Ebay/Paypal Question

[jtgain]

I had this in another thread, but will re-ask here.

Let's say that I am an Ebay seller and you buy a $500 item from me. I ship you an empty box and you file a complaint with Paypal. You claim that I ripped you off, and I swear that I really did send you the item.

Obviously we can see the problem. I could have really sent you the item, and you pocket it for free by saying the box was empty. I could also ship an empty box and steal your money.

Who does Ebay/Paypal side with?

[beowulff]

They look at the relative feedback ratings and the histories of both parties. If both are about equal, they seem to side with the buyer.

[astro]

Originally Posted by jtgain

I had this in another thread, but will re-ask here.

Let's say that I am an Ebay seller and you buy a $500 item from me. I ship you an empty box and you file a complaint with Paypal. You claim that I ripped you off, and I swear that I really did send you the item.

Obviously we can see the problem. I could have really sent you the item, and you pocket it for free by saying the box was empty. I could also ship an empty box and steal your money.

Who does Ebay/Paypal side with?

Typically the buyer unless the seller has fairly definitive proof that the item was shipped and received. After numerous claims that items were never received and giving several refunds I started using USPS delivery confirmation and all those claims stopped dead.

I'm not sure but I think paypal may also look at sale histories. If someone with 5 feedback is accusing someone like me with 1500+ perfect feedback of scamming them, I'm hoping I would get some benefit of the doubt.

[jtgain]

Originally Posted by astro

Typically the buyer unless the seller has fairly definitive proof that the item was shipped and received. After numerous claims that items were never received and giving several refunds I started using USPS delivery confirmation and all those claims stopped dead.

But if I sent you an empty box, I would have a delivery confirmation w/signature.

Originally Posted by beowulff

They look at the relative feedback ratings and the histories of both parties. If both are about equal, they seem to side with the buyer.

Maybe that seems fair. I hope I'm not a new buyer or seller. I guess my word means nothing, huh?

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by jtgain

But if I sent you an empty box, I would have a delivery confirmation w/signature.

Why send an empty box when you could send a bobcat?

[Markxxx]

It depends on how the sale is funded. If it's funded with a credit card, the buyer would win no matter what paypal says 'cause the credit card company would do a charge back.

Paypal has it's own protection but it's useless for buyers, as witnessed by the above example.

Of course that doesn't happen much because if Paypal had more than one complaint of shipping a rock or an empty box, Paypal would cut the seller off ASAP. The eBay buyer would leave feedback and kill off any future sales.

So it could happen once conceivably but it's not good for a long term scam.

Just like Walgreens doesn't require a signature for credit card purchases under $50.00. You could walk in charge less than $50.00 and dispute the charge with the CC company. You'd win 'cause there's no signature. But it would only work once.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by jtgain

But if I sent you an empty box, I would have a delivery confirmation w/signature.

The empty box would cost far less in shipping. Better put a couple of rocks in it.

[astro]

Originally Posted by jtgain

But if I sent you an empty box, I would have a delivery confirmation w/signature.



Maybe that seems fair. I hope I'm not a new buyer or seller. I guess my word means nothing, huh?

As the other's have pointed out this scam would tend to have a fairly short life.

Think about it on a practical basis . If the buyer and seller both have good feedback over a few+ years the chances of being scammed are pretty remote. It's when you have little or no feedback buyers and sellers that you really have to be careful.

[DrDeth]

Well, the box would have to be about the right weight.

But yes, it can and has been done.

[12345]

eBay will always side with the buyer in any dispute for Item Not as Described.

The buyer will file a dispute with eBay, then eBay will tell the buyer to ship the "Package" back to the seller with tracking for a refund.

Of course the buyer can easily remove the item from the package and put a few rocks in the box and then ship the rocks back with tracking to the seller.

Once the tracking shows the "Package" has been delivered to the seller, eBay will return the buyers money to their paypal account.

This is why eBay no longer works for sellers. ANY buyer can get ANYTHING for free now.

Some people say you can only do it once if your a buyer but all you have to do is start a NEW eBay account with zero feedback, then open a new PayPal account under a new e-mail address, then just buy something else, file a dispute, ship a few rocks back to the buyer with tracking and you get a FREE item and a FULL Refund.

This is the problem with eBay, as a seller you CANNOT CONTROL who buys your items. Even if you block a bidder, they can just create a new account.

I quit selling on eBay last year and I plan to NEVER list another item till they fix this nonsense.

eBay needs to allow the SELLER to control the refund process. If a buyer is unhappy then FINE let them be unhappy but don't set the system up where the buyer is guaranteed a refund no matter what.

Buyers are scamming sellers left and right on eBay now... It's a Scammers Paradise.

[control-z]

Originally Posted by Markxxx

Just like Walgreens doesn't require a signature for credit card purchases under $50.00. You could walk in charge less than $50.00 and dispute the charge with the CC company. You'd win 'cause there's no signature. But it would only work once.

What happens the second time? Walgreens would flag your card?

[stpauler]

Originally Posted by 12345

eBay needs to allow the SELLER to control the refund process. If a buyer is unhappy then FINE let them be unhappy but don't set the system up where the buyer is guaranteed a refund no matter what.

Buyers are scamming sellers left and right on eBay now... It's a Scammers Paradise.

I just got through a bit of this myself. I bought an HTC Hero off of eBay from a fairly reputable seller (over 80K feedback). I'm on the Sprint network which means no SIM card and the phone is activated through the carrier. Turns out the phone was reported lost/stolen so they would not activate it. I had to send the phone back to the seller who, upon receipt, gave me back my money.

[DrDeth]

Originally Posted by 12345

Buyers are scamming sellers left and right on eBay now... It's a Scammers Paradise.

I have heard sellers claim this, but I have never actually seen any evidence of it happening. Certainly, it's not widespread.

Note that the seller could do the same to a buyer- load the box with rocks. Once the seller had DC, the buyer would have to return the box of rocks- at his expense.

In either case, it's mail fraud, and carries a hefty Federal Prison term, which is why few risk it.

Like I said, I have never actually seen any evidence it has happened.

[Hairy Bob]

Originally Posted by DrDeth

I have heard sellers claim this, but I have never actually seen any evidence of it happening. Certainly, it's not widespread.

Note that the seller could do the same to a buyer- load the box with rocks. Once the seller had DC, the buyer would have to return the box of rocks- at his expense.

In either case, it's mail fraud, and carries a hefty Federal Prison term, which is why few risk it.

Like I said, I have never actually seen any evidence it has happened.

My wife had a going on a year or two ago, she sold a phone (no idea what, i think about £60 worth) to somebody with a few hundred feedback, 100% good, and received a complaint saying it was the wrong colour (despite the photo on the listing being an actual photo of the actual phone that was sent). So my wife tells them to return it, they can have a refund, minus the postage.
So a week later we receive the box back, sent by special delivery, tracked and to sign for, which our landlord (who had a shop downstairs and passed along all our post) did. When we noticed the phone had been removed from it's box, she was on to ebay and paypal, who essentially told her that they had had contact from the buyer, who gave them the tracking code for the parcel, and they could see that it had been signed for at our address, so they refunded the buyer from my wife's paypal account, dispute closed.
Upon closer inspection of this ladies feedback record, it turned out that most of the good feedback was actually negative, and it seemed that she had been doing this trick for at least 3 months that we could see, but as sellers can only leave good feedback, she still had a 100% rating!
The moral of the story being, just because someone has a good feedback rating, doesn't make them a good buyer. Check what the feedback actually says before dealing with people. It is within Ebay policy to remove anyone's bid from your auction if you decide not to deal with them, but I think if they win the auction that makes a contract between you, though I'm not 100% on that last bit.

[luckynumber16]

Hey, I've been having a severe problem with ebay and was googling around for advice when I stumbled across this thread. This seems particularly relevant to my problem so I hope you guys can offer your opinions even though it's an ancient thread. Apologies for the length of this! I bought a God of War Ultimate Trilogy Edition from a guy in Greece for my boyfriend for Christmas and here's my tale (F.Y.I. I'm in Britain so use ebay.co.uk):

I saw that there was only one photograph supplied in this item listing, which did not show any Greek language, so I messaged the seller before purchasing to ask whether the item was in English, and the seller replied confirming that it was. I purchased the item on the 21st November but when it arrived it was in Greek, so messaged the seller again to tell him this and asked if I could return the item and obtain a refund. I hadn't even taken it fully out of the cardboard box it was posted in and didn't remove the sticky tabs over the ends, I had merely slid it a little way out of the box, seen the Greek writing and gone "Oh B****CKS!" and put it back in and sealed the postage box back up. The seller agreed to issue a refund for the item but refused to refund my return postage cost.

I returned the item via Airmail insured on the 28th November and obtained proof of postage with the weight of the item at 2.319kg. On the 6th December 2011 I messaged the seller again to ask if he had received my returned item. The seller replied telling me that he had received an empty box without the item inside. This cannot be possible because I have proof of postage stating the weight of the item, which could not be achieved by posting an empty box, also contradicting his claim: "the box was closed very well and it wasnt opened except by me". I then messaged the seller to ask if he could provide me with a photograph of this in order to resolve the issue with the Royal Mail, but the seller refused to comply and instead threatened me with legal action if I opened an eBay case.

In the next message the seller was rude and abusive towards me, used offensive language and also threatened me with legal action. Quote: "paypal advice me to send the police report to them if you open a case in order to protect me and move legally against you. So do what ever you want to do scammer!!! and dont do that kind of bulls**ts again!".

Now that I have opened a case with ebay, he has responded to the case, not providing me with a solution, but instead has said: "When we say that the box arrived empty we dont me the package....the game is collector edition and inside the game box which is the pandoras box includes booklets and 3 game discs the buyer didnt send that items back and send back only the pandoras box.The weight that he mentions is not an evidence because the weight of 3 discs its not even 400gr.The game is not in GREEK.We will provide ebay the police statement and we will wait for ebay to protect the seller now and not again the buyer because you can scam easy but if you do that many times you wont be able to do that again!"

Strangely, on the 6th December I discovered that the seller had also listed this item on ebay.ie but in these particular listings he had provided additional photographs of the item showing the Greek language on them, which were not provided in the listing I purchased.

Okay I think that's all of it. Again, sorry for the length of it!! Things you need to know when giving your ever-so-much-needed advice: I honestly did NOT open the God of War box itself, I did not steal it, I already bought one from a completely different (UK) guy before this one and had to return it without any problems because the guy had sent me a "Ultimate Edition" instead of "Ultimate Trilogy".

My main terror is: can this Greek guy actually file a police report against me?? Am I going to end up with a criminal record for something I didn't do?! Surely if he took this to the police, they'd be like, "well from all the facts we can see, you've got her money and apparently no item, so what's the problem?". It's his word against mine. He has changed his story twice and refused to fulfil a simple request of a photograph, though that could be due to the language barrier. He's just been so mean to me in every message

What is ebay most likely to decide in the end with this case?

[obbn]

I used to have an Ebay business with over 2000 positive feedbacks (one negative in 6 years). Yet during the few PayPal disputes that I have had PayPal ALWAYS sided with the buyer. If you go to the Ebay forums you will find many complaints from sellers about PayPal siding with buyers. Or how about when a customer orders a big ticket item (in excess of $500) and PayPal gives you the okay to ship, by showing a green arrow on the transaction page with the text, it is safe to ship this item (or something wording like that). You ship and a few weeks later you find your PayPal account debited $500, because the credit card was stolen and PayPal is coming back on you. Yep, they aren't supposed to do that, but it happens.

I loved PayPal, easy way to get paid, had a debit card for instant access to the funds. However PayPal seemed to be more loyal to buyers who they made zero money on than protecting the sellers.

[LurkerInNJ]

Originally Posted by luckynumber16

Strangely, on the 6th December I discovered that the seller had also listed this item on ebay.ie but in these particular listings he had provided additional photographs of the item showing the Greek language on them, which were not provided in the listing I purchased.


My main terror is: can this Greek guy actually file a police report against me?? Am I going to end up with a criminal record for something I didn't do?! Surely if he took this to the police, they'd be like, "well from all the facts we can see, you've got her money and apparently no item, so what's the problem?". It's his word against mine. He has changed his story twice and refused to fulfil a simple request of a photograph, though that could be due to the language barrier. He's just been so mean to me in every message

What is ebay most likely to decide in the end with this case?

I have been both a buyer and seller on Ebay, so I have experience on both sides of the coin. I've never lost a dispute, as a buyer OR a seller.

Stop going back and forth with the seller. He's interested in a pissing contest and bullying you until he wins, or is going to keep talking until you get tired and fed up enough to go away. The police aren't going to give a shit.

File a dispute. Short, simple and factual. Leave out all your personal protests. Like this,

Before I placed a bid, I emailed the seller and inquired if the item was in English. The seller replied that it was. See attached email.
I paid ___via ____.
On ____, I received a box containing a version of blah blah in Greek.
I contacted the seller to inform him of this error and sent the item back.
Here is the proof of my return.
The seller maintains that the box was empty upon arrival, but he has listed what I believe to be the item I returned.
Here is a copy of that listing.
The seller refuses to refund my money or ship me the English version of blah blah.
The seller has become abusive and is threatening me.
I want a full refund.

Then let them handle it.

[luckynumber16]

Originally Posted by LurkerInNJ

I have been both a buyer and seller on Ebay, so I have experience on both sides of the coin. I've never lost a dispute, as a buyer OR a seller.

Stop going back and forth with the seller. He's interested in a pissing contest and bullying you until he wins, or is going to keep talking until you get tired and fed up enough to go away. The police aren't going to give a shit.

File a dispute. Short, simple and factual. Leave out all your personal protests. Like this,

Before I placed a bid, I emailed the seller and inquired if the item was in English. The seller replied that it was. See attached email.
I paid ___via ____.
On ____, I received a box containing a version of blah blah in Greek.
I contacted the seller to inform him of this error and sent the item back.
Here is the proof of my return.
The seller maintains that the box was empty upon arrival, but he has listed what I believe to be the item I returned.
Here is a copy of that listing.
The seller refuses to refund my money or ship me the English version of blah blah.
The seller has become abusive and is threatening me.
I want a full refund.

Then let them handle it.

Thank you I feel much better now. I have unfortunately replied to him but only in order to keep hitting him with hard facts I have about the processes I've gone through, and of course keep telling Ebay that I have NOT stolen a damn thing from him, and if I'd wanted just the discs I would not have paid a few hundred for them! They are worth nothing on their own. Purely so that ebay customer service can read all my extremely good defence when it gets handed over to them in a few days, because I know that this douche is not going to change his mind. Or stop lying. I have nearly 400 feedback, 100% positive, and the seller has only 9. I hope that helps ebay decide that I've done nothing wrong.

[luckynumber16]

Originally Posted by LurkerInNJ

I have been both a buyer and seller on Ebay, so I have experience on both sides of the coin. I've never lost a dispute, as a buyer OR a seller.

Stop going back and forth with the seller. He's interested in a pissing contest and bullying you until he wins, or is going to keep talking until you get tired and fed up enough to go away. The police aren't going to give a shit.

File a dispute. Short, simple and factual. Leave out all your personal protests. Like this,

Before I placed a bid, I emailed the seller and inquired if the item was in English. The seller replied that it was. See attached email.
I paid ___via ____.
On ____, I received a box containing a version of blah blah in Greek.
I contacted the seller to inform him of this error and sent the item back.
Here is the proof of my return.
The seller maintains that the box was empty upon arrival, but he has listed what I believe to be the item I returned.
Here is a copy of that listing.
The seller refuses to refund my money or ship me the English version of blah blah.
The seller has become abusive and is threatening me.
I want a full refund.

Then let them handle it.

Also, I did file a dispute, and the original message I posted on here was part of it, stating all the facts about it, and I have unfortunately replied to him via the case "responses".

And the seller has now changed his story, saying that the box isn't actually empty, and that I have instead stolen the game discs and left all the extra merchandise that comes with them.

[LurkerInNJ]

Originally Posted by luckynumber16

Thank you I feel much better now. I have unfortunately replied to him but only in order to keep hitting him with hard facts I have about the processes I've gone through, and of course keep telling Ebay that I have NOT stolen a damn thing from him, and if I'd wanted just the discs I would not have paid a few hundred for them! They are worth nothing on their own. Purely so that ebay customer service can read all my extremely good defence when it gets handed over to them in a few days, because I know that this douche is not going to change his mind. Or stop lying. I have nearly 400 feedback, 100% positive, and the seller has only 9. I hope that helps ebay decide that I've done nothing wrong.

You're welcome.

People fall into the trap of over-explaining and over-responding thinking that it will somehow build up their case, when in fact most of it turns out to be self-serving statements or emotions. You don't need to keep hitting him with the facts. Don't you think he already knows he sent a greek item instead of english?

[luckynumber16]

Originally Posted by LurkerInNJ

You're welcome.

People fall into the trap of over-explaining and over-responding thinking that it will somehow build up their case, when in fact most of it turns out to be self-serving statements or emotions. You don't need to keep hitting him with the facts. Don't you think he already knows he sent a greek item instead of english?

Well the problem isn't really that, he seemed quite happy to accept a return when I messaged him about that. The problem and reason I opened the case is because he is telling me I've apparently stolen the game discs and sent him back the empty presentation box and merchandise, and therefore refusing now to refund my money.

[LurkerInNJ]

Originally Posted by luckynumber16

Well the problem isn't really that, he seemed quite happy to accept a return when I messaged him about that. The problem and reason I opened the case is because he is telling me I've apparently stolen the game discs and sent him back the empty presentation box and merchandise, and therefore refusing now to refund my money.

Wasn't this statement in the summary I made factually correct?

The seller maintains that the box was empty upon arrival, but he has listed what I believe to be the item I returned.

You are over explaining, and that will hurt you rather than help you.

[luckynumber16]

Originally Posted by LurkerInNJ

Wasn't this statement in the summary I made factually correct?

The seller maintains that the box was empty upon arrival, but he has listed what I believe to be the item I returned.

You are over explaining, and that will hurt you rather than help you.

I'm sorry, maybe I didn't explain it very well because my head is spinning over all of this He first said that the box was empty, so I said I have bloody proof because I have proof of postage stating over 2kg box, and then he said that he actually meant only the game discs are missing. But the thing I said in my previous post about other listings, I meant he has multiple listings of the same thing, which ended on various dates already, but all of those had extra pictures on them showing the Greek writing on the sides which my listing did not have. Except now suddenly additional pictures have magically appeared on the listing I bought from... I didn't think it was possible to add pictures after your listing has ended. So now even that argument won't stand up.

[Rydogg222]

I am so livid about this whole situation. I haven't used Ebay in a while, and I decided I would use them again finally, so I can sell with confidence, securely. I can vouch first hand about Ebay's injudicious way of handling these investigations and cases.

I sold an iPad 2 for 700 dollars on ebay, only for the buyer to tell me he received a box with a Harry Potter book in it.

The buyer opened a case against me. I claimed insurance through UPS for 700 dollars and escalated the case on Ebay.

The case closed today in favor of the buyer. The whole investigation revolved around the buyer's empty box and not about the SELLER's stolen item. They are unjust in the way they precede with the investigations and I am going to take legal action if my case isn't appealed correctly.

Not sure what else I can do...if I had my iPad stolen AND i have to reimburse this guy, I am having $1400 stolen from me. I feel helpless.

Oh and on top of that, they had the audacity to charge me $61.00 for selling the item. Maybe a class-action lawsuit is in order.

What are your thoughts? How do I prove myself?

[Mangetout]

I have no solution for what seems an obvious problem with eBay, but wish to ask: how does Amazon handle this sort of thing? Why is Amazon not also awash with scammed buyers and sellers?

[BeaMyra]

I found as a buyer I love Amazon. Twice when I didn't get the item, Amazon credited my Visa card ASAP. It must be theft, because when the seller requires me to sign for an item, it never gets lost.

As for Rydogg222's issue, I don't know how one could ever prove you actually sent the item you claimed. Nor how you could prove someone didn't switch it.

[moveover]

Rydogg, that is one infuriating story. And UPS might not refund you since the buyer claims you, not UPS, essentially stole the item!
One idea i thought of is to try to find out if he registers the ipod with apple. Assuming you have the serial number, that would constitute conclusive proof he got it.
I would even set up some kind of sting to get him to reveal the serial number, like send him an email pretending to be some PR company hading out prizes for people who have apple products with serial numbers ending with the following 5 digits.
$1400 is a lot of money and to know that this schmuck has got to be laughing at you has got to be maddening.
Even if you had a video of yourself putting the thing in the box wouldnt be enough.

[Lukeinva]

Having been on ebay since 1997 I feel pretty good about spotting the scammers and not dealing with them. There is a monitor on eBay that I'd like to buy, $19 - but the seller wants $57 dollars to ship it, which is against the rules. So, right-click.

This thread makes me uneasy... of course there are ways to scam and defraud, on ebay or any other place. For eBay to work there has to be trust on both sides... and this kind of thread makes me wonder if the OP is aware of that.

[moveover]

Originally Posted by Lukeinva

.......
This thread makes me uneasy... of course there are ways to scam and defraud, on ebay or any other place. For eBay to work there has to be trust on both sides... and this kind of thread makes me wonder if the OP is aware of that.

Huh? Of course the OP (and Rydogg) is aware of that. If they didnt trust the other party they wouldnt have completed the transaction. The problem is their trust turned out to be misplaced. It's no fun when you get ripped off and there is nothing you can do about it.

Another suggestion to Rydogg: Although this idea may be a little too vindictive for you (but not for me) I'd have a friend 'buy' something he was selling and then claim they got nothing but a Potter book.
Also a correction: You didnt lose $1400, but $700, the value of the Ipad.

[Camera]

Learning how to read between the lines on a sellers feedback is what its all about.

Getting deliberately scammed by a long term user with an established feedback portfolio is a 'lightning strikes' sort of thing. It happens, but rarely.

I've dealt with a few disputes as both buyer and seller and haven't lost one yet, but a couple buyer disputes have left me a lot more cautious than I used to be. One was a buyer who purchased an expensive wristwatch that had a specific bracelet length. It was noted in the auction listing. It arrived, was too small, so he filed a Not Ad Described chargeback. Once I pointed out that it *was* described, he changed his story to "Uh, well the watch was broken, too!"

Really creeped me out. If he hadn't been such an idiot and had filed the "broken" complaint from the outset, he could've simply sent me back a broken watch and gotten his money refunded due to his own buying error.... and I'm out a watch.

The other instance was a buyer who purchased multiple items, again, didn't read the description. He filed a chargeback on the basis of one item ($40), but the chargeback amount was for his entire purchase ($220). He wrote in the notes "Refund my $40 and I close this dispute".

Paypal wound up awarding him $220! I found that impossible to believe a real human being could actually make that decision, since he himself stated that the dispute was for one $40 item!

Again, left a VERY rotten taste in my mouth. He had proof that he sent a package back. It was only his being needlessly forthright with the facts that allowed me to contact an agent and have them correct their decision. No doubt, if he had claimed he sent all the items back even though he only sent back one, he would've won.

So, yes. There are pretty drastic loopholes in the ebay/paypal system- there is an added degree of risk with this sort of transacting- but you can avoid a lot of buying headaches if you transact smart. As a seller, I don't know what to say. I haven't listed for over a year now and may not ever again. With the one sided negative feedback regime, the grave integrity loopholes in the paypal dispute process, I just can't trust it anymore.

[IAmNotSpartacus]

Originally Posted by Lukeinva

Having been on ebay since 1997 I feel pretty good about spotting the scammers and not dealing with them. There is a monitor on eBay that I'd like to buy, $19 - but the seller wants $57 dollars to ship it, which is against the rules. So, right-click.

Pretty sure Ebay doesn't care about inflated shipping costs any more since they charge final value fees on shipping in addition to the actual selling price.

[DrDeth]

Originally Posted by IAmNotSpartacus

Pretty sure Ebay doesn't care about inflated shipping costs any more since they charge final value fees on shipping in addition to the actual selling price.

No, they care and they will remove listings for that, or even NARU sellers. Generally, buyers have to complain, however.

[AndyLee]

Originally Posted by IAmNotSpartacus

Pretty sure Ebay doesn't care about inflated shipping costs any more since they charge final value fees on shipping in addition to the actual selling price.

Yeah they care, you can click the -report and auction link- at the page bottom of the auction and they will remove it.

But they do not proactively remove it. If you don't report it, they won't remove it. Also sellers can get around this sometimes, by using a short term auction, less than 3 days and having it over the weekend.

If someone reports the auction, by the time they remove it the auction is done.

[LurkerInNJ]

Log in to your Apple account and get the serial number on your ipad. Then activate the findme, over and over again. Like non-stop for a day. It will make noise even if you have muted the device. You can also see where it is on a map.

Send the buyer an e-mail and tell him you are doing this, as well as well as reporting the item stolen. If someone stole the item and replaced it with a HP book in the box, he won't care because he doesn't have the device. If he does have the device, he won't be able to make it shut up and it will be of no value.

[nivlac]

Originally Posted by 12345

This is the problem with eBay, as a seller you CANNOT CONTROL who buys your items. Even if you block a bidder, they can just create a new account.

Why can't a seller just not accept bids from someone without adequate positive feedback? I've seen auctions that will not accept new buyers. I've bought and sold over a thousand items in the last ten years and have had only one bad experience, but still got a refund that made things right. Like all on-line marketplaces, you just have to be careful who you deal with. Stay away from sketchy buyers and sellers.

[naomibatac]

Originally Posted by jtgain

I had this in another thread, but will re-ask here.

Let's say that I am an Ebay seller and you buy a $500 item from me. I ship you an empty box and you file a complaint with Paypal. You claim that I ripped you off, and I swear that I really did send you the item.

Obviously we can see the problem. I could have really sent you the item, and you pocket it for free by saying the box was empty. I could also ship an empty box and steal your money.

Who does Ebay/Paypal side with?

Both, the assumption is both are telling the truth.

[DrDeth]

Originally Posted by naomibatac

Both, the assumption is both are telling the truth.

They will check the records of both. So if I, as a buyer with a 1000 FB and nothing bad, say that a newb seller sent me a empty box, eBay will refund me the $$. They may or may not take the $ from the seller. The reverse is true also.

[BeaMyra]

Do buyers still get feedback? I thought they stopped that awhile ago.

[DrDeth]

Originally Posted by BeaMyra

Do buyers still get feedback? I thought they stopped that awhile ago.

Buyers still and have always got feedback. It’s just that for the last few years, sellers can’t leave buyers negative feedback.