Pokemon cards missing on return

[sivark-49]

So I'm about to sell my old Pokemon card collection and I'm a little confused about something. The collection is worth a lot and I was wondering what I could do/would happen if when I send the collection after getting paid, the buyer just takes out some of the expensive/rare cards and then requests a refund/return. Like if I get my collection back and there are cards missing is there anything I can do since I'd basically be out a lot of money depending on if they took certain cards?

[lamber9347]

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@sivark-49 wrote:

So I'm about to sell my old Pokemon card collection and I'm a little confused about something. The collection is worth a lot and I was wondering what I could do/would happen if when I send the collection after getting paid, the buyer just takes out some of the expensive/rare cards and then requests a refund/return. Like if I get my collection back and there are cards missing is there anything I can do since I'd basically be out a lot of money depending on if they took certain cards?

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The old adage is something like, never sell anything online that you aren't prepared to outright lose in the end.... You are correct that a buyer can do exactly what you are saying and there isn't much you can do. Some people say that you can file a police report for theft but I'm not sure if you have to file that where they live or not. You could try suing them but then you have to prove that the items were missing when you received the package back and how would you do that? 

Scammers tend to focus on newbie sellers so if you don't have a lot of feedback as a seller you will have a target on your back. Perhaps you would have better luck trying to sell them to a collector directly. Check out some groups on Facebook for Pokemon cards. Ask around to other collectors. Try advertising online first to see what the interest level is like. Best of luck to you....

[sivark-49]

The person whom I'm currently negotiating with has good seller feedback for a decent amount of previous listings. Would that be a good indication that they are trustworthy or does seller feedback have absolutely no correlation to their buyer tendencies?

[kollectorz-korner2222]

Correct, seller feedback and buyer feedback are completely different things. 

For example, a seller could have 2000 positive feedbacks, but all those items

could be stolen items.  You never know.  

My advice would be to sell the top 50 best cards seperately, then bunch all the rest.   

That way each and every single good cards will have its own transaction.  

[toysaver]

"the buyer just takes out some of the expensive/rare cards and then requests a refund/return"

Happens all the time.  At least you are prepared and understand the risk.  New sellers are targets for scammers.  Learn how to sell first and sell lower priced items first.  Sell the rare expensive cards later or locally in person where the payment has a better guarantee of sticking.

[sivark-49]

I just checked the buyer's feedback section again and they actually have 49 buyer reviews all saying that they were an excellent buyer. I'm assuming this a rather good sign of their trustworthiness right? However, a lot of the feedback responses are the exact same even though they are from different sellers. Am I allowed to just say the buyer's Ebay handle so that some of you more experienced users can see what I mean or is that not allowed through the forums?

[therogue-trader]

Buyers cannot receive non-positive feedback and many sellers will leave feedback before the transaction is actually 'complete' (the item has been received and the buyer is happy with it)

(i.e. feedback from being a buyer is almost meaningless)

[lisa5768]

You can not name the buyer here. Buyer feedback means nothing, they can only get positives and sellers can not say anything negative in that positive feedback. You have gotten very good advise above to help protect yourself.

[toysaver]

As a seller it's more important to look at the feedback they give.   If there are neutrals and negatives or sounds like there were customer service issues it signals problems.  I block those buyers asap.

[inso-6487]

Lots of Pokémon cards missing on return , odd or convenient, well I also have “lost” Pokémon cards , this got purchase , then eBay place a return and refund to seller , then the account got closed , I call several times , and several misleading information, apparently the card current location at authentication place , then got los in mail , than they receive them and the return address was not correct , I was suppose to receive email for the corrected address that never got , eBay is not currently searching for the missing items ,  I do have proof and all screen shots including the buyers info , also I call police from Florida and report at my current city has been initiated . Don’t sell you card eBay has no moral nor interest in helping the seller , thank you . 

[simba6]

Yes you could be out money and there is NOTHING you could do about it.  Never sell an item you can't afford to lose.  As a new seller, all you will attract is scammers anyway. No legit buyer will bid much on a new unproven seller.  Sell lower value say 25.00 max items until you build up some feedback.

[rustydalmatian]

There is an old adage about communism that applies to scammers.  They are lying.  You know they are lying.  They know you know they are lying.  You know they know you know they are lying.

Not a darn thing you can do about it.

[ms.rodriguez*]

You have no feedback.  You are scammers dream seller.  Do NOT sell the entire collection at once.  List your better cards by themselves.  Don't list all 50 of your best cards at once.  Start with a few.  LEARN to do ebay so that you do not get scammed.  Take a few hours and read the many posts here.   Learn to NOT be a victim.  Follow ebay policy. NEVER give out your phone number or email address.  Always verify the payment in MY EBAY.   Ship through Ebay Shipping.   

Remember, all buyers MUST pay through Ebay.  A seller NEVER ever knows how a buyer pays. If you see PAYPAL payment in an email, it's 100% scam.   Sellers can NOT accept paypal here.  A buyer can use paypal, paypal then sends the money to Ebay Managed Payments, Ebay takes their cut and the sales taxes and then the seller gets the rest.  This is the ONLY way for a seller to get paid here.   Goodluck.