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I think I got scammed on eBay (Help)

R

r3dsh1ft

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2011
28
0
Los Angeles, CA
Okay, so I recently sold my old iPhone on eBay to some dude in Russia. He has 100% feedback, so I thought I would be safe. I put insurance on the package just in case. (signature confirmation was not an available option for overseas)

So just the other day, he filed a case on eBay saying that he did not receive the package. (I purchased the shipping label via ebay, and the tracking number says he received the package, but he notes that the phone wasn't in the box.)


He says he contacted the Russian post and they are investigating.

I'm scared that I'm going to be out of pretty much 400 bucks. I've heard that eBay ALWAYS sides with the buyer. It just isn't fair. I'm an honest seller with hundreds of perfect feedback.

I just don't understand why he filed a case. He's already guaranteed the money since I bought insurance. My instincts are telling me he has the phone. It's not fair that in the end I'm left with no phone and he's ending up with 400 dollars.

I contacted ebay right away, and they assured me that they wouldn't allow him to get a refund if the package says it was delivered.

I'm still scared though. I don't know what to do.
I have the serial and IMEI number. Any help would be great.
Thanks
 
Last edited:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

It sucks but the seller usually gets hosed. That's why I don't ship expensive items out of the US last I recall there is no real "delivery confirmation" to show proof to PayPal he got it and usually they'll just side with him. You never know though hopefully not. Let us know what happens and good luck.
 
bobright said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

It sucks but the seller usually gets hosed. That's why I don't ship expensive items out of the US last I recall there is no real "delivery confirmation" to show proof to PayPal he got it and usually they'll just side with him. You never know though hopefully not. Let us know what happens and good luck.
Click to expand...

he admitted he received the package, he just claimed the phone wasn't inside (as if customs took it out)

please tell me there is some sort of hope :(
 
OP, I think you are screw, it is your word against his word regardless overseas or not, you said the iphone is in the box and shipped, he said he receive an empty box, the shipper did their job and deliver the package and pretty much they are out of the loop (unless package is damage or open before delivery) so how can you proof he is guilty.

FYI, my last 3 iphone sales are done locally thru craiglist, and I thinks it is the best way and it is free.
 
r3dsh1ft said:
I'm scared that I'm going to be out of pretty much 400 bucks. I've heard that eBay ALWAYS sides with the buyer. It just isn't fair. I'm an honest seller with hundreds of perfect feedback.
Click to expand...

Just wait until eBay sorts it out, but I have a feeling he's going to end up with his money back (and maybe the iPhone) since he's saying he received an empty box.

Based on your OP, though, you've sold tons on eBay and know the rules/risks (you wrote eBay ALWAYS sides with the buyer), so you knew the risk but went with it anyway.
 
Any chance OP can contact Apple with the serial number of the phone and report it stolen, so it can't be activated/used? I never sell anything outside of the US for instances like this. I'm pretty much done selling on there regardless due to ******* buyers trying to scam.
 
jenzjen said:
Just wait until eBay sorts it out, but I have a feeling he's going to end up with his money back (and maybe the iPhone) since he's saying he received an empty box.

Based on your OP, though, you've sold tons on eBay and know the rules/risks (you wrote eBay ALWAYS sides with the buyer), so you knew the risk but went with it anyway.
Click to expand...

some adviced i can give you
1st never sell to people with only few feedbacks,
2sd if you have your shipping lebel it will shaw the weight empty box will weight nothing, you can proof ebay that you shipped it with the iphone,
 
IXDoubleDXI said:
Any chance OP can contact Apple with the serial number of the phone and report it stolen, so it can't be activated/used? I never sell anything outside of the US for instances like this. I'm pretty much done selling on there regardless due to ******* buyers trying to scam.
Click to expand...
Has anyone tried this before? Is this even possible?
 
The shipping label shows the weight that he put on the label, not the actual weight.

Doesn't matter. eBay will side with the buyer no matter what. Even if you took a pic before closing the box up they can claim you removed it before shipping.

Never ship overseas. Period.

I have given up selling (maybe buying) on eBay because of the many issues.
 
The seller always looses. Welcome to eBay!

I sold $1800 worth of GPS tracking/training dog collars on my eBay store and the buyer did a chargeback saying he did not authorize the transaction. When the chargeback was approved, he went to the post office and picked up the package.

I fought this sooooo hard with eBay and lost.

They just dont care. Trust me.

Insult to injury, sellers are not allowed to leave buyers negative feedback. Totally flawed system.
 
IXDoubleDXI said:
Any chance OP can contact Apple with the serial number of the phone and report it stolen, so it can't be activated/used?
Click to expand...

No, Apple doesn't do such thing. They never have. Not sure where people keep hearing this.

OP, I think you're out of luck. Sorry to hear your story. I've heard a lot of stories like this, especially involving shipping to Russia.
 
Regardless overseas or not, just don't sell at ebay.

For example you can sell your next door neighbor something and he said he receive any empty box, you take him to small claim court and the judge will ask you if you have proof that you send the item to the buyer, 2ND do you have proof that the buyer receive the item.

One way to deal with that is to get a middle man like an escrow services, I did that one time back in year 2000 with some $25000 purchase thru ebay.
 
You shipped to Russia and thought it was legit you are very naive and should stop selling on eBay. I'm not trying to be mean but next you might do a sale to someone in Nigeria.
 
r3dsh1ft said:
he admitted he received the package, he just claimed the phone wasn't inside (as if customs took it out)

please tell me there is some sort of hope :(
Click to expand...

That happens all the time with packages to Russia. It doesn't mean he tries to scam you but customs there are very corrupt.
Hope next time you sell only to US buyers.
Not much you can do about it now.
 
Never ship internationally. Same thing happened to a good friend of mine and the guy got his money back. You need to open a case with paypal. Paypal ended up giving him his $400 back like a month later.
 
In Soviet Russia...car drives you...

On a serious note, I won't sell anything overseas anymore...I sold my ipod nano 4th gen to some dude in Canada and he claimed he never got it, when I had delivery confirmation, and I even contacted their delivery guy who told me he personally handed it to him...

I sent all that information to paypal and I still got screwed, luckily it was only 90 bucks, but still, i will only buy stuff on ebay now, never really sell it.
 
icomputered said:
Woah, what you're saying is true, but you don't have to be so negative. You could at least say some words of encouragement.
Click to expand...

It's not his style.

Unfortunately, lessons learned here OP. I hope somehow things go your way but it is far too easy these days to say you received a package but it was empty. Even a picture to prove it was empty is clearly easy. :(
 
Had a similar incident awhile back. Buyer claimed they didn't receive the iPhone I sold them, and long story short, Paypal sided with them. In the end I lost out on an iPhone 4 and $400. So I agree with some of the replies... avoid the risk and don't ship out the country. It sucks but I learned my lesson. Hope your case turn out different than mine.
 
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