Advice:: Have I been scammed from an Indonesian buyer?

[mooi-1896]

I'm not sure If my last post was deleted or not posted but I will post again.

I am currently facing a 200CAD return bill for a parcel in which a  "sketchy" Indonesian buyer (with considerable positive reviews-100) bought my item off Best offer,  suddenly changed shipping address after I sent the invoice and estimated shipping based on his US (forwarding) address 2 weeks prior and also didn't pay for like 2 weeks, requested that I commit fraud and declare the amount of the parcel as 50$ ( which was way below the sale price & of which i did not do) and now has not paid the fees upon delivery for 8 TIMES.  This is the message on UPS tracking : ( The driver was unable to collect funds on the first delivery attempt. A second attempt will be made.). I shipped via netparcel on Dec 18-2019. Now (Jan 09-2020) and the bill for the return is through net-parcel at 200CAD.

I have contacted the buyer and have heard nothing.

What actions can I take. Will i have to cough up the 200CAD for return or should I abandon.

Will (or if) the buyer opens a case, What can I do?

[zee-chan]

I'm sorry to tell you but judging from the info you provided, I do think there is a high chance you got scammed... with the following red flags.

1. Buyer requested to change shipping address after purchase
2. Buyer didn't pay for 2 weeks
3. Buyer requested to lower declaration amount
4. You used payment upon delivery (big no-no)
5. You are a VERY NEW seller, more prone to be tricked by experienced fraudsters. You should only ship within Canada first (and maybe USA, definitely not international) and do some more buying to get a feel of how eBay works.

Why did you use UPS? Was it your choice or was it requested by the buyer? If the buyer requested UPS then it's another big no-no. Always use Canada Post / USPS unless there is a special reason to use some other service. UPS's fee is very high, compared to USPS. Don't use courier services unless you actually know what you're doing. 

It's up to you whether you want to abandon the item or pay $200 to get it back. Is the item worth $200 to you?

I'm not sure what you can do if the buyer files an Item Not Received claim. I'm not sure if the UPS tracking info you have is enough to protect you, so you will have to contact eBay customers service if/when it does happen. 

I would also suggest that you try selling items with lower values so that you get the hang of selling on eBay before selling higher value items. I looked at your listings briefly and almost everything is $100+... with your low feedback rate you'll be easy prey to scammers. You should also try buying some really low value items to build up your feedback score.

Best of luck. 

[lady.stark]

zee-chan gave you valuable advice. I would add that you can be protected by eBay if the item is refused at delivery by the buyer. I read that somewhere here a few times.

[pjcdn2005]

Was the item sent to the address that now shows on eBay and PayPal?  If it was and the buyer opens an item not received payment claim on eBay and the tracking shows that delivery was attempted, you are likely to win as seller protection considers an attempted delivery as similar to delivery.  If the claim is opened on PP, they generally protect a seller only if the package is actually delivered although there maybe the odd exception.

If the item was not sent to the payment address that you have no seller protection for an item not received claim.

Your first post was on the .com discussion board and it gives a bit more information.  

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/Need-advice-possible-fraud-or-scam-from-Indonesian-sa...

A couple of points - Did the buyer know that you were going to use ups?  When you use a courier rather then a postal service, the buyer can pay quite a few more fees upon delivery if the item has duty and taxes due.  He may have been surprised by the extra charges.  

When the buyer changed the address to an Indonesia one, you could have cancelled due to problem with address.  It’s not clear whether you charged extra for sending the item there but you would have been within your  rights to do so.    When a buyer makes a purchase, an invoice is automatically generated by eBay so it isn’t necessary to send a new invoice.  When you send an invoice it overwrites the info in the listing so the buyer was able to change their address to a blocked country.  They wouldn’t have been able to do that if the paid through the original invoice.

The only situation that I can think of where you may recover your return shipping cost is if they open an eBay inr claim and eBay closes it because delivery was attempted.   Then once you got the item back, you could refund the buyer through PP less fees and shipping cost.  However, the buyer may still be able to open a credit card or OP claim.