All Ebay Sellers Be Aware of a new Scam that will leave you high and dry! - Page 3

Thanks for the warning Sledge. I don't any E-bay selling but sometimes I think I should due to a wider audience than my Craigslist postings. i have a pretty good market here as I am close to New York City and
I sell a lot of stuff to the city folk. But some things i have i am sure would do better on ebay. But I am happy with virtually no problems from CL and many weekends I make and extra few hundred $$ on desktops and laptops and other assorted goodies of all kinds.

In the case he said it was damaged in shipping isn't there some kind of insurance that you can charge buyers that will protect you and them in that case ?
I have a few friends that run a pretty big Ebay business and they were trying to explain to me that they no longer get scammed because they make the buyer pay the insurance. i did not follow the explanation completely.
Maybe some here could explain better ??? There has to be a way to protect yourself from these ahem "dirtbag" scammers !

Originally Posted by sledge

The funny thing about insurance is this. I PROVED that this was not shipping damage. That was my fight with the "buyer" all along. The woman on Ebay last night (Yes I tried AGAIN) said "Did you insure it?" I said "Of Course I did" She said "Why not file a claim with FedEx for damage?" I responded "Are you serious? I PROVED this was not shipping damage- I'm sure as heck not going to file a claim with FedEx and have them pay for something that wasn't their fault" Oh my freakin goodness- these Ebay Reps are seriously screwed up!

I bet this scammer would have filed a claim with FedEx if it was his right to do so- $300 off me, and a FedEx claim to boot for another $300. That'll be next. Ebay will stronghold FedEx because of their volume into taking Buyer Damage claims too- so not only sellers can get screwed, but Double their $ when they get a shipping damage claim paid by FedEx.

I pay for insurance to protect myself. If they are willing to accept the loss, then so be it.I also make them pay to send it back if there is damage... If nothing else, it will spur information and negotiation.

Originally Posted by MattInTheHat

I remember seeing a post quite a while ago that instead of buying insurance, somebody put the cost of insurance into a jar.

when there was an issue, they took the cost of the item out of the jar. seemed to work out fine.

I do not remember who posted it.

Might have been me
I use Self Insurance
Never a problem with a claim,
Unused money (Profits) takes me and the wife out for dinner and drinks several times a year

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you have the damaged item / package shipped back to you
No longer eligible to open Insurance claim >> as the damage could have happened on the return trip

For USPS Insurance, I don't purchase extra but happy to use what they give me for the rare lost package
Either party can open a claim on line >> I open the claim and list myself (sender) as the person to get any payout and at that point give the Buyer a FULL refund


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kalvlin had asked >> In the case he said it was damaged in shipping isn't there some kind of insurance that you can charge buyers that will protect you and them in that case ?

If you are charging for shipping You can have a handling fee built into your shipping cost and you can add your Insurance cost there BUT you can't charge the Buyer a separate Insurance fee
I do mostly FREE shipping and my self Insurance fee is built into the item price

Buyers have no need for Insurance
Any Insurance is for the Sellers protection
If the package never arrives >> Buyer opens INR claim >> Item Not Received >> and gets a FULL refund >> Item price plus any shipping they were charged
If the package / item arrives damaged >> Buyer opens SNAD claim >> Significantly Not As Described >> and gets a FULL refund >> Item price plus any shipping they were charged

Originally Posted by AdmiralAluminum

I'm starting to get a little confused with this thread. I have a few questions:

No matter what wording the seller puts in his ad, Ebay's TOS will supersede it, won't it? example: if I put "no returns, exchanges, refunds, blah, blah" in an ad for computer scrap and state that it is "untested, for scrap gold recovery" and the buyer wants to send it back, scam or remorse, won't ebay force me to refund, or do it themselves?

For the most part YES >> There is no such thing as "NO REFUNDS" when you sell on eBay

Originally Posted by AdmiralAluminum

If I have pictures/video of the box being packed, all the way up to placing the shipping label over the flaps, will it actually do any good, even in a drawn out battle with buyer/ebay?

No one will care how many pictures/video's you take of your packaging process
Bottom line >> What is to stop you from stopping the filming right before you place the label on the box and swap out with an identical box that is filled with junk?
There will be no "drawn out battle" >> eBay will take the Buyers word

Originally Posted by AdmiralAluminum

Is there anyway to view a "buyer's rating" as there is with sellers? If so, could I refuse to sell to a winning bidder if they had negative feedback?

The only Buyer Rating is their Feed Back >> Which is a waste of time since the ONLY kind of Feed Back a Buyer ID can receive is POSITIVE

My ebay sales had been going like clock work that is until this buyer protection policy came into effect, then as most of you the fraudulent complaints rolled in like a tidal wave I was overwhelmed with them.

I found that using the advance search feature to obtain my buyers telephone number and home address, giving a call usually derailed the complaint, the call was always kept to a pleasant nature as the real purpose of the call was to let the buyer know that I now knew more about him.

The effect is like facing off an opponent face to face where the facial expression says it all, intimidation with out having to say a word. Any how by making the call your removing the mask of anonymity from the fraudster.

The majority of the people turned fraudster are basically law abiding folk that have given way to accepting the bait, the ebay buyers policy is akin to leaving the keys in a bait car. Sooner or later someone is going to steal that car.

My procedure does work but it has become such a time consuming nuisance as so many people have now turned to accepting the bait,it was time to quit selling from ebay.

Also what I had discovered is that 20% of the folks I had obtained telephone numbers for had not either published their correct telephone number or failed to update their user information which is also in violation of another ebay policy. When this happened and was unable to make contact with my buyer would relay this information via the dispute resolution process that the buyer was in violation of policy by not keeping his/her contact information current.

With the buyer publishing false information in the ebay contact information you have to ask yourself if this was a deliberate attempt to conceal their identity to commit fraud.

I have proven to myself that I can divert a buyer from carrying through with the fraud against me but the whole process has become mute, I have become bored with the game as all the counter moves have become repetitious.

Be sure to read my by-line