Sellers who sell the same items as you pose as buyers???

[smarterbargains]

Hi, has anyone had the misfortune of selling items to a buyer who then continues to buy from you, then messages you and says oh this is missing, or item is not working etc? I as an honest person, replace items, or send missing items. I've done a little research and have found that this "buyer" has a seller's acount and is selling the items i have for sale. Further research has uncovered that they have bought the items from the same auction!! Therefore I believe that they are buying from me at a way cheaper price than what they are selling at, and telling me that item is faulty or missing parts, so that i am acutally replacing their own faulty or missing items!!! I contacted ebay about this and they said they would look in to it. But today this "buyer" opened up two cases against me, and want a full refund!! Paypal have now my payment on "pending"! Too late to contact ebay tonight but will do so first thing in the morning! Has this happened to anybody else? Should i name and shame?

[springyzone]

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@smarterbargains wrote:

Hi, has anyone had the misfortune of selling items to a buyer who then continues to buy from you, then messages you and says oh this is missing, or item is not working etc? I as an honest person, replace items, or send missing items. I've done a little research and have found that this "buyer" has a seller's acount and is selling the items i have for sale. Further research has uncovered that they have bought the items from the same auction!! Therefore I believe that they are buying from me at a way cheaper price than what they are selling at, and telling me that item is faulty or missing parts, so that i am acutally replacing their own faulty or missing items!!! I contacted ebay about this and they said they would look in to it. But today this "buyer" opened up two cases against me, and want a full refund!! Paypal have now my payment on "pending"! Too late to contact ebay tonight but will do so first thing in the morning! Has this happened to anybody else? Should i name and shame?

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First thing to do is block them from buying any more of your items. It sounds as if they have bought several items that they have had troubles with and now have another two pending. That's too much. It stretches credibility & you don't need custom like that, if you are fairly sure nothing was wrong when the items were sent!

But I was confused as to what you meant exactly by  saying they 'bought from the same auction' as you. Do you mean a place off ebay where you both buy your stock? I would not have thought if you are both buying new stock that there should be a lot of problems with missing parts etc & if so, I would have expected the other person to have contacted the auction house about it.

If they are selling the same things on ebay as you are, and getting a much higher price, maybe it is time to up the price of your stock slightly, too.

You can't name & shame here & I am not sure it would even be a help as the odds are high your buyer may never buy from any of the other sellers.

[lm-entertainment]

springy has covered the important stuff.

in future though, you may want to consider photographing items before sending them making note of any distinguishing marks / serial numbers if they are used. if they are new, then i would assume there wouldn't be missing parts etc. 

then, in this case - if they do end up returning the items to you and they are different from the ones you sent, i'd be making sure that you note this in the disputes / cases and provide the photos as proof. 

if i have any problems with buyers now - i block them after the first instance. it's not worth the hassle of having to deal with them time and time again.

hopefully, you get it sorted out with ebay in the morning :]

[collect247]

It amazes me how some sellers that buy and then resell are the most dishonest.

Just your average buyer isn't that dishonest.

When I sold I had the same things happen to me as OP.

My buyers (not all buyers just a few well 15 to be precise) which were also sellers are responsible for my down fall lol.

These buyers which are big time sellers and still are purchased items from me and then said these items were all scratched and not as

described so ebay let them keep the items and I had to refund them also.

Well the defect system back then was boarder line insane so obviously I got the boot.

I'm still filthy with these so called buyers that sell big time for doing what they did because they did resell the items that they said were supposedly scratched and ebay turned a blind eye 

[designers*n*more]

Get yourself an invisible marker and mark your items with a tiny "X", either on the box or in a concealed area. Take a photo prior to posting where you mark the item (as evidence), then if someone tries to return a "faulty" item, once you receive the item back you can check to see if it has the mark. Could possibly help with any disputes as evidence that the item was was swapped!

[smgg62]

Thanks f9r all the good advice. Ebay were of no helo..i had spoken to them before the case was opened against me and followed their advice to blocker the buyer and have no further contact, because of this the buyer accused me of ignoring him! I told ebay I was not happy at all! They advised me to send buyer replacement which i will. Do you guys ask the buyer to front the cost of the return postage?

[smgg62]

Oh sorry for all the grammar mistakes!! I have a bad headache and so does my auto correct!! Lol

[smgg62]

Ok i am really having a bad day!! My daughter used my phone and i didnt realised she logged into her ebay account hence the different name in the above posts! I should have stayed in bed!!

[*tippy*toes*]

Don't send them a replacement, that;s what they want. All that will do is give them another item to sell at your expense. The very most I'd be doing is refunding, but even then I'd be pushing it as far as I could. EBay is always going to tell you to send a replacement or refund, because the buyer is always right.....even when you can prove they aren't.

[digital*ghost]

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@eezipeezi888 wrote:

It amazes me how some sellers that buy and then resell are the most dishonest.

Just your average buyer isn't that dishonest.

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It's disappointing, that's for sure. I've probably mentioned this plenty of times, but because I sell supplies, other sellers make up a decent percentage of my customers, and as much as I am now prepared for it (due to the frequency it occurs), I will never stop being dismayed at other sellers who try the "my order was missing stuff" thing.

As suggested above, I now photograph each an every package once labeled etc, along with the goods that are being packed into it. Doing so has saved me from unscrupulous buyers so many times.  I even had one contact me more than 3 months after receiving their order to try it on - good thing I keep the photos for a minimum of 6 months, so that attempt failed. 

It has other benefits as well, because on the odd occasion I do make a mistake and send the wrong thing, or miss something out without realising, and it's been really helpful to be able to look up the photo of that order and confirm what the buyer is telling me, as it saves any wondering and potential disbelief. More recently after being contacted by one buyer who received the wrong item, I was able to go in and see that I had actually mixed up two items between packages going to a smillar name somehow, so not only could I confirm what the buyer said, I could see the other order I'd messed up before they'd even received it and contact them about it.