FRAUDULENT BUYER - PAID ONLY HALF FOR ITEM THEN LEFT BAD FEEDBACK

[baudrillard2013]

131993767541

I've been with ebay for 14 years but never experienced anything like this buyer. and very disappointed with ebay. 

What a debacle. 

Buyer wants to pick up item straight away and so I accommodate them by having Steve carry the table down to them because they couldn't lift it and I couldn't be there straight away. 

He said they came and were really besotted with the table but said "that was really weird, they asked to pay half "".  He said that he didn't agree to this and said if they weren't happy for any reason then (on my behalf) offered to them to leave the item and not buy it if they'd changed their mind for whatever reason. 

he said they agreed to pay the full amount but said ""ok, just thought we could work something out" and that you might be negotiable"". He once again said he was dumbstruck as it felt like he was at the markets!  He told me it was really weird and that the buyers had tried to get away with paying half instead of the full price. He gave me the money and he only handed me half of the listed price. I am sure I told him what the final bid price was. He said he thought I had said that it was the amount the item was won for too but that he must have been confused because the buyers said it was half of that and even had their mobile in their hand . He said when he saw them get out their mobile phone he felt silly questioning the price and embarrassed so didn't pursue it. 

I realised that they had basically pulled a swifty and this has never happened to me in 14 years on ebay. 

I rang ebay and told them what happened and that i had received many emails which the CSOs at ebay had seen in the system demanding I mark the item as paid. I told them what happened and asked them to take notes. I didn't mark the item as paid for obvious reasons. I received 18 messages from the buyers demanding that I mark the item as paid 

I simply ignored them and waited for ebay to deal with it.  Ebay's CSO seemed wishy washy. They noted there was one email asking to return the item as it wasn't as described about two weeks after taking delivery of it. 

The CSO seized on that and said if the buyer leaves negative feedback or tries to return the item or lodge a dispute then it is clear from the emails that there was no problem with the item description and that they only sent one email asking to return the item which was clearly retaliation for me to marking the item as paid. However they didn't really have any resolution to the problem of the fraud. I just figured that I had to wear the loss and that there was little I could do about it. 

Today I see that the buyer left negative feedback claiming I was a poor communicator and item descriptor was poor.  I contacted ebay and expected them to look at the messages and see that there were about 12 further emails from the buyer since I had contacted them asking for the item to be marked paid which I had simply ignored. 

the CSO , ""JD""  said ""madam we can only remove feedback if we can negate it and the buyer emailed you many times asking you to mark the item as paid and there was no response from you""

I explained why and that ebay had supported me in taking this course of action and that not marking something as paid which had not in fact been paid in full was not poor communication. 

I may as well have been talking to a robot. 

i finally replied and said to the buyer you know very well why i am not marking it as paid and told them it was highly unethical what they had done.. they then left a message

I pointed out to ebay that this message negated the fact that it was a poor item descriptor that was troubling the buyer especially in the context of a zillion email messages where the SOLE complaint was not having marked the item was paid. 

ebay claimed that they still couldn't negate the feedback left even though the only complaint in all the email contacts was about not marking the item as paid. 

HOPELESS

[*sparklz*]

Open a non payer dispute and 4 days later close it and the neg feedback should go once the dispute is closed.

Other than that there is not a lot you can do other than replying to the FB saying buy only paid half and took off

[phorum_junkie*]

Because the buyer got away with a swifty that is not fraud, if Steve didn't bother to count the money or got the amount wrong then you would just have to suck it up.

When ebay agreed to remove any neg did you take note of the time of the call, the person's name and their employee number? If not then it is unlikely they will be able to trace that call and confirm what you were promised. You could try calling again using the call me back option and asking to speak to a supervisor if you do not get what you want but I wouldn't hold my breath.

You did not handle the whole thing well, once Steve accepted the money and handed over the goods you should have dropped it and just marked it as paid and posted.

As far as ebay are concerned it is a he said, she said situation and with neither side having any way to prove what happened how could you expect them to do anything about the buyer.

[baudrillard2013]

I said I agreed that i would just have to wear it however in context the feedback even today the CSO can be reviewed to see what the buyer's real problem was and even acknowledged that it was poor communication and not a poor description. 

However they wouldn't remove the feedback.  The seller kept on sending me harassing emails and ebay did tell me that they would protect me from any negative feedback. Yes I did take a note of the time and details of that call. 

[davidc4430]

maybe another good reason to only accept payments via paypal.

pay the fees get the protection.

[imastawka]

You started the bidding at $50. 

That's almost half of the top bid.

If you only got one bid, would you have been claiming the buyer had cheated you?  

I think you need to build a bridge and get over it.........

and then slap Steve upside the head,  and never trust him to get it right again   

[mr.glow]

tell buyers you will be going to the police as they have scammed you, if no reply then take all the messages to your local police station. it may help in stopping them from stealing from other people.

after a bit open a non-paying case with ebay [this is automated so you don't need ebay on it] and any neg will be removed.

add them to your blocked list straight away.

don't let the scumbags win.

[thecatspjs]

---

Oh my goodness ....

Tooooooo many possibiities and open ends.....

Are you sure you left Steve clear instructions ?  Doesn't sound like it.

Are you sure Steve didn't pocket the money ?   

Why would you expect eBay to assist in a situation that is in your control, and well outside of theirs?

Didn't you respond to at least one of the buyers 18 messages after sale requesting the remainder of the cash you believed you are owed ?

If I was in your position (which would never happen) but if I was, I would open an unpaid dispute and close it 8 days later.  

The negative feedback may be automatically removed or you can ring and request that is removed.

Given your track record with eBay on this situation, they may not oblige, however most of the eBay customer service representaives picking up the phone in the first instance tend to be  fairly clueless so they just might.

Lots of lessons here for handling pick ups in the future.

And ..... add the buyer's ID to your blocked buyer list ASAP

[baudrillard2013]

Thanks Mr Glow. (I think you understand inherently what I'm driving at here. Unacceptable conduct in a community of predominantly good buyers and sellers)

With all due respect to other comments that suggest I am dwelling over this, I think I have things in persepctive.  

I don't really think I'm abdicatimg responsibility for my own tardiness. Sometimes things happen in life and you focus on the important things. Yes I was a little sloppy but like all of us, we have our priorities and sometimes they can make us less ''orofessional''. I am a human being (flawed) and no the world isn't going to fall off it's axis, however having said that my failures don't make someone else's scamming right or justified in any way??

Ebay is full of great people. I was selling a lot before but other things have taken over in my life.  My mother's care (advanced dementia/parkinsons), my fiancee's sudden and unexpected death from a tragic asthma related fall, a violent crime, ....I could go on ....we all could. .

No Steve does not have nefarious motives and pocket the difference. He tried to persuade them not to take the table when they asked to pay 50% of the winning bid. 

And I really don't see how it makes any difference how much I sold the item for? My price started at $50.  Had I got no bids or $51.00 I would have felt just fine.  With all due respect, I really don't see how the amount I got has bearing at all on what happened. This is unacceptable behaviour by a person on ebay.. It  wouldn't have made it right if it sold for $5000 and they asked to pay $2000 at pick up. Conversely it would have been completely right if they had have won the item for $50 and come and collected it. 

[imastawka]

And I really don't see how it makes any difference how much I sold the item for? My price started at $50.  Had I got no bids or $51.00 I would have felt just fine.

Then you need to feel just fine about having received around about that price anyway.

Life is not fair.  

Open your UPI and then close it.  They can't prove they paid anything.

Or send them an invoice through Paypal for the unpaid half.