eBay advice for returned item

[ICDP]

Update for those interested. The item was delivered and I asked the postman if I could take a video of me opening the box while he stood there and watched. The postman was OK with this as he is a friendly sort and has been our postman for over 10 years. We are on first name basis, so I suppose that helps.

Either way, I opened the parcel while recording a video and my item was inside and verfied against the serial I had noted down. There is no damage and all parts are present. So thankfully this particular buyer was honest (even if unreasonable).

if I had opened the box and found a brick inside, with a postman there having just delivered the thing that very minute. I doubt even eBay would have a hard time disputing any claims that I wasn't being scammed. Though I have read enough and seen enough to know eBay are not likely to listen to logic but perserverance is key.

Contrary to some of the opinions being posted, sellers have sucessfuly overturned eBay disputes by threatening legal action.

Article is old but still relevant.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/17/ebay-goes-wrong-debt-collectors

 

[GIBURROWS]

Any examples of "having fun with that"?

I wouldn't want to get myself in any trouble but you can get creative and send them extra post from companies all over the world or spend a little cash and send them big awkward objects just for fun.

 

[LtMatt]

Update for those interested. The item was delivered and I asked the postman if I could take a video of me opening the box while he stood there and watched. The postman was OK with this as he is a friendly sort and has been our postman for over 10 years. We are on first name basis, so I suppose that helps.

Either way, I opened the parcel while recording a video and my item was inside and verfied against the serial I had noted down. There is no damage and all parts are present. So thankfully this particular buyer was honest (even if unreasonable).

if I had opened the box and found a brick inside, with a postman there having just delivered the thing that very minute. I doubt even eBay would have a hard time disputing any claims that I wasn't being scammed. Though I have read enough and seen enough to know eBay are not likely to listen to logic but perserverance is key.

Contrary to some of the opinions being posted, sellers have sucessfuly overturned eBay disputes by threatening legal action.

Article is old but still relevant.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/17/ebay-goes-wrong-debt-collectors

Glad to hear all was okay on this occasion. Always have heart in mouth for a couple of months after selling something expensive on Ebay.

 

[GR63]

I have been scammed as a seller (ebay took buyers side) and had an attempted scam a few weeks back. Guy claimed machine I sold stopped working, I suggested some tests and a matter of minutes later he sent pics of having disassembled PC and removed heatsink and CPU and damaged socket. I know it was fine. Basically he'd damaged doing a CPU swap and thought he'd let me pay for it. Given it wasnt physically possible to do all he claimed he'd done in a matter of like 3 minutes I knew the photos were taken before I suggested any solutions, so I told him I'd decline his attempted return. Thankfully he went away and I wasn't forced to close an account to refuse his scam

people are chancers these days

 

[Surveyor]

I have been scammed as a seller (ebay took buyers side) and had an attempted scam a few weeks back. Guy claimed machine I sold stopped working, I suggested some tests and a matter of minutes later he sent pics of having disassembled PC and removed heatsink and CPU and damaged socket. I know it was fine. Basically he'd damaged doing a CPU swap and thought he'd let me pay for it. Given it wasnt physically possible to do all he claimed he'd done in a matter of like 3 minutes I knew the photos were taken before I suggested any solutions, so I told him I'd decline his attempted return. Thankfully he went away and I wasn't forced to close an account to refuse his scam

people are chancers these days

Do you sell many PCs/components on ebay?

 

[GR63]

Do you sell many PCs/components on ebay?

Not loads.. About 10-15 sales of ANYTHING a year.. why?

 

[413x]

I haven't been scammed by a buyer. I thought I was once on a gpu. But the guy was just a lemon. I guided him through installation and he was happy. If I remember he wasn't plugging in the 6 pin connectors to it.

But amazingly I haven't been scammed.

I have just not posted to 2 people with zero feedback. I just said it must have been lost in the post. Refunded. And sold a few weeks later!

 

[GR63]

I haven't been scammed by a buyer. I thought I was once on a gpu. But the guy was just a lemon. I guided him through installation and he was happy. If I remember he wasn't plugging in the 6 pin connectors to it.

But amazingly I haven't been scammed.

Oh and I got the classic "never got the item" from a foreign buyer and received emails from other ebayers who'd been scammed by same guy.

Needless to say I never ship overseas now... regardless of the crappy Global Seller scheme eBay offer

 

[Five.Stars]

I sold anitem on eBay and the seller asked for a refund which I accpeted. Frankly the buyer is being unreasonable and I am happy to issue a refund and take the hit on the returns postage.

I am intending to check the parcel contents before accepting delivery and taking a video of me opening the parcel. If it is not what I sent should I reject, or simply accept and open an eBay dispute?

I believe eBay simply do a refund when delivery is attempted, rather than accepted (for obvious reasons). I also know eBay tend to side with the buyer but if I have a video of me opening the parcel with the postman there, surely it should be enough evidence for me to win a dispute?

Hoping it doesn't come to this and to be fair any time I did a return I did get my item back. Just wondering if rejecting delivery under the above circumstances would be a bad idea under eBay rules.

The postie isn't going to stand and wait on you opening package mate. It's scanned as delivered as soon as you open the door. Unless you refuse it, but they ain't gona let you open package whilst you decide if you are accepting or refusing.

 

[Surveyor]

The postie isn't going to stand and wait on you opening package mate. It's scanned as diverted as soon as you open the door. Unless you refuse it, but they ain't gona let you open package whilst you decide if you are accepting or refusing.

Hmm...

Update for those interested. The item was delivered and I asked the postman if I could take a video of me opening the box while he stood there and watched. The postman was OK with this as he is a friendly sort and has been our postman for over 10 years. We are on first name basis, so I suppose that helps.

 

[GR63]

Clearly didnt READ thread

 

[Five.Stars]

Haha yeah fair enough, I hadn't read all the posts at the point I commented. My point stands however, it's extremely unlikely that many posties would allow the recipient to open a parcel prior to accepting delivery.

Glad the op got a reasonable outcome.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Once had a buyer try to con me out of a GPU I bought on Ebay (I may have had a beer or two). Started off with a delay on sending with various excuses, I later rang him and he promised to get it in the post next day, this didn't happen and had also stopped answering his phone. A few days later he supplied a tracking number, however it was sent to his own postcode. I can only presume it was sent by him (posted in the same town) to facilitate (badly) his con.

Fortunately when Ebay took a look they refunded me as it was so obvious what he was trying to do. I would have thought something like that would have gotten you banned from their platform but not the case here.

 

[Jamauk]

I have given up selling on eBay, I used to sell quite a lot on there, it does however seem in recent years some scam buyers have realised they can essentially get free stuff and so have started to scam.

I sold a DJI drone on there a few years ago, the controller had a failing battery which was clearly stated in the description, he couldn't get it to work and repetitively sent me abusive messages telling me that the drone was ******. I was initially suspicious when he asked about geting a copy of the receipt from Amazon as he "was good with the SOGA". I sent a copy of the receipt, Amazon wouldn't deal with him as I was the buyer, I tried to help but it just wasn't possible. The failing battery was clearly listed in the listing. He accused me of scamming him because he made an offer that I accepted, in his words "too quickly so I must have been scamming him". eBay/PayPal refunded him, however I spoke several times with eBay pointing out that he had been abusive and how in his last message pointed out that he wouldn't be returning it because I had scammed him! - I think that was the deciding factor from eBay and they gave me the money back, he wasn't pleased about it as the funds had been taken off him! I noticed how he frequently left sellers negative feedback (he did to me however eBay deleted it), he is now no longer a registered user.

Another I dealt with, I sold some Cisco phones with SIP firmware on, clearly explaining in the listing that they had SIP firmware and would require a TFTP server and relevant DHCP options enabling, the guy that bought them was a complete idiot scammer and wanted me to send configuration files to him (which I did). In one of his messages to me he stated that he could probably use the handsets and cables - that suggested to me that he has used this type of phones in the past and was trying to scam me, I really couldn't be bothered with it and got him to return them, his return reason was that they were faulty, they worked just fine when I got them back, pointless I know but I did report him to eBay for this. Essentially here I lost out on postage. I relisted them, a student messaged me asking about how to set them up as they were intended for a university project, I just replied stating that unless he knew how to work with them, or was prepared to research and learn then he would be best not buying. Slightly more positive though, I sold them on there to a buyer who left positive feedback, so I guess this guy knew what he was doing and wasn't a scammer.

My latest one though me as a buyer, it was a heavy item and the auction had the option of postage for £3.50 or cash on collection, on winning I paid and got the message stating that it was a collect only, when I pointed out that postage was listed and there was no mention of cash on collection he asked for an additional £70 to cover postage, I just asked for a refund, this took over a week as eBay had to give him the chance to send it, that never happened and I eventually got my money back. The seller did point out that it was his mistake with the listing so I don't think it was a scammer.

I often buy on there though and like to think of myself as a genuine buyer.

 

[413x]

Oh and I got the classic "never got the item" from a foreign buyer and received emails from other ebayers who'd been scammed by same guy.

Needless to say I never ship overseas now... regardless of the crappy Global Seller scheme eBay offer

With GSP I thought 'haven't got the item' was not a refund.
The wording around GSP is approx "your responsibility ends with receipt of the item by the GSP"

Effectively, once item is scanned at the GSP warehouse your work is done

 

[GR63]

With GSP I thought 'haven't got the item' was not a refund.
The wording around GSP is approx "your responsibility ends with receipt of the item by the GSP"

Effectively, once item is scanned at the GSP warehouse your work is done

I got ripped before GSP existed but either way I just dont TRUST eBay not to side with buyer and screw seller even when its a scam. I was forced to refund for a seller who basically just changed their mind. So I lost out on two sets of postage for a PC before.

Plus you cannot leave negative feedback as a seller when you DO get scammed.. WTF?

 

[413x]

I got ripped before GSP existed but either way I just dont TRUST eBay not to side with buyer and screw seller even when its a scam. I was forced to refund for a seller who basically just changed their mind. So I lost out on two sets of postage for a PC before.

Plus you cannot leave negative feedback as a seller when you DO get scammed.. WTF?

Yeah I agree as a seller it's a big risk.
Basically if you're gonna get scammed it's probably going to happen. It's why I only ever use buy it now and best offer. Buy it now is an inflated price. And any offers I can check feedback.

Yes. Removing Negative feedback from sellers is step backwards

I've probably sold 2-300 items on eBay so far so good