picks up item at customs after holding out on duties

Seller opens dispute showing the item was delivered

Ebay says NO, go ask the buyer for your money or item back

Is this really how this case should go?

[metaltech1]

I had something similar happen years ago.

Buyer in Mexico bought over a dozen comics. 

I combined shipping into a flat rate box.

Went to the post office and had to fill out all the customs paperwork.

Tracked the package to Chicago......where it mysteriously vanished.

Buyer wanted money back (can not blame them).  Emails back and forth trying to figure something out.

I contact customer service (Back when they gave you a phone number for a rep in the States) they track the package and agree that the USPS lost it. 

eBay returns buyers money from their "Buyer Protection Program" and tells me I have done everything I was supposed to and not to worry about it anymore.  I get to keep my money.  The buyer is reimbursed.  No negative feedback to me.  Perfect solution (except for the comics probably sitting in a USPS lunchroom).

That was then......this is now.

I have read many situations like ours on these boards.  This would seem to be the standard operating procedure now.

Good luck!

[ittybitnot]

Is this really how this case should go?

@itemfinderco 

I think "should" and "what happens" are mutually exclusive concepts where eBay is concerned.   Was this an eBay claim or a Payment Dispute?  

Generally speaking, buyers that do this actually have a name.... Customs hangers.  

[wrong66]

You got scammed by the customer, not eBay.

[downunder-61]

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@itemfinderco wrote:

Buyer does not receive item

Buyer gets refunded

Buyer goes and picks up item at customs after holding out on duties

Seller opens dispute showing the item was delivered

Ebay says NO, go ask the buyer for your money or item back

Is this really how this case should go?

---

No it isn't - did you refund the buyer for INR or did you let eBay step in ?

If you voluntarily refund the buyer within 3 days of the case being opened, you are eligible for reimbursement from eBay on appeal if the item is delivered to the customer within 30 days of the case being closed. More details on the process here. 

[ittybitnot]

If you voluntarily refund the buyer within 3 days of the case being opened....


@downunder-61 

Why would a seller be inclined to voluntarily refund for an item that simply needs to be picked up?  If you sent something to me in the US, and tracking showed waiting for pick up, would you refund me and BELIEVE eBay is going to give you your money back after I have the product and the funds?  There is no place that I can find other than that one thread where any policy is mentioned with a procedure to follow should one "voluntarily" refund.  Have you found the policy page related to this? 

FWIW, years ago, the same scam was perpetrated by SOME buyers who used P.O. Boxes in the US.  Claim INR , get refunded, and trot down to the local P.O. and pick up the package.  It was only then, that the package was marked "delivered".  eBay said the same thing..."nothing we can do, ask the buyer to repay" .  That is why shipping to a P.O. box was considered unsafe.  Now eBay says that such are considered "delivered" but I would not want to put it to the test, especially if a signature was required.  "Items in customs" are not considered delivered, so the plan still works. 

[azh-71]

Do not ship overseas, period.  If they want that bad they can use a reshipper.

[itemfinderco]

This was an eBay case, which was closed after I refunded the buyer. Then I made an appeal after item was delivered. 

[itemfinderco]

Yeah I definitely refunded them which is why the case closed. Then the appeal after delivery. Then they denied my appeal. Which means there is literally no recourse for me now. That’s ebays fault, not the buyers.

[flyingmvp]

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@itemfinderco wrote:

Yeah I definitely refunded them which is why the case closed. Then the appeal after delivery. Then they denied my appeal. Which means there is literally no recourse for me now. That’s ebays fault, not the buyers.

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Not exactly a scam,

Ebay has all the info you shared here on record, they know the buyer got the item and the refund.

They also know you are left without the item and the payment.

By not doing the right thing and refunding you,  which would be counted as the "cost of doing business" They are facilitating the theft of your item.

[dbfolks166mt]

    Not exactly how the case should go but it is not an uncommon scam by, as Ittybitnot referred to them as, "customs hangers". While eBay has all the information they need to look at in the case of an INR they, for some reason, put that burden on the seller. They require the seller to input the shipping tracking information into the case when eBay already has access to the same information but is too lazy to check it. 

     The overseas market is very lucrative and I sell overseas but to a limited international market. When I sell an item overseas it always goes through the eBay Global Shipping Program. The GSP is the one who sends the invoice to the buyer. One of the things the GSP does is take care of the customs paperwork and collect any VAT or import taxes from the buyer in advance. who has to input the tracking information into the case. 

     Once I receive notification to ship I send it to Kentucky and the GSP takes care of the international shipping and updates the order with the tracking information. The GSP slows delivery a little but adds a bit of seller protection. 

[itemfinderco]

Okay I agree, Ebay scamming is a strong use of words. Definitely just facilitating the scamming haha

[singular-source]

International booty.

[dbfolks166mt]

Okay I agree, Ebay scamming is a strong use of words. Definitely just facilitating the scamming haha

If it looks like a duck, swims kike a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

[albertabrightalberta]

Am I missing something? 

If the buyer refuses to go to customs and retrieve the package, why doesn't it count as delivery and give @itemfinderco the seller protection he rightly should have? 

From this link: 

Exclusions and special coverage when the buyer doesn't receive an item

The item was shipped internationally and didn't clear customs because fees or duties weren't paid

Covered: The seller overstated the value of the item or misrepresented the item's location, which caused customs fees or duties to be higher Not covered: The buyer didn't pay applicable customs fees or duties for any other reason