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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.