Getting scammed on eBay?

[PrincessTeddyBear]

I've been selling on eBay for years but I recently decided to go through all the stuff that has been sitting around the house for years that we don't use and sell for spending money in WDW. Over the years I've created a huge CD collection and decided to sell parts of it that I no longer listen to - or don't like. Someone bought one of the CD's, I shipped it out and received an e-mail back telling me it was the wrong CD. Not only did I tripple check the CD case before listing the CD on eBay to make sure it was the right CD, but I checked it a few times before mailing it too since I did have a time where computer games got switched in cases. They're telling me it's a different CD - one that was listed at the same time on eBay but I checked with the buyer of the other CD and they received the correct CD. The person who purchased the CD is requesting a full refund including shipping immeditaly or they will not only give me bad feedback on eBay but report me to both paypal and eBay for fredulant sales. I've sent them an e-mail stating I'd issue a refund but that I want the CD returned to me but they're no longer answering my e-mails. What would you do in this situtation? Is there anyway to avoid getting burned and not only losing the money but the CD as well?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

One thing to do is look at the feedback they have given. If they have given many neutrals or negatives you might consider contacting eBay about them. Also, if you have a rating over 100 although you will lose your "perfect" feedback most people will ignore the occasional negative. I know that I have a net feedback of more than 1,000 with two negatives, but they are both over a year old now. I was not happy to receive them, but there was nothing I could do.

 

[va32h]

Did the buyer pay with PayPal? If so, they could try to do a PayPal chargeback. If you didn't use delivery confirmation and ship to the buyer's confirmed address, PayPal will most likely automatically side with the buyer. If you used DC and the confirmed address, the buyer will have to file a Significantly Not as Described claim. PayPal does have an unfortunate tendency to side with the buyer. You may well lose the dispute.

Threatening to leave bad feedback if you don't give them a refund is feedback extortion - and that is a reportable offense. Don't have the link handy, but search ebay help for "feedback extortion" and you should find the place to report it.

Have you left feedback for the buyer? If not, you will at least have that format left to warn other sellers.

 

[4fordisney]

You may never hear back from them since you asked for the CD back. If you do get a negative you can tell your side and leave it at that. That just stinks!

 

[disneychrista]

The fact that they have not answered your request to have the CD returned tells me that they were trying to scam you.

 

[eileenfk]

When ever a seller has negatives, I look at them, before deciding if I want to bid.
(I sometimes have to dig through a lot of positives to find the negatives).

Then I look at the feedback of the person who left them the negative.
Sometimes it really looks like it is the buyer who has the problem and not the seller.

The things that will prevent me from bidding are:
non delivery (unless the item is cheap, then I might take the risk)
no effort to work out a complaint by the buyer.

As far as shipment of wrong item, if the buyer is un-willing to return the item, then there is not much the seller can do about it.
Insure this note is added to any feedback that is left.

I was once shipped the wrong item (an item from another auction by the same seller). The seller sent me a postage pre-paid envelope, along with the correct item. I then returned the wrong item.
We both left positive feedback for each other.
In this case, the seller had not yet shipped out my item, to the other buyer, so it worked out.

- Eileen

 

[DisneyGirl]

You did the right thing-- by asking them to send back the CD, they've been caught. This is actually a common scam on E-bay-- a person bids on an item, gets it, and them e-mails the seller back to say it is either the wrong item/broken/has stains/ not as represented, etc. They either ask for a full refund, or sometimes a partial refund. This happened to my mom.

The correct thing to do is to ask for it to be shipped back-- I would even offer to pay the postage to have it sent back (since you know for a fact you sent the correct item). Tell the buyer that you won't refund without having her ship it back, but you would be more than happy to refund the money if she does ship it back.

My mom never heard from the person who did this to her again-- I think they realize they are caught, and move on to the next person (I know that doesn't remove your fears of having bad feedback and a fraud charge filed against you, but you probably won't hear from this person again either!)

 

[seashoreCM]

Possibly too late now but you could have quickly replied in an email asking the buyer what exactly was the title of the CD they received from you "so you can check your collection of CD's for a misplaced one".

Then in a later email you ask them to return the incorrect item in order to get a refund. Just gives the buyer one more chance to goof up.

Disney h ints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[PrincessTeddyBear]

Thanks everyone for your replies and thoughts. I went back to check their feedback points and to try contacting them again only to find that they are no longer a member of eBay. They didn't leave any feedback before leaving so I guess at this point I don't need to worry about the feedback.

 

[extremesoccermom]

I wish I could offer you some great advice but unfortunately all I can give is moral support.
I am in a battle right now with half.com, this is my first time selling anything and I thought they would be a little "safer" than ebay. I sold my DD Gameboy color in Feb and sent it by FedEx (I did not get a signature but I do have the confirmation that it was left at the front door) Now the person is disputing the charge with their credit card company and they are charging be back for the amount. I asked them if I had any additional recourse but they are telling me to bad and I need to try to get the Gameboy back from the person. I have emailed them but I haven't gotten any response and Really don't expect one. It is so unfair that they can just do this! My daughter is very upset since this was going to be her money for our Disney trip (I don't have any extra to easy her pain at this time and now she doesn't even have her gameboy).

 

[disneychrista]

I sold my DD Gameboy color in Feb and sent it by FedEx (I did not get a signature but I do have the confirmation that it was left at the front door)

Did you sign the release for them to not get a signature? If not I would talk to Fedex and make them reimburse you the cost.

 

[PrincessTeddyBear]

I wish I could offer you some great advice but unfortunately all I can give is moral support.
I am in a battle right now with half.com, this is my first time selling anything and I thought they would be a little "safer" than ebay.

I thought that same thing with half.com but personally I don't think they are. At least purchasing wise. I did like half.com like two years ago to build my eBay rating up and had good luck selling wise - I didn't run into anything like you're running into now with the gameboy - but I did find in buying stuff it was a 50 - 50 chance I'd get it. At least from the people with lower ratings. I don't know how many complaints I had to file with eBay about transactions happening on half.com with people saying they had stuff, accepting the money and than disappearing.

Is the person disputing the gameboy claim new to eBay?

I have a friend who had their PS2 sent out for repairs and when Sony shipped it back, they sent it by fedEx. Sony said he got it, that fedEx said they left it at the door of his apartment building but he could not find it and figured someone else took it. About a month later he taking out the trash and for some reason wound up looking behind some crates by the back door and there was his PS2.

 

[Colinsmom]

I wish I could offer you some great advice but unfortunately all I can give is moral support.
I am in a battle right now with half.com, this is my first time selling anything and I thought they would be a little "safer" than ebay. I sold my DD Gameboy color in Feb and sent it by FedEx (I did not get a signature but I do have the confirmation that it was left at the front door) Now the person is disputing the charge with their credit card company and they are charging be back for the amount. I asked them if I had any additional recourse but they are telling me to bad and I need to try to get the Gameboy back from the person. I have emailed them but I haven't gotten any response and Really don't expect one. It is so unfair that they can just do this! My daughter is very upset since this was going to be her money for our Disney trip (I don't have any extra to easy her pain at this time and now she doesn't even have her gameboy).

What was the value of the gameboy? A signature is only required on items with a certain value or more - I'd have to look it up, but either $200 or $250 is sticking in my head. Have you called Paypal and talked to them? We recently fought a big chargeback and by escalating it to a manager on the phone, we got our money back into DH's account. You'll have an easier time getting your money back if you followed every step of the Seller Protection Policy.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I used to sell tons of stuff on ebay with no problem and then I sold a Coach purse I had had for a couple of months and paid $300 for. It ended up selling for $120 and then the girl wrote me as soon as she got it saying it was in horrible condition and wanted some of her money back (but wanted to keep the purse) or a full refund. I got so irritated dealing with her and she left me negative feedback so I never sold anything on ebay again. To me after ebay charges you to sell something and paypal charges you to get your money, I don't make that much anyways. Just my opinion.

 

[brivers222]

Our Policy Strictly says "FULL REFUND" but only after the Product is shipped back to us in original packaging within 7 days.

These all sound like scammers to me. As soon as someone doesn't want to send back the product that is a red flag to me.

For Instance, We bought a Snowglobe via Disney Direct. Got it in the mail and it was broken (fragile top pieces broken off) I called DD the next morning and they were shipping another one out immediately and told me to wait to send the old one back AFTER I check the new one over. I was more then willing to send the product back to get a new... People who don't want to send it back are the shady ones IMO