How can I protect myself from the bait and switch scam?

[egaga-0]

Hi. The bait and switch scam has been making me worry over the past week. I buy used phones and sell them on ebay for profit. It helps me gather a lot of money for my college education. Though after I heard about the bait and switch scam I feel like not selling anymore on ebay. For those of you that do not know what it is, ket me give you an example. I sell a flawless condition iphone 8 plus. Buyer pays for it then I ship it. When the buyers recieves the item, he demands a return and a refund. He says that the item he recieved is not as described, broken, etc... and he actually recieved the CORRECT item that I sent but he has a replica of my iphone 8 plus. He returns to me a broken one and keeps the flawless one. I just lost a lot of money. Ok remember this did not happen it is just an example. It seems A LOT of people had this problem and there is absolutely nothing sellers can do to avoid it. Ebay and paypal are always on the buyer's side. Taking photos of the serial number and taking a video of shipping the phone wont even help either. I am really scared to sell another phone on ebay. Can somebody please please give me some advice. What can I do? Is there anyway to really win the case? Is it possible for ebay to be on your side when this happens? What evidence can I give ebay that I shipped the item as described?

[vintagecraze50]

Ebay has no way of knowing what you shipped and what came back, so selling these items here is always risky business unfortunately. If you sell a lot of these and usually do not have problems, and you can afford to take a few big hits then it's better, but still there will be possible losses. 

[green-night]

Is it possible for ebay to be on your side when this happens? 

Nope. 

[sam9876]

 Ummmm...  only a seller can do bait and switch. 

[pburn]

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@egaga-0wrote:

Hi. The bait and switch scam has been making me worry over the past week. Though after I heard about the bait and switch scam I feel like not selling anymore on ebay. For those of you that do not know what it is, ket me give you an example. I sell a flawless condition iphone 8 plus. Buyer pays for it then I ship it. When the buyers recieves the item, he demands a return and a refund. He says that the item he recieved is not as described, broken, etc... and he actually recieved the CORRECT item that I sent but he has a replica of my iphone 8 plus. He returns to me a broken one and keeps the flawless one.

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We know what the "bait-and-switch" scam is, but perhaps you might benefit from the definition:  "Bait" is the advertising of something at a low cost to draw in a customer. "Switch" is, when you get to the store (for example) there is no cheap product. There's only a high-priced alternative.

From Merriam-Webster:

Definition of bait and switch

1: a sales tactic in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced item but is then encouraged to buy a higher-priced one

[monster-deals]

serial numbers