Clearly Another Scam Buyer

[clarry100]

We sent out two separate packages to the same buyer 3-days apart about 3-weeks ago. This buyer has a FB score = 453. And is not a seller either.

We get a message yesterday that says she has not received her item. Where is it?

She would probably not know that we sent them separately. But as the orders were a couple of days apart we had already placed the first one into the mail before we received the 2nd order. We mostly use regular mail so no tracking available.

I have taken a look at her FB history and in the past 12-months there are no less than 4x BIG RED dots given to various sellers for items not received. Most of these have seller comments saying refund given. There are also lots of red dots given for other reasons as well.

There are also many NEUTRALS for all kinds of nitpicky reasons with some of those sellers commenting that they have also given a refund.

I have sent her a message asking for validation of the address we used but have heard nothing back yet. And to check that they are not being held at her local PO.

I have not as yet disclosed that these packages were sent separately.

But it seems remotley unlikely that two would get lost to the same address just days apart. Makes it smell like a scam buyer to me.

It does seem we will be heading for a red dot here given her track record.

How woud other sellers handle a buyer like this?

[pennyforum14]

Were they parcels or letters?

If parcels, check the tracking and if it shows delivered, point that out to her and advise her to enquire at her PO as to how the item can be marked deivered when she hasn't received it.  If she is not genuine, that will probably be the last you hear.  If they were letters, there is not a lot you can do but refund, as there is no way to prove delivery.  That's the drawback of using letter post to save your customers money, while most appreciate it, there are some who will take advantage of it.

[beautbots01]

Anyway to id this buyer.  I have heard of some sellers contacting the PO in the area where all these parcels were allegedly going astray and alerting the staff to these claims as well as contacting AP and letting them know they are being blamed for all these lost items. There needs to be a way to outsmart scammers if indeed this is what they are.  Such informing the buyer that due to the large number of lost items they have had you have done just that and that their claim/s are being investigated by AP.  

[i-love-my-sheep]

Hopefully Digital*Ghost will see this as they have a really great message that they send to people like this. Miraculously, letters often turn up not long after. DO NOT refund until DG replies (which I'm sure they will).

[clarry100]

These are not parcels with tracking. Our items average about $10 each so to do that would kill us off.

So we have to use large letter unless a buyer orders a larger quantity. So no tracking in this case unfortunately.

Normally we accept lost items as a loss and just replace them after verifying a correct address.

You can tell by the FB history and the abrupt, blunt and rude nature of the messages when a buyer is scamming. They seem to think angry messages will simply make you cave in and refund or replace.

Unfortunately even tho the evidence is pretty clear ebay & paypal will do nothing about it so they get away with it and just try it on time & time again. There needs to be some reporting mechanism in place with teeth to deal with this. B&M stores have security tied in with police.

We are inclined to refuse to refund or replace on this one because of the history and for sure we will then cop the NEG.

But somehow they have to see that they cannot get away with what amounts to shoplifting.

Our loss rate is probably 1 in about 500, so not too bad I guess.

[digital*ghost]

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@ilovemychooks wrote:

Hopefully Digital*Ghost will see this as they have a really great message that they send to people like this. Miraculously, letters often turn up not long after. DO NOT refund until DG replies (which I'm sure they will).

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If it does help, this is a sample of the kind of message I send, once I have confirmed their delivery address, and as well as being true, I feel it's non-accusatory, but does seem to help some buyers locate missing packages rather quickly. The most important thing is to follow up on the investigation, AP do keep track of consistent non-delivery claims, and they don't take kindly to fraud.

I will lodge a missing article investigation with Australia Post on XX-XX, which I need to inform you of as I will have to pass all of the addressee details on to Australia Post so they they can conduct the investigation, and it is possible they will contact you to request further information. They will attempt locate the package using their internal records, which will also help determine any problem areas or consistent factors that might be causing delivery issues and hopefully prevent such problems from reoccurring. Thank you in advance for your assisstance in this matter. 

[clarry100]

Hi DG, Thanks.

I use words something along those lines too.

And its quite amazing how soon after a missing mail item does mysteriously show up or there is no further response on the matter.

After we sent these words to a very similar buyer just a few weeks back she then wrote back a nasty-gram rejecting our offer of either refund or item replacement. Saying "...keep ya stinking money and ya rotten items".

Then a few days after that she left us a NEG.

I just replied to the NEG FB with something like this:

"You claimed INR. We advised our reporting process. You rejected our offer to refund."

Never heard any more.

Has anyone ever tried filing a report with the online fraud squad in Brisbane?

If so, what happened?

[twyngwyn]

Oh No...was the buyer in Qld?

[wendy9456]

Hi Any hints on the i.d Sounds like one for the "wall". Sorry that you have had to deal with such an unpleasant buyer. Know what it is like.Good luck with future sales

[clarry100]

Yes... in Warwick actually.