"New" buyer claims she received an empty package

[madchenmarketplace]

A buyer purchased 2 items from me at a big discount via Best Offer (she originally lowballed both items...I should have known better).  I packed them up very well in a box and shipped it out the next day. Today she emails me to say she received the box but it's been opened and the items aren't in there and it's taped back up. I told her to file a report with the post office & the police - she said she talked to the post office already and they said it had been through so many people there was no way to tell where it happened and to toake it up with eBay. But she is "new" so she doesn't know how to file a report so she needs my help. I told her to go to the Help menu so she did...

Aaaaand she filed a return for both items and put in the notes that I had told her to file the request because she received an empty package from me. Now my funds are on hold. What should I do? This feels sketchy to me.

[skeletonstore]

Ohhh....Still though quite a heist...and now she risks being banned on ebay if she goes to the well too often.  I'm of course dreaming....the online market place has changed.  Highly unlikely a postal worker would risk their cushy job over those products.  Doesn't feel good to basically be falsely accused like you have been. 

[bbravo65]

...tell her Postal Inspectors are on their way to see her at her house...

...seriously, did you file Mail Theft with PI yet...?

...please do it asap...then message her with the claim number...

[madchenmarketplace]

I did send her the claim number from the post office complaint and it didn't seem to phase her. In the confirmation email they said they were handing it off to the investigation department so I hope they do pursue it. And I hope to hear back from the police department as well although I know that mail theft isn't a big deal to them.

I haven't heard from her at all today so maybe she has decided against trying to buy a big bundle of my other products lol.

[bbravo65]

@moondogblues 

...you mentioned on another of your posts that you don't like people bringing politics into this forum...

...then why putting the election in your question...???...I had known you from previous incidents before in this forum...I also are well prepared because I will later get a "friendly" reminder from the admins of this community discussion room...

...are you presently working as an honest mail carrier or clerk for USPS...???...read my entire post, don't pick and play or twist...but, I didn't reply that to you, it was for "dnasilver"...how convenient is that...???

...don't suppress somebody else voice if that person does not speak the same language with yours...

...fyi, Fox is no longer in neutral reporting since the father passed away, his two sons are changing Fox News...Newsmax is not much different than Fox...I doubt about Breitbart, and you should know that the founder of Breitbart had passed away from "heart attack" because of his conservative stands...

...please unconditionally love this nation, the USA, and its peoples...

...May God bless you and yours...

[mtgraves7984]

I haven't heard from her at all today so maybe she has decided against trying to buy a big bundle of my other products lol.

@madchenmarketplace 

This thread is so long that I don't remember seeing if you've been advised to 'Report this buyer'. If not, do so.

[pikabo-icu]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Jonathan, when I see stuff like this I really worry for the folks who sell really high end merchandise 0n here. If this continues to be a big trend it could really effect the ability of people to have faith in putting their higher end merch on here. Ebay has responded by doing these authenticate programs which are great but how could they do that will ALL high end  Items. And it does not matter if you are a big time seller or a small fry a huge loss is bad for both.

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**Raises Hand**

I have designer handbags and I am terrified to list them now.

I don't want to take this off topic to my nightmares but DANG!

ETA: eBay Authenticate for sneakers is having it's own set of swapped items it seems.. 

I don't trust them at all.. 

madchenmarketplace  I can't tell you how badly I feel for you- fight the good fight, that's all you can do..

A multitude of other sellers THANK YOU for trying to end this buyer's errr thief's reign.

[andrew5055tke]

Shes busy scammin other sellers and havin lunch with the police dad.  Gotta get him something nice for fathers day right?

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@madchenmarketplace wrote:

IMMEDIATELY I got 4 back to back messages - first one saying that there's no way they could find out who did it all the way from here to there (WV to VA, btw) and that her dad is a cop and said it's a lost cause and who did I file the complaint against she hopes it's not her, second one saying there's no way to even know if anything was in the box in the first place (!!!) or if it got stolen along the way and her little girl is out of a gift, third message she said she can't give me her phone number for the report because she's changing carriers soon (huh?) and the fourth message in less than 10 minutes was her asking again who I filed the criminal complaint against.

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Your buyer is in full blown panic mode now.

Good.

You're probably the first seller with guts that stood up to her and she's mind blown and confused.

Too many sellers make online theft easy, they just pay off so the buyer will go away. That's why they continue to be cyberthieves.

[madchenmarketplace]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

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Your buyer is in full blown panic mode now.

Good.

You're probably the first seller with guts that stood up to her and she's mind blown and confused.

Too many sellers make online theft easy, they just pay off so the buyer will go away. That's why they continue to be cyberthieves.

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Oh I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to haunt whoever I need to haunt, make all the phone calls I can, fill out complaints, etc to get her either caught or too scared to do this again. I work really hard for what I have and I can't stand people who think it's okay to lie and steal. It sucks for me to lose that money but I can handle it - what if the next person she steals from really needs that money to survive? It's just not right.

[vintagecraze50]

The day that Ebay starts giving refunds out of my pocket for porch pirate incidents is the day I am done.

[katzrul15]

I'd be willing to bet money she uses the addresses she works out to steal packages from.

Missed this some how in the myriad of posts - ??

Have we crossed over into posting what the buyer "allegedly" does for a living?  

I am okay with calling her a thief on here and did not hesitate to do so.  But....on the other stuff, not so sure this is a path to go down???

[madchenmarketplace]

 You guys...she reported me to eBay for demanding personal information and threatening her! She sent me screenshots (from her phone that doesn't work??) from a conversation with eBay customer service stating that she should block me, and that she has "noting to worry about ____, were here to back you up just in case" (typos are accurate, name redacted).

I will state that I have been more than polite, I have not requested anything other than an appropriate phone number where to reach her (since the one provided by eBay isn't correct, according to her). I did not tell her the cops would be coming to her house but I did say that they and the post office would be contacting her regarding the theft of her package.

Is my eBay account in jeopardy?? I never threatened her, I just want the thief caught (even though I really think she is the thief). I wish I could post the screenshots she sent me but I'm pretty sure that's against the rules and I don't want to get in any more trouble. What do I do now?

[jonathankirkland]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Jonathan, when I see stuff like this I really worry for the folks who sell really high end merchandise 0n here. If this continues to be a big trend it could really effect the ability of people to have faith in putting their higher end merch on here. Ebay has responded by doing these authenticate programs which are great but how could they do that will ALL high end  Items. And it does not matter if you are a big time seller or a small fry a huge loss is bad for both.

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Yeah I agree completely, and while the idea is nice... but have you seen whats happening with the shoe authentication service? It's a disaster not only are there horrible wait times which aggravate sellers and buyers alike but, and not to take this thread off-topic but in a recent thread, basically, a guy sent in his nice near mint shoes worth $1,000 and the authentication service said "they're not authentic" and then return to him a similar pair except all dirty, beat up and fake copies of what he sent in! Just lousy. 😞

[jonathankirkland]

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@madchenmarketplace wrote:

I've never had a buyer take it this far so I'm not sure what happens with the stolen mail report I filed with the post office or the insurance claim I really hope I get as I'm out the items and my money. I'm not giving up on this though, I think this is a practiced scam for her. I mean, she filled out a return request rather than opening a case because she knew that would be the quickest and easiest way to get her money back - if you're new to eBay you'd probably click on INR, right?

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You are 100% right. Most who do not really know better and understand the system mistakenly file "item not received" cases first even though they did receive a package, although it was empty or whatever, they still usually file that case by mistake to begin with.

[jonathankirkland]

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@skeletonstore wrote:

Ohhh....Still though quite a heist...and now she risks being banned on ebay if she goes to the well too often.  I'm of course dreaming....the online market place has changed.  Highly unlikely a postal worker would risk their cushy job over those products.  Doesn't feel good to basically be falsely accused like you have been. 

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My thinking is first she'll lose her ability to use the MBG, but at that point she'll probably just use the messaging system to try to bully unwitting sellers into partial refunds repeatedly. The thought of this cretin starting this all over again with more sellers makes me want to vomit.