Buyer threatening to report me for fraud

[obsidian.vault]

Hi,

I'm a recently new seller on ebay (two months now) and am having my first problem with a 'difficult' seller. I received a message from them this morning stating that if their item didn't arrive today then they would report me for fraud. Their item was sent on Thursday 29th April and they received an expected delivery date of Tuesday 4th May through Australia Post. The fact that it is ONE day behind the ESTIMATED delivery date is apparently the reasoning for my 'fraudulent' behaviour. However, right next to the estimated delivery date on the Aus Post tracking website it states that the item has been delayed. I've sent an inquiry to Aus Post about this but that'll take 24-48 hours to get a response from them. Further, if you look at the estimated delivery times on the Aus Post website it states that it generally takes 3 to 5 business days for an item to arrive from my state to theirs. I live regionally, so I imagine it would be the latter of that estimate. It has only been 3 business days (including today) since I posted (not 4 business days due to a public holiday on Monday 3rd May). I have sent the buyer a picture of the Aus Post receipt as further proof of me sending the item.

If anything I would have an easier time accepting a 'non-delivery' claim, but fraud? Is there anything I can do about this? I know that if they do submit the claim ebay will likely side with them without question (at least that is my interpretation after reading around). Is there any way I can formally complain about the buyer and their threat or am I screwed because it's one day past the estimated date, even though the postal service itself has recognised it as delayed?

[obsidian.vault]

Thanks for the replies to both of you. I'm now getting messages from them stating that I have 'falsified the postage timeframe'. I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean. The item was sent within the handling time. Everything else is out of my hands. Ebay decides the estimated arrival time and the postal service delivers it. Seems like a huge over reaction for something that is currently one day late and that has only been in the post for three business days. Oh well, hopefully it wont be too much of a headache to sort out with ebay.  

[sandypebbles]

Out of curiosity , what is their feedback left for others like?

Does it suggest they often have an issue with things being 'late' or taking too long to arrive?

If so, that is something else you can point out to eBay if need be

[papermoon.lady]

Ebay won't believe it is fraud with the tracking number. The truth is obvious - your buyer is impatient... If they really want to, they can get their money back because of eBay money back guarantee after the estimated delivery date, but eBay will definitely understand it is not your fault. I was also wondering the same as sandypebbles... What is the fb they left for others?

[digital*ghost]

Sounds to me like they don't know the difference between "estimate"  and "guarantee". 

[obsidian.vault]

Good idea! I hadn't thought to look at the feedback they'd given other sellers.  Unfortunately, no complaints about shipping time. 12% of their feedback given is negative, but it mostly talks about 'fraudulent items' that haven't been received or were different from what was listed, or bad communication.

The buyer in a message today stated that the item was supposed to be a birthday present, so that seems to be the reason for being upset. But again, I'm not sure what I can do about that. I don't control the post. If the buyer had told me when they purchased about the urgency I could have sent it express, though I'm not sure if that's any faster at the moment anyway.

[sandypebbles]

Hmmmmm. I am surprised they did not mention that detail right up front, you would think, given their reaction that it would have been mentioned right away in their first lovely little message 

[digital*ghost]

I thought I might add something potentially helpful, as well 😁

My preference is to completely undermine people who come out of the gate with unreasonable expectations, as well as baseless threats.

People do this because they think it will get them a specific reaction and / or give them power over the situation and you as the seller, so I take a little Clint Eastwood (go ahead, make my day....punk), mix it with a little Wormtongue-influence Theoden (you have no power here - ignore the fact that this was based on lies / delusion and Gandalf did, in fact, have power there 😅), and filter it through a little professionalism to get - if that is what you feel you need or want to do, you're welcome to take that action, since I am confident that the outcome will be in my favour due to [insert relevant facts here]. 

(Sidenote - if an INR is opened, eBay will handle it differently depending on the order value, over $15 will be better for you as the seller if you take this route, as over that value they will not just do an auto-refund, which would unfortunately vindicate buyers like this and just reward their, uh, a-holery). 

[obsidian.vault]

They only brought it to my attention in the same message where they said they now wanted a full refund, which was about the fourth message they had sent me. I guess that was them bringing up the reasoning for wanting a refund. 

However, I'm just starting to think that their sense of time may indeed be warped as their last message started off with a "so now you finally have time to reply to me quickly." when the longest I've taken to reply throughout this whole transaction was two hours! 

[imastawka · Accepted solution]

Personally, I think you've wasted more than enough time on this impatient idiot buyer.

You've uploaded the tracking number, so that should be enough.

Impossible to report you for fraud.

Just keep all those messages in case they decide to open a case for INR.

I'd also be putting them on my BBL in case they decide to hate you so much, they buy the cheapest thing you sell, just to give you a negative.

Blocking a buyer | eBay

It won't stop the messages for a while, but should stop them buying again.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I am only going by what you have posted so far, but I get the impression that your buyer will probably say something about ‘refund’ or ‘opening a case’ in their feedback.  That would be good for you as you would get that removed for feedback violation.  The important thing to remember if that happens is to not reply to their feedback.  Simply ask eBay to remove the feedback for mentioning ‘refund’ or a ‘case’.   You can check their feedback left for others to see if they mention ‘refunds’ or ‘opening a case’.

Also, if they mention delivery time you may be able to get the feedback removed as you would only need to be able to prove that you sent the item within your stated handling time.  The postal receipt should be sufficient for this.

The other thing to know is that so far on this thread you have received advice from some of the most experienced eBayers who post on these forums.  Come back here if anything new develops and you need help before responding.