I think I've been conned

Joined
Mar 18, 2021
Messages
4,649
On eBay that is.

A buyer swears blind that I didn’t include a few bits and bobs in the post. I have no way of verifying this and cannot afford a refund, so I’ve been forced to pay for replacement parts. Next time - and let this be a lesson to everyone - I’m taking pictures of what I send.

Stupid Ice Cream.
 
This is part of why my mom stopped selling. It got to the point where she was providing both photographic and video evidence during packing and shipping to fight back against shady buyers making bogus claims. eBay almost always sides with the buyer and it became so much work to turn a profit and not get scammed. So, she stopped. I have some things I'd like to sell, but I'm too worried about this as well.
 
All of the pics should be in your description, along with a list of what's in it, and then take a pic of everything when you ship it so you have proof that it was in the box when you packed it.
 
I’m not sure photos or video would help if EBay is siding with buyers automatically. There is no way to prove you didn’t reopen the package after photographing or filming it and remove items. It would still be a he said/she said type of thing. If someone is determined to con you, I can’t imagine that they would stop the con based on a photo.

The one thing that might work is if you video yourself packing the item at the shipping location, showing each item clearly as it goes into the box, with the uncut video showing you giving it to the shipping company and the shipping company taking ownership of the package. At that point, if something is missing from the box it should be on the shipping company to replace. But it would need to be one continuous video so they couldn’t claim you paused, removed an item, and then continued the video recording.

It’s a shame that people have become so untrustworthy and are willing to put in more work cheating others for profit than getting a real job. Sorry this happened to you N I C.
 

I’m not sure photos or video would help if EBay is siding with buyers automatically. There is no way to prove you didn’t reopen the package after photographing or filming it and remove items. It would still be a he said/she said type of thing. If someone is determined to con you, I can’t imagine that they would stop the con based on a photo.

The one thing that might work is if you video yourself packing the item at the shipping location, showing each item clearly as it goes into the box, with the uncut video showing you giving it to the shipping company and the shipping company taking ownership of the package. At that point, if something is missing from the box it should be on the shipping company to replace. But it would need to be one continuous video so they couldn’t claim you paused, removed an item, and then continued the video recording.

It’s a shame that people have become so untrustworthy and are willing to put in more work cheating others for profit than getting a real job. Sorry this happened to you N I C.
That's what I was also thinking. Nothing keeps someone unscrupulous from taking pictures or video of everything, including sealing the box, then unsealing the box and taking something out. And therefore, someone unscrupulous could claim that's what's been done.
 
Ebay and or a Credit card will ALWAYS side with the buyer. I will not get into full details other than to say think back to when the deal was negotiated for the little chip on a credit card by the Government.... the chip good but in return they moved all liability into the hands of the merchant or seller in this case. Your only recourse is to sue the buyer which has happened with both legitimate stores and Ebay sellers. Simply said a person could say they never received an item you did not put insurance on the item you are SOL even with a POD saying item was left on ? with a picture. In the same not satisfied even if your you say no returns you will lose a credit card charge back and need to get whatever you sold back on your own should you refuse the return.
I strongly suggest to read the rules on Ebay as they are subject to credit card rules again it is either Ebay loses the funds or you and the latter will not happen....
Pick and choose who you sell too.
This did cost the credit card companies billions so to pay for it they simply stopped standing up for the merchants unfortunately a seller on Ebay falls under this, but the same rule works in your favor for purchases.
 
I have exactly 1 negative feedback on my seller profile since 2001, and it happened within the last year. I sold a MOSTLY (about 95%) complete Lego Death Star.

- I clearly wrote in the title AND the description that it was close but NOT 100% complete. My husband even listed out the individual pieces he was pretty sure were missing and I put them into the item description. It sold for less than a fully complete set would, since it's... incomplete.

- I said that it was assembled and I would ship it assembled and try my best to pack it very well, but no guarantees because it is a LEGO set afterall, and may need some re-assembly.

On top of this I miscalculated shipping and paid at least $30 more out of pocket above what they buyer paid for shipping. My snafu, oh well.

Weeks go by, it shows as received. I left positive buyer feedback.

The buyer makes zero attempt to contact me at all except to one day suddenly give me a negative feedback. Their reason? "It was missing pieces and some of it came apart in shipping".

All I could do was publicly respond to the feedback that they should carefully read full item titles & descriptions before making purchases. I have over 500 feedback, all positive except that one and now I no longer have 100% positive feedback rating.

I've made decent $$ on eBay over the years and they did have my back on a really bizarre buyer not too long ago, but that one still irritates me.
 
That sucks, this happened to my son on Etsy. He was 14 at the time and he's very entrepreneurial anyway so he was selling unopened packs and such of pokemon cards on Etsy. One of them he labeled as a mystery pack. Well, some guy bought them, then said they weren't worth what he paid for them (they actually were because my son isn't really very good at making profits :) )

Anyway, the person first made terrible reviews, then purchased two more of the "boxes" to also make bad reviews, then went to Etsy, who forced us to give the money back and he kept the products. LOL

Probably a few hundred dollars, but a good introduction for my son to scammers.

So many people are bad people lately and they look for stuff like this to scam and take advantage.
 












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