Scammer chargeback

[museumrarities]

Buyer opens account on April 15th, buys $400.00 item from me. Waits 25 days and then files chargeback with their credit card company saying I shipped another item. And even though I've been a seller for a decade and have over $20,000 in sales, scammer gets money back and I have to right a detailed report and wait up to 75 days. Oh ya plus have to pay chargeback fees oh and if i don't have enough funds to cover the scammer I better put money into my PayPal. I'm just about done. What can we do to protect ourselves???

[pjcdn2005]

Unauthorized use chargebacks are easy to win if you have proof that the item was shipped to the payment address.  But this sounds like an item not as described chargeback and I'm not aware of any way to fight that either.   If they had filed with ebay or Paypal, they would have to had to send the item back but it doesn't seem like credit card companies require that.

[darak10]

yeah this doesnt surprise me, I noticed a wave of new Ebay customers surfing around just before most countries locked down, I'm pretty sure most of them got on to try to get a freebie. It just looked suspicious - like, what are you doing on here now, from all the way over there, when the world is shutting down? this is how scammers think. Even if they never do get it at least they know they can get their money back. I got taken for two or three myself ultimately but I shut down international shipping pretty quickly.
I'm sorry this happened to you, it sucks to be taken like this and there is nothing we as sellers can do about it. This is one of the more sophisticated ways of scamming sellers as they clearly didn't want to resolve the problem or they would have filed an ebay claim. If you had whoops shipped the wrong item its an easy fix right? But no you didnt so thats the lie they gave them to get them to force the refund. Their bank messed up by not directing them back to ebay or investigating it further.

This was a scam for sure and unfortunately relies on banks not doing due diligence as these are technically supposed to be investigated by the banks to ascertain whether fraud happened or not. Sounds like they just rubber stamped it and authorized the charge reversal.
Calling this person would have been useless- they never would have answered the phone or would have just hung up on you, or, like happened to me once, they forgot how to speak English completely lol. Filing thru their CC or PayPal is clear indication they have no intentions of being honest with you. Its an easy resolve if it was true. It was buyer fraud, pure and simple.

[museumrarities]

Ya , and I had to spend hours documenting it all into a 20 plus page pdf in order for paypal to send to the bank. This was definitely a scam . I learned my lesson and will never sell a sealed brand new in box item again

[marnotom!]

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@museumrarities wrote:

Ya , and I had to spend hours documenting it all into a 20 plus page pdf in order for paypal to send to the bank. This was definitely a scam . I learned my lesson and will never sell a sealed brand new in box item again

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I don't really see how this could prevent this problem from happening again.  A scammer could file a "not as described" chargeback for anything you sell.  Thankfully, chargebacks are rare on eBay, particularly these sorts.  The reason why eBay and PayPal have the buyer protections they do is to bypass the chargeback process, which is (as you've found) time-consuming as well as expensive to follow.

I suspect you were targeted because of your feedback score.  Scammers do tend to prey on sellers with low feedback scores because they're perceived as less savvy or experienced.  Your return policy--or lack thereof--probably didn't do you any favours, either.  As @reallynicestamps said earlier, all a "no returns" policy will accomplish is that it will drive away the good buyers you want, leaving you with PITA buyers who don't care or don't know any better.  If you're describing your items clearly and with an interesting manner, I doubt that getting rid of your "no returns" policy completely will open the floodgates to buyers sending back merchandise they've purchased from you, but you know your clientele better than I.

[museumrarities]

Lol low feedback score. I've been a seller on ebay for 15 years and have over 25 grand in sales. I have a return policy, 30 days. The chargeback has nothing to do with ebay or PayPal. I could have feedback of ten billion and I would still be out the money and the product. Thanks for your 2 cents Mr feedback score of 2

[marnotom!]

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@museumrarities wrote:

Lol low feedback score. I've been a seller on ebay for 15 years and have over 25 grand in sales. I have a return policy, 30 days. The chargeback has nothing to do with ebay or PayPal. I could have feedback of ten billion and I would still be out the money and the product. Thanks for your 2 cents Mr feedback score of 2

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Sorry to hit a sore spot, but a feedback rating of 150 is considered low--particularly if it's taken you 15 years to accumulate it--and a scammer is going to take a look at that and figure you're still a spring chicken in eBay terms.  

If you have $25K in sales under your belt,  you should understand at this point that the occasional loss--even a $500 one--is the price of doing business, just as a brick and mortar merchant will factor into their business plan some measure of loss due to theft, damage, or what have you.

Yes, a seller with much higher feedback will likely come out on the losing end of a "not as described" chargeback, but that seller will have figured out how to mitigate their losses in a manner that doesn't cause them to lose too many sales in the process.

When I last checked your listings a while back, some of them stated that you didn't accept returns.  The item you're describing was one of them.

[retroman_studios]

There are certain categories on eBay that simply don't make sense to sell unless you are prepared to lose your item.

Phones, Jewelry (Including Watches, High End) and high end electronics. 

For those I find other venues to sell them or even trade perhaps for other items.

I also limit my sales to Canada/US with occasional sales to UK.

[museumrarities]

you dont even understand what a chargeback is

[museumrarities]

people dont leave feedback, i might get a feedback left for every 20 sales

[museumrarities]

you have a feeback score of 2, you dont know **bleep** ok

[marnotom!]

Again, I seem to be hitting sore spots. Sorry you feel you have to take this so personally. Just trying to pass along what I’ve learned from over thirteen years in brick and mortar retail and several years working with my wife who took the credit for our eBay business.

[kh-leslie]

Hello everyone,

This thread is getting a bit heated.  Please remember that it’s fine to disagree with others, but discussion should always remain courteous and respectful.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[teenytrinkets]

What can we do to protect ourselves? Don't sell high priced items - especially electronics. Personally, i don't list items over $100. That doesn't make me immune to scammers... I've had plenty. All refunded...cookie jar insurance. It's the cost of doing business on ebay. It's sickening to even admit that - so I'm slowly shifting to other selling platforms that have more seller protection.

[museumrarities]

ya almost my thoughts too, how does anyone sell a new phone like an s20 on here, i wouldnt take the chance

[museumrarities]

i was looking for people who had dealt with chargebacks on here

[tarzan_2006]

File a complain against eBay. I’ve done it and i got my money back the scammer was removed from eBay. That’s the only way to get your money back since eBay and customer service are crooks!


https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-jose/profile/online-shopping/ebay-inc-1216-204015/complaints

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.