I feel I have to speak up about what buyers are doing and the post office not helping the situation

[homecarecomputer]

Lets assume someone broke a plate at their home.  They take a picture of the broken pieces -go to ebay and order another of the same plate- and when they receive the plate they say it arrived broken using the photo of the plate they originally had which was broken.

What happens at this point?  They tell ebay the item arrived damaged and want a full refund.  Unfortunately the post office does not refund the shipping but ebay refunds the shipping to that buyer.  So now it cost me money when this happens.

I ship VERY carefully. My packages are way heavier than they should be because I pack so damned carefully KNOWING that if I don't it's going to cost me money --so I do my due diligence.  

But more and more it's happening - items broken, pictures showing no damage to box....they're getting a full refund and I'm losing money on every sale.  

I'm going to have to stop selling on ebay soon if this keeps happening.  There is nothing to stop people from pulling this scam....well, except for one thing....THE POST OFFICE NEEDS TO PICK UP THE BROKEN ITEM!  and Ebay needs to stop giving these people a full refund if they can't produce the broken item and the packaging --because most know the post office will never pick it up and ebay will give them their money.

It's all fun and games till this happens 3 - 4 times in a week, in a month.....

We need help Ebay.  

[missjen831]

If you have an unusually high ankoht of damages item claims perhaps you aren’t packing the items properly? eBay isn’t going to help here. Instead of using USPS to insure if you already know they won’t reinburse the shipping you need to either self-insure or purchase 3rd party insurance. 

[1977mama]

Ebay is very biased in favor of the buyer. It happened to me. I sold coins with a "no return" policy to a buyer. Buyer lied about my item and ebay violated my legal right to have a NO RETURN policy. Then ebay would not allow me to give negative feedback to the buyer again violating my legal right to place negative feedback. The only choice given me was to place a Positive feedback with negative results otherwise the feedback button would not work. Ebay must not want sellers any more.

[toohottofish]

You have NO legal right to a no return policy or to leave negative feedback. Leave false positives for buyers is a serious policy violation and can get your account suspended.

[takikawa4]

Leaving a negatively worded positive for a buyer is against ebay's rules. Funny how it seems some want to complain about ebay violating their "rights" when they're violating ebay's rules. And if the buyer is smart, they'll complain to ebay and ebay will give the seller a defect.

[missjen831]

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@1977mamawrote:
Ebay is very biased in favor of the buyer. It happened to me. I sold coins with a "no return" policy to a buyer. Buyer lied about my item and ebay violated my legal right to have a NO RETURN policy. Then ebay would not allow me to give negative feedback to the buyer again violating my legal right to place negative feedback. The only choice given me was to place a Positive feedback with negative results otherwise the feedback button would not work. Ebay must not want sellers any more.

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You clearly have no idea what your legal rights are and it would be a good idea to find out what they are.

[a*river*runs*through*it]

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@1977mamawrote:
Ebay is very biased in favor of the buyer. It happened to me. I sold coins with a "no return" policy to a buyer. Buyer lied about my item and ebay violated my legal right to have a NO RETURN policy. Then ebay would not allow me to give negative feedback to the buyer again violating my legal right to place negative feedback. The only choice given me was to place a Positive feedback with negative results otherwise the feedback button would not work. Ebay must not want sellers any more.

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Your problem was addressed in the thread you started.

[lintbrush*]

What makes your packages so heavy?  The only thing I can think of would be newspaper/ newsprint/ kraft paper

Those aren't generally appropriate packing materials for plates.

[rhondas8962]

Unfortunately there will always be scammers.  Ship only USPS Priority so each box is automatically insured. If item was 'damaged'  they can take to the Post Office for reimbursement and yes, the insurance is for lost or broken items. Another way to catch the scammers is to mark the item in some fashion that can be shown on pics on your listing and then ask them for pics of broken item. If your mark isnt there,  ask them about and they will suddenly go quiet.   At the end of the day, Ebay will continue to side with buyers all while ignoring the Sellers. 

[missjen831]

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@rhondas8962wrote:

Unfortunately there will always be scammers.  Ship only USPS Priority so each box is automatically insured. If item was 'damaged'  they can take to the Post Office for reimbursement and yes, the insurance is for lost or broken items. Another way to catch the scammers is to mark the item in some fashion that can be shown on pics on your listing and then ask them for pics of broken item. If your mark isnt there,  ask them about and they will suddenly go quiet.   At the end of the day, Ebay will continue to side with buyers all while ignoring the Sellers. 

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@rhondas8962 Bad advice. Insurance is for the seller. It is not only BAD customer service to blow off a customer and tell them to deal with the insurance themselves but is also FOOLISH! The buyer can file an insurance claim, collect the check and file a case with eBay or PayPal and collect a full refund from the seller as well. Sellers should never tell the buyer to file an insurance claim!

[rhondas8962]

Then why does Ebay have a No Returns option? Years ago, no return policy meant just that, now, its all for show I guess?

[sam9876]

" Ship only USPS Priority so each box is automatically insured. If item was 'damaged'  they can take to the Post Office for reimbursement"

Why would a buyer take the damaged item to the post office?

[rhondas8962]

Been selling for years on Ebay.  My advice stands and to suggest I know nothing about providing good customer service is quite funny.   I've never 'blown off' a single customer as my feedback proves.   Doing business is just that, business.  You either know how to deal with people or you simply refund their money and move on. My business isn't a charity.

[missjen831]

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@rhondas8962wrote:

Been selling for years on Ebay.  My advice stands and to suggest I know nothing about providing good customer service is quite funny.   I've never 'blown off' a single customer as my feedback proves.   Doing business is just that, business.  You either know how to deal with people or you simply refund their money and move on. My business isn't a charity.

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It’s still bad advice and it was never suggested that YOU don’t know how to provide good customer service. It is a fact not an opinion that telling the buyer to file an insurance claim is bad customer service. And it’s foolish. Sorry not sorry. You really shouldn’t be telling your fellow sellers to tell their buyers to file an insurance claim, it’s simokg bad advice that will end up costing them. 

[rhondas8962]

There are a few diff ways to file a claim. Most of which will include the buyer taking the item in to the Post Office for verification.  The Buyer can take the item in, with Ebay sales receipt and initiate the refund.  The Seller can also initiate the refund but in most cases, the Buyer will be asked to bring item in, unless its very small in value.  Point to my original comment,  do not cave immediately and just send them a refund.  Suggest that you need to check on the "insurance' process as you've never used before or ..suggest that they may have to take it in but you will verify for them. Most times, as you talk with them, you will quickly find out , if it's legit or not.  As I said, ultimately, they will always win as far as Ebay is concerned but you will be taken advantage of much less if you at least do the dance. Just my opinion but its worked for me for years!