How to buy on eBay for free and not get penalised !!!

[elmstamps]

I have been an eBay member since 2004 with 145 x 100% positive feedback, mostly as a seller.  I am honest and proud of my dealings with others.   Here is what recently happened to me:

I, the seller lists an item for sale in Australia.  (321128167196)   The successful bidder, the buyer living in USA, also has a 100% positive feedback but only as a buyer.

The seller sends the buyer an invoice and the buyer asks for time to pay which is agreed.

The buyer pays for the item via Paypal including standard international postage where proof of item sent is not available. Registered mail was not chosen by the buyer.

The seller posts the item to the buyer.

After several days the buyer lodged an “item not received” complaint with eBay and falsely claims that this is the third transaction the buyer has had with the seller where the item has not been delivered.

The seller emails the buyer asking for his details of prior transactions as there hasn’t been any.

The buyer does not respond.

The seller makes many more email approaches to the buyer, both via eBay and also the private email address listed, requesting contact all of to which the buyer does not respond.

The seller has had long dealings with eBay both as buyer and seller with 100% positive feedback and is uncomfortable with a potential tarnished record so the seller escalates the claim to eBay Support for determination.

Ebay Support does not consult with the seller and obviously not with the buyer because of the time involved.

Paypal then reimburses the buyer and debits the seller’s Paypal Account.

The seller contacts Paypal who redirects him to eBay.

The seller sends several emails to the buyer without a response.

The buyer can give the seller negative feedback but the seller cannot do the same to the buyer.

It is obvious that the buyer is protected against fraud but the seller isn’t.

Ebay permits a fraudulent buyer to pay, then falsely claim non-receipt of the goods, get a Paypal refund and the seller cannot do anything about it.   What a farce!!!

Obviously eBay wont allow this to last long on this site. I suggest instead of pulling it down, eBay fix the problem!!!

[davewil1964]

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@olley999 wrote:

thank you all for your interest and replies.   I understand the pack and track method but it's fairly useless trying to sell a $20 item overseas with $20 frieght charges added.

From my understanding of the situation, it's the same posting to Oz buyers, without tracking they can get away with murder or am I missing something here.   Selling stamps (and there's thousands listed) for say a value of $5 & .70 postage, tracking at OP rates is just not worth it.   And when you do encounter a thief, a seller cannot give a buyer negative FB.     It's hard to check buyers bidding against each other, resulting in the succesful bidder with 800+ positive FB and only to find that he gets that only by buying.  I suggest it's easy to get that sort of FB by being a buyer, I suggest a little harder when being a seller.

It seems that it is not a level playing field so I have decided that after 9 years to call it quits. eBay needs to get their act together. There are other auction sites coming online and starting to compete and with much better conditions.

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Surely that's for the potential buyer to decide. It really depends on the availability. And would avoid you getting caught out if the buyer doesn't receive it.

[2106greencat]

And the bottom line is (as I said before) the buyer may well not have the item in which case why should they pay for something they did not get?

You assume the buyer is a liar and a thief - another scenario is that they are genuine and without POD paypal had no choice other than to find in favour of the buyer.

[elmstamps]

greencat, in fairness to the buyer, as you suggest he may not have received the item.  He also may have been hospitalised as the result of an accident, hence him not replying to me emails and he might at this time not be aware that he has received a refund!!!   and pigs might fly.

[davewil1964]

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@2106greencat wrote:

And the bottom line is (as I said before) the buyer may well not have the item in which case why should they pay for something they did not get?

You assume the buyer is a liar and a thief - another scenario is that they are genuine and without POD paypal had no choice other than to find in favour of the buyer.

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My bottom line is to advise you to read the context. My advice was to the seller re Seller Protection. I did not even imply that the buyer was a crook. In fact I recommended he let the buyer decide if they wanted to pay relevant postage, regardless of item value.

Pull your finger out, btw. 16 ahead of you now. it might end up being a real race to 1000.

[springyzone]

I would agree with that. Maybe the seller needs to decide whether it is worth selling small items internationally. It may not be.

But one thing that I did think was a bit lax on the part of paypal was the buyer made a claim that this was the third bad transaction with the seller. The seller is claiming there were no other claims, ever.

Surely it would be easy, a matter of moments only, for paypal to check that out. I realise it would not stop them from paying out on this claim, but it could give them evidence/element of doubt enough to flag this buyer, so that if too many claims come in from the same person, they look into it a bit more.

[pinktoedannie]

To some degree the same thing can happen sending within Australia.  I recently had someone claim an item not received - tracking said it was delivered, but the buyer was holding feedback over my head and said, ''Never mind what tracking says, I haven't got it and want a refund''. 

They didn't do a paypal claim. I had been a bit suspicious of the buyer so had paid extra for a trackable satchel when the item could have been sent in a standard envelope for .60c. I lost about $5 on the transaction overall as it was an auction that went underprice (oh well). 

So ... she claimed not received, I contacted Australia post who confirmed the item had to be collected in person with photo ID.  I contacted her with a copy and paste of their letter and rang the post office involved and they said they could check security footage.  I let her know this (all the time pretending I was concerned that someone was picking up her parcels pretending to be her).  I haven't heard from her since.  I wonder how many times she has done this to sellers - many would just refund when the item was low in value.

[ratman0100]

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@springyzone wrote:

But one thing that I did think was a bit lax on the part of paypal was the buyer made a claim that this was the third bad transaction with the seller. The seller is claiming there were no other claims, ever.

Surely it would be easy, a matter of moments only, for paypal to check that out. I realise it would not stop them from paying out on this claim, but it could give them evidence/element of doubt enough to flag this buyer, so that if too many claims come in from the same person, they look into it a bit more.

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I was wondering when someone was going to pick that up. Surely that must of had Paypals alarm running if the OP has not had any other transactions before with this buyer, was an obvious lie. They got the parcel all  right, of that there is know doubt. It has now become a new scam for a few bad buyers.

[elmstamps]

Well said ratman, fairly poor from both eBay and Paypal, seems they're only interested in collecting fees, not erradicating the crooks.

Many would say move on, just add a little extra postage to cover the crooks. and I say:  "Evil spreads when the good do nothing"

[2106greencat]

Hey there dave, I wasn't replying to you, I just click on the closest 'reply' I can find. LOL

As to the numbers, I think you will be passing me soon on your davewil id !!!! I must be doing something wrong (insert sad face)

[bob2839]

same thing happened to me buyer pays for item via paypal so i posted via sea mail from australia to canada which takes 12 weeks at least,after 6 weeks later he files a non received claim,paypal ask for any proof i have ,i supply them with australia post receipt,and the time frame,and after careful consideration (what a joke) they rule in favour of the buyer and issue him full refund,wonder what happens in a few weeks when the item arrives?  its wrong