Seller is NOT protected. See this loophole!

[fashionsync]

Hey guys,

Just want to dicussion with you as seller in terms of protection policy for faulty return case:

Here is an example:

As a seller, one sold a collector stamp which worth $5000 to a buyer on eBay paid via Paypal. The seller shipped the real stamp with tracking and signatures options to buyer's Paypal confirmed address which is protected for chargeback. But after the buyer received the stamp, he filed a case with eBay and Paypal saying the item is not as described. Then he return the "item" according to the policy with tracking and signature option back to the seller. After seller gets the return package, it is just an empty dummy package with no item in it.

In this case:

1. Assuming the buyer is a fraud and return the empty envelop on purpose. How can eBay and Paypal protect the seller? I called eBay for this case. All 3 representives could not really have good answers for me. They said in this case, seller need to open a police report first. The problem is, no policy officer would stay with the seller to open the return package at first place. When seller found it is empty, then go to policy, no policy can prove if the package is really empty or not upon recieving. So how could eBay and Paypal protect seller in this tricky case? In addition, what if this is a case related to international transaction? How can seller to open a police report against someone in another country, or go to another country to file a police report?

2. Assuming the seller is a fraud and remove the item from the package then claim it is an empty return package. In this case, how eBay know who is telling the truth?

Nobody can judge just based on the tracking info and signature. Postoffice will not allow you to open the pkg to check before signing it.

Any better idea in these cases?

[lady.stark]

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@fiercecue1970 wrote:

i had a case where after 70 days the buyer opened a chargeback case i had discarded my tracking info beause it had been so long . ...

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That is why PayPal shipping is so useful. You can access your information at any time, even after 70 days.

[bb_cool_stuff]

You had Seller Protection & you would have easily won the dispute had you not discarded the Tracking Information.

Keep all your shipping receipts, you never know when a dispute is looming.

[femmefan1946]

At anytime a creditcard company can chargeback on a purchased item and ebay will not protect you . There is no seller protection ... we have to protect ourselves because EBAY sees sellers as theives and the poor buyers can take anything we own if they see a way and EBAY will always side with them if there is a loophole available

In this case, it was the credit card company that gave the refund, not eBay, who would not intervene for either the buyer or the seller after 45 days.

And as noted, the case was lost because the tracking information was not supplied.

Which may explain why I still have paperwork from my first run at eBay in 2001.

That being said, there is one way to protect yourself against occasional losses or damages. Cookie Jar Insurance.

On every single sale, add a few pennies to the asking or shipping cost as an insurance premium. Put those virtual pennies in a virtual cookie jar. If you have a loss, cover your costs out of the Cookie Jar.

You can do this for yourself for much less than any third party insurance company (full disclosure, I actually do use a third party Hugh Wood Insurance, but they would be too expensive for occasional sellers) you may actually make a profit.