Ebay Scammer (Buyer)

take the money out of the account now. Remove you bank info from paypal and ebay. I hate scammers and don't use ebay anymore because this crap happened to me months ago. They'll side with the buyer.

Wow that sucks

Buyers protection ruins it for sellers.

Apollo 13 said:

take the money out of the account now. Remove you bank info from paypal and ebay.

Click to expand...

I don't know if it's that simple, if it were then any seller could just send a box of rocks and remove their bank account info from paypal and ebay to avoid any penalty?

Sounds much too easy...

There's nothing you can do. If you shipped with eBay USPS then you have evidence of shipping. Hopefully, you took many pictures as evidence of ownership prior to shipping. If they are posted in the auction all the better. It will come down to your feedback vs the buyers. Open your own claim against the buyer. I typically hold feedback for 2-3 days after delivery for buyers. If you already had access to the funds, then your seller rating and feedback must be good because eBay holds the funds until 24 hours after delivery confirmation.

Did you require a signature? when selling stuff on ebay did it say there was seller protection?

Messing with the United States Postal Service, is a federal offense, search all about postal inspectors and let know the buyer what you know, head to your regional postal office and ask to talk to the local postal inspector... They don't take lightly postal offenses...

TSX said:

Did you require a signature? when selling stuff on ebay did it say there was seller protection?

Click to expand...

If you printed the shipping label through eBay, it will automatically add delivery confirmation. If your sale price was high enough, it will also highlight and tell you signature confirmation is required. Assuming both are used, you are fairly safe. I also add insurance for anything I consider higher risk, typically mobile products because of demand or fragile. That way I am covered by USPS as backup if the seller claims the box was empty.

In this day and age of fraud, I actually use my trusty Iphone and record the Postal worker taping up my package and me paying for it. People in line look at me like I am a crackhead, and luckily I have never had a bad buyer before, but if it does happen I will be prepared with video evidence.

eBay needs to provide an added service linked with either FedEx, UPS or even USPS.

Maybe for an added $15 have the package sent to the nearest USPS, FedEx, UPS location of the buyer. Have the buyer open up the box with the contents verified by a third party before they take it home

That's the only way i would sell a higher end product like an iPhone via eBay.

Two main problems on Ebay:

1) Buyers can say anything and file a SNAD case (Significantly not as described). Ebay will usually side with them, allowing the buyer to return the item for a full refund, regardless of what the seller wants. Having delivery and signature confirmation will prevent a buyer from filing an INR case(Item Not Received) claim, but will not stop the buyer from filing a SNAD.

In your case, either a USPS worker opened up the box and stole the phone, or the buyer is making up BS (which I think is more likely). If the buyer proceeds to open a SNAD, and if ebay sides with him, he will be asked to return the "item," which, in his case, an empty box.

Nope, "hiding" your bank info from ebay will not work. And neither can you open a case against a buyer. There is an option to "report a buyer" but that does not have the functionality of a full fledged case.

If the buyer opens a SNAD case, reply professionally with all the documentation you have, including photos, etc. Call up an ebay rep and tell them what happened, and ask them to investigate the buyer. If ebay favors the buyer, you can appeal as a last resort. If that doesn't work, you can use try with USPS insurance.

2) Buyers no longer are able to earn negative feedback. This means scammers, liars, and plain idiots all have 100% feedback. So buyer feedback is meaningless.

That's why I'm very wary of selling on ebay. I only sell cheap junk that I don't mind losing. I used to sell more expensive stuff, until a buyer claimed the item she received was "fake" (when I bought it from a well known retail store). I will be selling my iPhone 4s soon...and I'm considering selling it locally or just using one of the buyback programs.

----------

aneftp said:

eBay needs to provide an added service linked with either FedEx, UPS or even USPS.

Maybe for an added $15 have the package sent to the nearest USPS, FedEx, UPS location of the buyer. Have the buyer open up the box with the contents verified by a third party before they take it home

That's the only way i would sell a higher end product like an iPhone via eBay.

Click to expand...

I agree a 3rd party would be really helpful! Especially when buyers can claim anything. However, with ebay's current policy, the seller must ship to the address listed on the buyer's paypal account. If the seller ships to any other address, then he forfeits any seller protection, and the buyer can claim "item not received." I know, ebay policies aren't the greatest in the world...

wknapp0924 said:

In this day and age of fraud, I actually use my trusty Iphone and record the Postal worker taping up my package and me paying for it. People in line look at me like I am a crackhead, and luckily I have never had a bad buyer before, but if it does happen I will be prepared with video evidence.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing when doing returns to any company. They look at me like I'm a nutcase as well! Oh we'll, %#&@ em!

I worked for FedEx a long time ago and know just how easy it is for fraud to happen.

Wow sounds like the seller is in for a nightmare. I dont sell or even buy anything from ebay anymore, last time I did they forced me to use Paypal that said I had to provide my banking info. After that I was done.

waa1futs said:

I don't know if it's that simple, if it were then any seller could just send a box of rocks and remove their bank account info from paypal and ebay to avoid any penalty?

Sounds much too easy...

Click to expand...

it's actually that easy because that's what I did. I removed all my info right when I felt he was about to scam me. My paypal account is now in the negative but at least they didn't take my money from my account.

It's now your word against his. You could try the "weight of package" defense. As all packages are weighed, you could say no way it would weigh that much if iphone was missing.

Be sure and tell the buyer you have the IMEI info and will be contacting the carrier to have it blacklisted (to scare them into thinking they now have a non working phone). This is why i keep insurance on my iPhones when i sell them on ebay that way if "something" happens to it i can have it replaced.

TSX said:

Be sure and tell the buyer you have the IMEI info and will be contacting the carrier to have it blacklisted (to scare them into thinking they now have a non working phone). This is why i keep insurance on my iPhones when i sell them on ebay that way if "something" happens to it i can have it replaced.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Since you have the information when they try to activate it they should get caught. Sorry you are having to deal with this! Let us know how it turns out.

Been hearing too many reports like this lately. This is why I only buy online and not sell

Immediately check the Craigslist in his area - see if you can find him selling your phone - if you have any phone number info (I think you can still pull up a buyer's contact info through ebay) - see if it matches his contact info

It is a shot in the dark, but stranger things have happened.

Have (bought and) sold numerous phones over that past nearly 10 years on eBay and thank God never had a problem like this.
I would contact eBay immediately and tell them that you suspect a scam. If you have sold high priced items in the past and got positive feedback that would help in my opinion as this supports your claim to be a credible seller.
I had a case where a buyer claimed that an Android tablet he bought would be scratched all over. I contacted eBay straight away and informed them that I suspect a scam. Since I had several hundred positive feedback and he below hundred, I never heard about this case again ...

Good luck!

I've actually had a buyer purchase all my Apple items for sale (~5) using Buy It Now. After receiving them he threatened to give negative feedback and open a case as item not as described unless I offered a bulk discount.

It was a losing battle and I offered a return but stated, the IMEI numbers and serial numbers better match the shipped products. I provided photos of serial numbers with my response. Threat went away.

As suggested, offering a return and explaining a postal claim stating you have the IMEI number may put this to rest. Also passive aggressively state you will report a stolen phone to the carrier to block would help.

Apple should provide a service, iLost, which permanently deactivates the serial number worldwide and reports the location whenever the device is connected to internet.

Apollo 13 said:

it's actually that easy because that's what I did. I removed all my info right when I felt he was about to scam me. My paypal account is now in the negative but at least they didn't take my money from my account.

Click to expand...

What happens when your PayPal is in the negative?