Buyer in France claims package was tampered with and contents stolen.

[youngtroy1]

Hello.

A buyer has requested a refund. They say the package was empty and that it was because someone had stolen the contents and re sealed the box.
The contents were r/c toy parts. About $200 in value.
The item was tracked and weighed obviously at the P.O.

EBay informed me that they will side with the buyer.
Also that they will refund the fees as a sign of "GOODWILL".

Can anybody offer any help. I am tired of being scammed on ebay.

[youngtroy1]

Hello. Good point about customs tape.

Yes re sealed with tape.

I asked for a photo of the packet. This showed ordinary clear tape over my brown tape. Poorly done.

I did inform Ebay of the initial weight and tracking. That is why I am surprised I do not have seller protection.

[digital*ghost]

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@youngtroy1 wrote:


A buyer has requested a refund. They say the package was empty and that it was because someone had stolen the contents and re sealed the box.

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It's interesting that the buyer seems to know exactly what happened, and is telling you, rather than asking "why have I received an empty box?". On what basis are they certain this is what happened? 

Most postal services have procedures in place if a box is tampered with and appears emptied of its contents, and will usually include an official letter with the package advising the recipient of options. A package with a $200 value on it going to France would have also attracted VAT / import costs before the buyer could receive it, and it seems strange to me that they would not raise the issue of the box being damaged / tampered with and empty at any time (by which I mean neither the delivery service, nor the buyer upon receipt). 

When it comes to the eBay MBG, a buyer can still qualify for protection if they refuse delivery of a package because it was damaged or empty, and have an official letter to confirm this from the delivery service, so I think you are right to be concerned.

But.... Sadly, knowing any or all of this is unlikely to assist in the eBay case - you can report the buyer to eBay for making a false claim, if you have enough reason to believe they are, but while that will be recorded, it is unlikely to affect the outcome. I wish I had better news, but I don't know of a way to refute what the buyer is claiming, unless you have the time, energy and will to try and get in touch with who handled the package for delivery, figure out what their procedures are when it comes to damaged / empty boxes, and can get some form of confirmation the box was in tact etc when delivered (and even if you could do all that, there's no guarantee eBay would decide in your favour). 

[tazzieterror]

Sounds like he's scamming you in that case, but there's no way to prove it.

Normally if customs make an inspection or remove something, they'll leave documentation saying as much, and why an item was removed.

In saying that, it's happened to me before where an item I posted overseas in a sturdy cardboard box (a film camera) reached the buyer and the camera was gone—they received an empty box!

Someone in the freight network opened the box and removed the camera, then resealed it, and the only reason I'm confident this is what happened is the buyer had already checked the shipping label and customs declaration and could see the original weight of the box when I sent it and said as much, so knew I hadn't send it empty. I was lucky as they wore the cost of it—didn't open a case or leave negative feedback.

Regarding feedback, eBay forbids using positive feedback ratings to leave negative comments, as tempting as it might be sometimes. It's looked at unfavourably by other members here on the forums (as you've discovered) because it's flouting the rules, yet is often done by people coming on here to complain about *others* flouting the rules against them.

[youngtroy1]

Goodness. Thank you for your thoughts.

It all seems futile. 

The way the buyer informed me that he knew it was posted and somebody has stolen itllthe item was very disconcerting to me.

It would have to be a postal employee. Any other thief would steal the whole thing.

But a postal employee wanting some vintage toy parts so bad that they risk there job and serious penalty is not rational.

For EBay to allow this scam is rediculous.

Most likely this is done because the scammers cannot say the box was empty as they are weighed on posting.

The money loss is no where as distressing as being scammed and then seemingly being scammed by Ebay after realising that you don't really have the seller protection that you thought.  

If they want to steal there is nothing you can do. Sitting ducks sellers are.

[curraone]

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@youngtroy1 wrote:

I answered already why I left "positive" feedback.

It was a negative comment to warn others. Please read the post.

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Just getting back to the feedback question for the moment, you may not be aware that  when you leave a comment like "BEWARE!! Buyer does not pay "   it does not actually help anyone, because no-one but you can see who the seller was.   Just thought I'd mention it.

If buyers do not pay, the best plan is to follow the unpaid item dispute process, ensuring they will get a strike.   Then eventually they won't be able to buy again.

And block the buyer, and set your preferences to blocking buyers with strikes.    If you need help setting these options, let us know.

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/home#search=block%20a%20buyer

[youngtroy1]

Thankyou for your response.

As for those who want to upset at me for my mistakes....there are many I am sure.

However,  I maintain that flouting rules and stealing are 2 very different topics.

Also ignoring the topic of the forum, looking into my history and having a rant about something negative that they have found is frankly rediculous.

It also does not assist in those who come to look for answers and other experiences and have to read a load of irrelevant material.

• Or even worse be too afraid to speak out because someone may want to be honest about your failings.

Does a poster have to be perfect and know every little rule to post here...

SMH.. 

[curraone]

And to answer your question about what you can do about your sale, the honest answer is not much.

I have no idea what to do about a foreign theft, and I suspect not many posters here do either.

If it was in Australia of course you would have better options.

Maybe next time my advice would be to have the item insured?    I don't know if that would have protected you.

Sorry that can't be of more help.     Not all ebay experiences are bad though, I hope you perservere.

[lyndal1838]

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@youngtroy1 wrote:

• Or even worse be too afraid to speak out because someone may want to be honest about your failings.

Does a poster have to be perfect and know every little rule to post here...

SMH.. 

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No, posters do not have to be perfect and know every rule to post on the boards but I would have thought that if they need help with one aspect of selling they would also be grateful for help with other aspects if they are making mistakes that could eventually stop them from selling entirely or in some other way affect their selling.

Believe me, members here being honest about your shortcomings is a lot less painful than ebay suspending your selling privileges.

[digital*ghost]

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@youngtroy1 wrote:

The money loss is no where as distressing as being scammed and then seemingly being scammed by Ebay after realising that you don't really have the seller protection that you thought.  

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This is unlikely to help much, but I know how you feel. In my case the loss wasn't as high as $200, but being put in a position that I likened to having to watch someone steal from me, and others preventing you from doing anything about it, was really frustrating (eg if you were a shop owner and someone just walked in, took something off the shelf, and started to walk out, imagine having the landlord for the premises stop you and reason "nah, it's better for my business if we just let him have it without a fight"). 

It sucks, and I hate that there isn't something constructive I can advise people to do that gives them a real fighting chance. 

Perhaps the best chance you have is in trying to prompt a confession (or as good as one) from them, call their bluff on everything, ask for a signed letter from the delivery service (I'm assuming La Poste), ask what the delivery service said about dleivering an empty box, whether they applied the normal customs charges to a $200 item when the box clearly didn't contain anything, and just hope they trip up enough to help you in your case, if they participate in this line of questioning, anyway - I did want to make the likely outcome very clear in my first post, as false hope can be worse, but if you feel like you need to do something, or try to know for sure, that's an option, and I suppose if they explicitly give the game away in a reply, you can try to get eBay to see sense. They'll probably refund the buyer either way, but if you get enough to convince eBay they buyer lied, there's a small chance they will refund from their pocket rather than yours. Just be aware it's a very long shot. 

[curraone]

And maybe talk to Australia Post - by talk I mean using the online form at Australia Post website.  

As you say it was tracked, then maybe it qualifies for the first $100 insurance from Australia Post or maybe even more.