topic Re: How to get free stuff via eBay. in Buying

How to get free stuff via eBay.

allfixelectrical — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 11:29:33 GMT

Do you want free stuff from eBay?

All you need to do is purchase something from a seller and then claim in an affidavit that you received an empty box.

Ebay will gladly refund you in full with no obligation to return the item that you received so long as you don't admit to them that you ever actually received it. No photo of the "empty box" you supposedly received will be required to back up your claim.

Even if the seller appeals the case ebay is unlikely to change their mind.

In fact even if you have any remorse whatsoever at all and decide to send the item back to the seller which then gives the seller the ability to prove that your original affidavit was false, that still won't change ebay's mind no matter how much evidence the seller is able to provide to ebay.

As far as ebay is concerned if you claim in a legal document that you received an empty box then that is the gospel they will believe above all else.

How do I know this to be true?

It happened to us despite having an anchor store on ebay and selling on ebay for over 14 years with 99.6% positive feedback.

If you really want to rub salt in your sellers wounds that you receive the free stuff from then you can also defame them in feedback stating that they didn't send you the item and nothing will be done to remove it, further backing up your claim.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

*tippy*toes* — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 12:00:46 GMT

Geez, Allfix, don't give them any ideas! We have enough trouble with the legitimate eBay shoplifters, without giving anyone else the idea.

If eBay is so hell bent on believing a fake legal document, maybe you should submit one too. I'd make mention that you are happy to stand up in court to say your stat dec is true. Shame the buyer can't say the same thing without getting into some kind of trouble.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

chameleon54 — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 12:20:35 GMT

Its incredibly frustrating isnt it. I have just recieved my first neutral feedback in around 3000 transactions. The buyer opened a dispute. but then closed it when challenged with photographic evidence that showed he was lying. He then blatently lies in his feedback left for me, claiming I left abusive messages for him. ( OK I admit it was tempting, but I held my tongue LOL ) . It turns out the guy is a serial pest who regularly has " problems " with sellers.

I contact ebay customer support and ask them to view the messages which shows he lied. They have a look, agree the buyer is not telling the truth, BUT THEN LEAVE THE FEEDBACK because that is the buyers experience. Where is the support and safety for sellers ????

I suppose I should be grateful the buyer did not leave one of his regular red dots....... Perhaps I,m not such a bad seller after all.....

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

phorum_junkie* — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 00:10:39 GMT

It is the buyer who has committed fraud and it is the buyer you should go after. Tell them in no uncertain terms, if the item was returned to you so you have proof it was received, that you will be reporting them to the police for trying to obtain goods by deception and making an untrue declaration. #Also tell them that as their behaviour has had a negative effect on your ebay business and wasted a lot of your time you will be going after them for compensation through the small claims court procedure.

I know you probably won't want to wast your time doing any of that but it may give the non buyer pause for thought.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

allfixelectrical — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 06:15:29 GMT

Spent 2 hours with Albury police today presenting them with all of the evidence and why they agreed that we had a good case it would depend on a few things that could not be guaranteed as far as succeeding was concerned.

One of those was the ability for the police to obtain a copy of the affidavit presented to ebay by the buyer which was not automatically a given that it would be freely available to them and the other thing is that they suggested that it may mean several trips for myself and my staff member to travel to Sydney for court appearances for which at the end of it all was not likely to mean that the buyer would receive any more than a warning or possible a couple of hundred dollar fine and all we could expect was the 50 odd dollars that we are out of pocket for.

In other words, the law is an ass and unless an item is worth a truck load of money, such cases are not worth pursuing.

What galls me more than anything is the offending buyer is an IT project manager working for the Westpac bank so really should be made an example of.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

queenslander — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 06:36:50 GMT

Report him to his Employer (Westpac) they may be interested in his activities.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 08:59:42 GMT

You wouldn't need to travel to Sydney for court cases. If the transaction originated in Albury, they would have to travel to you. They would have to cough up the expense of driving there and any accommodation they may incur. If they want it moved to Sydney, then they have to pay your expenses for you to travel up there.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

imastawka — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 09:57:30 GMT

Tippy, I think because the transaction was on ebay and their HQ is in Sydney,

that's where the case would be heard.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

lyndal1838 — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 10:19:29 GMT

Stawks, there was a court case some time ago.....buyer in Queensland, seller in Victoria. The buyer had to travel to Victoria.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

springyzone — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 10:30:54 GMT

The law and justice are two different things from what i have found.

You might have right on your side but pursuing it legally can still leave you out of pocket even if you win.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 12:27:13 GMT

@lyndal1838 wrote:
Stawks, there was a court case some time ago.....buyer in Queensland, seller in Victoria. The buyer had to travel to Victoria.

Yes, that is correct. The buyer can commence a case against a seller and an initial hearing can be heard closest to them. The seller is within their rights to have the case referred to their local court as that's where the transaction took place. If the seller commences the case it is heard at their local court. The buyer shouldn't be able to get it moved for their convenience as the transaction took place at the sellers location.

It has nothing to do with where eBay's HQ is. That would make it impossible for a buyer and seller in Perth to be able to do anything if it was warranted.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

lyndal1838 — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 13:19:51 GMT

Ebay uses NSW law....if the case involves ebay it is heard in a NSW court.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

phorum_junkie* — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 23:53:20 GMT

It really doesn't involve ebay any more than a newspaper who printed an ad used to defraud somebody would be involved.

Ebay claim that they will assist law enforcement so if it is the police who ask for the stat dec they should hand it over.

I suspect just the threat of police action and a court claim should be enough to have the buyer backtracking and paying the seller what they owe.

Perhaps direct the buyer here so they can see that you are serious and are prepared to take it further. If they have lied in a Stat Dec and committed fraud they would be insane to try and wriggle out of this one.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

fixnwear — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 01:28:27 GMT

It really doesn't involve ebay any more than a newspaper who printed an ad used to defraud somebody would be involved.

Phorum, the huge difference is that newspaper ads don't appoint themselves to be judge & jury, and do not do involuntary refunds to buyers, from seller's accounts - without approval of the seller - and in the face of all the protestations and eveidence to the contrary.

These situations - where money is forcibly removed from someone to pay the other shouldn't be even possible with anyone who claims they are "only here to faciliate buying & selling"

Any guarantees that they offer should be funded from their own coffers as they are the ones making such guarantees. Especially as they seem to award these payments at the drop of the hat, to all & sundry.

No newspaper does that.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

letscleanupmycupboards — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 15:42:43 GMT

A few points I don't get.

A claim was made about an empty box arriving. An empty box would weigh nothing compared to a parcel as posted. Your postal receipt (which any savvy seller keeps for 2-3 years) will surely reflect this. As such if an empty box did indeed arrive then your delivery signature and postal insurance (another thing savvy sellers would surely all use these days) should provide sufficient claim for you to be compensated by the post office (after all the buyer signed a sworn statement they received an empty box, so clearly if the item was sent the post office has a thief in their midst).

I'd be claiming through Australia post even if there wasn't insurance. We got compensated $300 for an uninsured parcel of old hand me down clothes we sent to a rellie because they accidentally delivered to the wrong house (awkward street) and the receiver threw the parcel in the bin.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 13:43:15 GMT

Keep postal receipts for 2-3 years? Really? WHY? A buyer can't make a claim after 6 months, so what's the point in keeping them longer than that?

There is no actual weight on a postage receipt. It shows the weight range, e.g 0-500g, the post code and the tracking number. The exact weight is on the parcel label that once the seller has handed it over, doesn't see it again.

Not all "savvy sellers" take out insurance. The average price of my items is $15. Why would I waste money on insurance? If a buyer buys multiple items and it goes over $100 then I'll insure, but for a single item, what a waste of money. Paying the cost for every parcel over a 12 month period would pay for a lost $15 item 10 times over.

Claiming an empty box arrived is one of the oldest scam tricks in the book for buyers who want a refund and to keep the item. It backfired this time for that buyer. They'll move on to the next poor seller, then the next, then the next. All because eBay says the buyer is never wrong.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

allfixelectrical — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 04:24:19 GMT

An update.

On the advice of both NSW police and a lawyer, although I have a strong case and the buyer has clearly and verifiably broken the law by providing a false affidavit, there is no absolute guarantee that I would win the case against the buyer and the details provided to Albury police would have been forwarded onto Hunters Hill police station in Sydney and any resulting court case initiated by the police in response to our evidence would have resulted in myself and my staff member having to travel to Sydney to appear in court, so I have decided not to pursue it any further. This could result in being many hundreds of dollars out of pocket regardless of the outcome.

I am not much out of pocket because the item was ultimately "returned to sender" so I got the item back and am only out of pocket for the original postage costs and the return postage costs and ebay fees.

The stupid part is that if the buyer had not returned the item at all, then I would never have had any concrete evidence available to prove they had lied in their statutory declaration.

The fact that ebay has flat out refused to look at any of the evidence I have been able to provide which does prove that the buyer lied, and have stuck to their original decision to side with the buyer either shows a level of ignorance or arrogance which would be frightening if the value of the item had been significantly higher. Ebay does not seem to grasp the seriousness of providing a false stat dec nor does it seem willing to accept it has made a mistake.

PayPal when informed of the case were kind enough to provide me with a cash payment to my paypal account as compensation because in their words "we are valued customers" despite the fact that it really did not concern them at all and we made no claim against them. This was not in any way officially linked to the transaction at all and was made clear that it was effectively a gift. Kudos to PayPal.

I have shamed eBay over this case in a large number of public forums and several of their Facebook pages as that seems to me to be the only avenue available to me.

I am guessing that it won't be the last time a similar situation arises.

In the meantime, thank you all for your comments and suggestions and hopefully this does not happen to any of you.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

*tippy*toes* — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:15:39 GMT

I'd like you know what "assistance" they were able to offer you by sending them a PM.....where they wanted to help you with this. All lip service no doubt.

Even if you did pursue it through court and you won, and they were told to pay all your expenses, there is no way to force them to pay up, so you probably made the right choice. It would still have been nice to whack one up them though, to make them think twice before they do it next time (which they will).

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

letscleanupmycupboards — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 08:24:34 GMT

Tippy toes I keep everything in the event of a chargeback which, depending on your card company, could be up to 2 years after a transaction. So call it playing safe.

To address your other points, you can ask the post office (and some do it as a default) to put the postcode and weight on a sub 500g parcel. As for insurance, you're covered up to $50 automatically but signature the buyer pays. No exceptions. It's factored into the postage cost when I calculate.

Re: How to get free stuff via eBay.

biamai-66 — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 20:38:40 GMT

Yes please i saw to neacklaces that i like but they cost money and my mum doesn`t have the money pleae help