Buyers Beware.... FRAUDSTER ALERT!

[freddy_beach_deals]

I recently encountered a fraudulent buyer who bought 3 LEGO SETS from me over a 2 – 3 week period.  He waited until l I had left positive feedback for 2 LEGO before he put his plan into action   The timing was now right to start opening cases against me for "item not received".  The buyer waited about 2 weeks which is an insufficient amount of time for a parcel to arrive from Canada to a US destination during a postal strike, then opened a case against me for "refund request for item not received" for LEGO Number `1.  I responded to the case and asked the buyer to be patient as well as provided shipping details.  Seven days later, the buyer escalated the case to EBAY and within an hour, they refunded the buyer.  Time now to open a case for “item not received” for LEGO Number 2.  EBAY automatically refunded the buyer once again. By this time I had clicked in and not rated him for the purchase of LEGO Number 3.  Next week, I expect him to open a case against me for that one.

In the 13 years that I have been selling items on EBAY, never once has EBAY ever ruled in my favour regardless of what information I provided.  In the situation described above, the buyer has received ratings for 2300 items in a month.  He therefore bought perhaps 6000 or 7000 items in the month.  Great opportunity to sell these items on AMAZON.  Sure enough, he has several hundred items advertised on AMAZON including LEGO.

There is a possibility that he is not a fraudster just an impatient buyer however he must be getting a lot of items for free if he doesn’t even allow for normal shipping time before he opens a case against the buyer.  

I put him on my blocked bidder list so he can’t scam me for my other LEGO. 

Lesson learned and reconfirmed: Seller Beware; EBAY almost  always rules in favour of the buyer!  Time to take my business elsewhere!

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

The only thing that protects a seller from Item Not Received cases is tracking, period. I have learned this the hard way as a fellow toy seller. Small Packet? Nope. Tracked Packet now always is my choice for anything parcel-sized. 

[momcqueen]

The only consolation I can offer you is that if this buyer is indeed scamming the system he will be identified as having opened far too many INRs per user ID. None of us know the magic number or percentage but we have to trust ebay is watching for it. 

[freddy_beach_deals]

Sorry my topic title should have been SELLER'S BEWARE!

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

To win an Item Not Received dispute we need Confirmation of Delivery.

However, we were promised by eBay Canada that Sellers would be protected by eBay over delays because of the Canada Post labour dispute

@happy_pigeon

Can these cases be reopened?

Or perhaps a courtesy refund to the seller?

@freddy_beach_deals

The pedant (and retired editor) in me has to do this.

SELLERS BEWARE.

No apostrophe, because in this usage, 'sellers' does not show ownership.

[retroman_studios]

This exact scenario (or very similar) is what prompted me to eliminate all non tracked service with the exception of very low value items that are very thin and have a low cost for me.

Every other item that I ship to Canada, US and the UK all have tracked with full insurance. No exceptions. Customer balks, I walks.

It only takes one bad actor to put a rotten taste in your mouth. So upgrade to Listerine Tracking, it tastes great, eliminates all harmful bacteria and kills germs on sight! 

[freddy_beach_deals]

Thanks! I will most definitely do that in the future.  Lesson learned!!

[freddy_beach_deals]

Thank you for that information! Very useful!

[freddy_beach_deals]

I will check out the info you provided with EBAY however I don't expect to get anywhere.  It is worth a try....

Thanks for identifying the grammatical error.  I agree completely re the spelling.

[freddy_beach_deals]

I will update to tracked package with a required signature. It will cost more and I will lose sales but I most likely will still come out with higher net income at year end.  Best to bite the bullet and be safe rather than sorry later.

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

A signature is only required if an item is C$850.  Delivery confirmation protects you from a false item not received claim.  A signature doesn’t give you any extra protection but it will cost you more.

[reallynicestamps]

It's purely psychological.

Well, perhaps not entirely.

If the shipment is signed for, and I totally agree that it is not necessary for lower value* items, then first, we get away from the currently popular claims of 'porch pirate' thefts.
More important, it forces the recipient to state they have personally ** held the item in their hands.  This is a good thing for the honest seller, who feels extra secure and a warning not to try anything because the beady eye of the law is on him.

YMMV- and does. That's fine.

*I've seen values of $650, $750, and now $850 for the value at which Signature Confirmation is required to win a Dispute.  It is also unclear to me if that includes the shipping cost.

** Or at least someone in the household.  My postie also asks for the name - since those little machines are horrible to write a signature on.

[pjcdn2005]

More important, it forces the recipient to state they have personally ** held the item in their hands.  This is a good thing for the honest seller, who feels extra secure and a warning not to try anything because the beady eye of the law is on him.

YMMV- and does. That's fine.

No, it means that 'someone' held the item in their hands as anyone can sign for it.   

The cost within Canada to add a signature would be $1.50. If the shipping cost was $15, the seller would have to add on another 10% to shipping to cover their costs.  That can add up and it does not add any extra layer of protection for the seller unless the item is over the amount required for signature confirmation. (C$850; US$750)   I can understand wanting to have a signature for an item that is fairly expensive but less than those amounts. But considering few people have any problems with delivery, it doesn't make sense to me to ask for a signature of most or all parcels as the poster suggested. 

For US items a signature comes at an even higher cost since Xpresspost would have to be used. A 200 gram package from  Alberta to NY that could have been sent for $17 via Tracked Packet or $23 via Expedited Parcel US would have to be sent Xpresspost at $38.  That's a high price to pay for the sellers 'peace of mind' regardless of who pays for it.

[reallynicestamps]

 From previous post:

** Or at least someone in the household.  My postie also asks for the name - since those little machines are horrible to write a signature on.

[momcqueen]

“
*I've seen values of $650, $750, and now $850 for the value at which Signature Confirmation is required to win a Dispute. It is also unclear to me if that includes the shipping cost.”

It does. If the payment equals $850 CAD or more, signature is required. That’s item price plus postage. By both eBay and PayPal rules. Or at least the last time I checked it.

[shaysavidge3-7]

I got scammed by minjie fan even though he had positive reviews. The reviews varied not looking like they were written by the same person and there are other item of the same nature posted for just a bit more so I thought it would be safe, then after I paid, 2 days after in fact the ad was removed for fraud. This was beginning of Aug. Still not gotten anythingg from ebay or seller not even a response.

[femmefan1946]

@shaysavidge3-7 

You should start your own post, since this one deals with a different case.

 Has the last estimated date for delivery passed?

If so you can open an Item Not Received dispute in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

Do you have the transaction number?

EBay stupidly removes these listings making it difficult to find the transaction number, but if you look on your Paypal payment, it will still be there.

The first suggestion (not a requirement) is to contact the seller.

With a NARU seller, don't bother.

Ask eBay to step in and Escalate to a Claim.

Mention in the Claim that the seller is Not a Registered User. This usually speeds things up.

If the seller cannot prove delivery (not shipping, delivery) you will be refunded.

With feedback, it is also useful to look at when the FB was posted. If there has been a substantial gap since the last FB, you may have been dealing with an abandoned and then hacked account. This is a relatively new development.

[unique-attic-treasures]

Our general rule of thumb is anything more than $25 Can gets tracked shipping everywhere...

Anything under 10 is generally free ship for us(mainly because they are small envelope items)..and anything between 10-25 we will do regular air ship to the states and other places..

My biggest issue is with Canada Post there is no in between like there is in the states...

As in you can ship USA air for an item under 100gram for less than 8 bucks...but if you try to ship Canada you have to used expedited for 15(ruffly depending on where you are in Canada and where package is going too)

It costs double to ship a smaller item here in Canada as it does to go to the USA....very frustrating 

[7366carl]

You might want to increase the amount you use tracking on. I find it costs about $5 for tracking. For a $25 item the loss rate would have to be 20% to break even. I would think the loss rate due to no tracking on a $25 item would be a lot less. Those extra $5 can add up really quickly.

[pjcdn2005]

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@7366carl wrote:

You might want to increase the amount you use tracking on. I find it costs about $5 for tracking. For a $25 item the loss rate would have to be 20% to break even. I would think the loss rate due to no tracking on a $25 item would be a lot less. Those extra $5 can add up really quickly.

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I agree that tracking on a $25 can be fairly expensive however, most sellers would add that to the shipping cost.

Off topic....Are you really using UPS to send those DVD's within Canada? If  you aren't using them, I would suggest that you use either of the generic 'standard' or 'economy' international shipping.  That's what most Canadians who list on .com use. I realize that it seems odd to use the term international shipping for someone in the same country but imo it's better than saying I am using UPS if I am actually using Canada Post.

For US shipping.....unless you are actually  able to ship your items from within the US, it would be more accurate to use the generic standard or economy shipping from outside of the US.  That way customers are aware that you are not shipping from the US.