Been scammed with empty box claim

[gavrook]

Sold an expensive item (over $500) on eBay and buyer lodged an "item not received" claim 2 days later saying they received an empty box, they immediately escalated it to eBay to rule on, not giving me a chance to investigate or provide any proof. I spoke to someone on the phone at eBay who basically told me as they lodged it as an "item not received" and not "not as described" and tracking  showed received the claim would be closed in my favor.

This happened but then a couple of days later I got an email saying the buyer appealed and eBay has now ruled in their favor and have taken the money out of my account. I contact eBay again and the guy on the phone agreed with me that this was an obvious scam. The buyer has a brand new account and 0 feedback, i have been a member for 24 years and have well over 1000 transactions and 100% positive feedback.

He said he would escalate it and put his name all over it with his opinion that this was a scam but the offline team have emailed me saying they won't be changing their mind that the buyer has provided enough proof that he received an empty box and i need to pay up. They refuse to tell me what proof he has provided (a picture of an empty box?) They didn't even give me a chance to investigate with Australia Post or provide my own proof, they are no longer responding to my emails. The buyer also redirected it from the home address on the order to a Parcel Locker which could be sus.

I will be closing my eBay account if it's this easy to be scammed, this whole ordeal has been ridiculous.

[twyngwyn]

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@gutterpunkz05 wrote:

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@*casey* wrote:

" I spoke to someone on the phone at eBay who basically told me as they lodged it as an "item not received" and not "not as described" and tracking  showed received the claim would be closed in my favor"

The eBay Money Back Guarantee shows:

"Not covered   -  The buyer used third-party freight forwarding or mail redirection"

So surely the same rule should apply here in gavrook's case

The item was sent to another address after original delivery

Covered: The item was forwarded as part of an eBay program such as: Global Shipping Program eBay International Shipping - opens in new window or tab eBay Authenticity Guarantee Not covered: The buyer used third-party freight forwarding or mail redirection

It looks like that is only applicable if the item is on-forwarded after initial delivery.  As far as I am aware redirection while in initial transit is permitted, with a parcel locker validated as recipients

address as per buyers mypost account.

I also believe there is an option for senders, at time of post, to block shipment redirections.

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Why would you redirect after delivery?

[gutterpunkz05]

Plenty of reasons why, some legitimate, some not, and that is why it is not covered by MBG, other than the exceptions in the policy.

[twyngwyn]

Some thoughts…..

Report to police, thereby getting a case number, then send that to eBay… 

Join Facebook (you have all the buyer’s details) and look them up

good luck!

[twyngwyn]

also, you could Google Earth the residence (it might be an empty block, workplace etc) if not, go to Land Titles website, and find out what name is registered

[twyngwyn]

Do you have free international calls?

 

[twyngwyn]

I just called that number, got an answering machine (obviously it’s night time) but you are able to leave a phone number maybe they will ring back ??)

[*casey*]

As well as trying the phone number that twyn's  posted, you could also try sending a private message to eBay through one of the following sites.

These are always recommended on the US forums as apparently they're answered by experienced eBay staff, completely   different  to those you've been dealing with.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/ebay

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

"My outrageous fees clearly aren't going to seller protection, there isn't any!"

There's plenty of seller protection for FAKE TRACKING SCAMMERS.

Just ask any  victim on any eBay  site who's asked for help.

It's extremely hard,  often impossible,  for them to receive a refund, with eBay taking the scammers' side.

Good , honest buyers and good , honest sellers are leaving  eBay regularly  as they've had enough of eBay doing absolutely nothing (except supporting them)  about all  the scams and scammers 

[twyngwyn]

I’ve been thinking about this (as an aside) what might you suggest to fix this quandary?

I can’t come up with anything that would be useful to buyer or seller, sadly. Supposedly, eBay neither……

suggestions?

[springyzone]

I think the main thing that would help would be to get real people, people properly trained and with a lot of common sense, to properly investigate claims, especially when we're dealing with hundreds of dollars worth of items. Sort of like an ebay policing force.

The second thing that would help would be if ebay insisted on proper evidence in some disputed cases, before deciding either way.

Just a couple of examples I can give from other sites:

I once had some glasses break in an order from Catch. Not all of them, just 2 out of 6, but that wrecked the pack as it was for a gift.

I informed Catch but had to provide several photos, which I did. They then refunded and told me to throw out the broken glassware.

Had I not provided photos though, I doubt I would have got a refund.

2. I bought an airfryer that worked for 10 minutes (also Catch). It is hard to provide a photo of something not working properly, so they provided me with a postage label to return it. However, I did not receive a refund till after they had it back and presumably examined it. Turned out to be a common fault in that model as I later found out after I wrote a review.

3. I returned some garments to a shop. They were unused and still with tags etc. The saleswoman examined those items minutely, front, back and sideways before allowing a refund.

In other words, most places do not automatically refund anyone without evidence of some sort.

There was one exception to this, where I opened a paypal dispute for my sister in law, over 2 items not received (supposedly from aussie site advertised on FB but turned out to be Chinese). In the first claim, she received an automatic refund within a second. Great for her, but I thought it was a bit rough had it been a false claim or an honest seller as they were given no right of reply or chance to upload tracking etc

The reason ebay falls into a bit of a hole is because automation is so much cheaper, and I am not suggesting it should never be used, but there should be more human intervention in many cases. This is one of them. And it is looking as if no one is paying attention to that first ebay rep who wrote in the claim that the seller was being scammed

[sandypebbles]

Yes, there could be photos of the buyer with the 'missing' item

Just as people have posted here in the past about buyers buying dresses etc, posting photos of themselves on Facebook wearing said dress and then opening a fake dispute for said dress