Buyer disputes, claiming only one item sent when I sent two.

[myroflcopter]

Hi ebay sellers, I have had a couple of sales recently where the buyer is claiming that they recieved only one item when they ordered two -  i sent them both out in the same tracked parcel, I know I did not make this mistake, I always triple check before posting out and mark them off as I'm packing and sending out. I have been selling on ebay since 2000, my last account was a commercial account that went with the sale of my business. 

I get the feeling because the items im selling are such a low value items and if they open a dispute they know that is more expensisive for me to send out a second item that i will just give a refund.  This has happened to me 3 times in the last 3 weeks... is this a loophole that buyers are aware of to get free stuff? 

anyone had this experience? 

whats the best way to deal with this?

[kopenhagen5]

I have heard of many sellers experiencing similar.

If you are sending out as letter or large letter it is not uncommon for the sorting machines in the postal distribution centres to push out an item out of the corner of an envelope, meaning one or two items are lost even though the article arrives.

I have had it happen.

If I send a small item via large letter I now bag the item and tape it to a piece of cardboard so it stays in the centre rather than going to the bottom of an envelope.

[myroflcopter]

Yeah these items are bound together in foam them put in to a plastic austraia post satchel... as mentioned i have been doing this for many years. This is not a parcel issue... its the buyers claiming that i only sent one item when i actaully sent two in the same parcel with the same tracking number.  its very annoying, i need to know how sellers can mitigate this risk?  

[tazzieterror · Accepted solution]

There's very little you can do.

I'd apologise 'that the second item has somehow gone missing from the satchel during transit', and ask them to open a return request so they return the "one" that was received.

Basically, if they want to to continue the charade, it'll involve them packing the item up and making a trip to the post office, then waiting for the refund process to play out.

Maybe they'll continue with their bluff, maybe they'll "find'" the second item on the ground, and all will be well.

But if you're going to be out of pocket, may as well make them work for their freebie.

If they ask why you won't send a replacement, tell them you don't want to risk further disappointment if the replacement also goes "missing."

And of course, add them to your blocked list.

ADDENDUM: I actually had something similar happen a few days ago.  A small electrical item was delivered to my buyer, and a few days later they messaged saying the pictured power cable was missing from the satchel. I knew I'd included it, so replied politely asking them to carefully check through packaging/bubble wrap the item had been sent in.  Sure enough, they found it!

[myroflcopter]

great solution! ive found that these people opening disuputes over $2 items + $8.95 postage know that the amount of energy involved is not worthwhile from the sellers end. 

I have anohter open disupte currnetly, a $2 transformer... there were 8 vairaiotns for different outputs 30a all the way down to 0.5a and they are saying "item not as described" although they chose the 0.5a plug and they said they wanted the 5.0a plug.  they got what they paid for...  

i have had a long intermission since being a pro seller back 15 years back,  seems that sellers are always in the wrong and we need to price fraud from buyers in to account.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

I sell craft supplies, the kind of items that certain types of people like to try and get more of without paying for them - this has been an ongoing issue for me for years. 

So much so that I ended up taking a photo of every single order I send out - all items laid out with the fully addressed packaging, then I file them away by month and keep for a minimum of 6 months (because I had someone actually try this 6 months after they placed an order).

It adds some time to my packing process, but has saved me a lot of money when dealing with the liars, and also allowed me to see at glance if I did actually make a mistake (which also happens), and I like to know for sure. I always double-check my packing area thoroughly if I get a message from a buyer complaining their order was short, just to make sure (if I'm seeing it in the photo) that an item didn't go astray in between taking the photo and packing everything in the parcel, and I ask a few pertinent questions to the buyer before doing anything else.

It is always immensely satisfying to advise the dodgy ones that my packing process is recorded and I have visual evidence of exactly what went into a package - some I send a photo through to them, and I very rarely hear from any of these buyers again (well, except for one, he was a special case indeed, but that's a story for another time  ).

[digital*ghost]

Ran out of time to edit, but I thought I better add... My buyers typically don't open disputes, so that makes my scenario a little different to yours - but this strategy does work for me with the ones who just message about it, if you experience those, otherwise I second tazzie's advice. 

[kopenhagen5]

Great advice tazzie. 

[myroflcopter]

great idea, this does seem extreme and will take me a lot longer to organise but defo worthwhile. thank you for your input, excellent ways to mitigate risk form my end. 

would you mind telling me about that one special character? or do you have a link to the discussion thread? i always seem to encounter shiiiiiiiifty characters on ebay these days, i dont ever remember it being this bad in the past. 

[digital*ghost]

There was no thread, but I've probably told the story before - they basically insisted there were missing items when there wasn't no matter what I did, said or sent through and kept claiming I was lying (buyer also claimed to be a justice of the peace, as though this meant they wouldn't lie - I found their B&M store easy enough, but for some strange reason couldn't find their name on the register for JPs in their state ).

They had bought an item I originally sold for $2.95 each, but I changed it for 2 for $5.90 instead as selling in singles wasn't worthwhile. From their messages, it was clear they'd looked at the sold history and saw everyone else had paid $2.95, and they'd paid double, and assumed everyone else got 2 for $2.95 so decided to claim missing items to get the same presumed (but incorrect) value. 

When I denied to send more or refund, they opened a PayPal case (this was before the days of the MBG and eBay requests). I accepted a return for refund, they sent a registered letter containing a card, not my items. I knew the envelope was from them and that it didn't have anything in it, so I contacted PayPal and asked how to proceed. This was a bit of mistake as they said they had no choice but to approve the refund now that tracking showed delivery back to me, and because I hadn't opened the package, I couldn't say my items weren't in there -  like sure, PayPal, the buyer bought sheets made from stainless steel, I'm sure it's possible they're in this small envelope.

So, I hung up from PayPal, and filmed the unopened envelope being weighed, then the items the buyer purchased being weighed, then I opened the envelope and exposed the contents. Then I wrote out a stat dec (witnessed by an actual JP, lol) and sent all the video evidence and the stat dec to PayPal. 

End result was that PayPal refunded the buyer anyway, but didn't take the money from me. I should have taken the envelope to have the opening witnessed by police, if they would, obtained a report, and then contacted PayPal. With that, there would have been significantly less chance of the buyer still getting a refund and the items. 

But that was it, I kept the money, but got a BS neg displayed for 12 months and wasted a bunch of time. In exchange, the buyer got free items, and their name / deeds reported to ACORN (now ACSC).