How do we take proper action against fraudulent buyers?

[friendoffew]

I sold an item recently that was returned. The buyer advised it was faulty and demanded a full refund. I accepted though I was hesitant as it came with a number of accessories - eBay customer support confirmed I could appeal if the buyer had made a false claim or did not return the item with all accessories.

The item was functional when I received it. As I suspected, the buyer had stolen a number of accessories from the case (which were listed and pictured in the original listing). They have denied this and have since made threats.

I found that this buyer had done the same thing to a number of other users and those I received contact from said they had accessories stolen and eBay had provided a full refund.

eBay sided with the buyer and refused my request to appeal. They have debited my bank account automatically.

They did not follow their own returns/refunds policy and have refused to acknowledge my request to lodge a complaint (against eBay)

As sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers and apparently reporting them does nothing, is there anything more I can do to appeal this or report the buyer and eBay?

[ushanka-emporium]

Hi i know how you feel as let me say i sell things from russia and so far this year alone 4 from europe(2 english 1 german 1 swedish) and one from 2014/2015 dec/jan (english) who i strongly suspect  are all dealers on and off i ebay buying things to re sell in their market stall or store or where ever, all of them claimed the item in question being the same product but 4 different versions were not authentic then claiming either a return or demanding a full refund plus keeping the item( some said they would throw it away ) also i got threatened about one going to ebay etc(ebay actually sided with me as to the person not being able to leave bad feedback as his message got him into trouble getting a strike against him). There isnt anything you can do as the buyer cant be negged or have to prove anything plus not return the item as it isnt possible for all of mine except local ones in russia here. They are thiefs scammers and scum as most people fully get my products with only the occasional problem and i would say hunt them down like does but we here are nice people so not possible but an interesting idea (joking) Funny other thing is you have all their details and even not too hard to find them on google earth or facebook etc or possibly amazon, while i do not condone revenge , it certainly would be scary if you confronted them face to face and demanded back money,  let them try scam you twice..... sorry if i am crossing any lines but i am getting to that point where it wouldnt be good if i ever met them because i always try to be very hospitable friendly and nice on ebay. Ebay needs to bring back negative feedback or strikes against buyer or even make them return and pay for that only being refunded when it is a genuine claim

[davidc4430]

your another victim of the selling secondhand goods rules of ebay. you cant prove the missing parts were ever in the posted package. dodgy buyers are increasingly taking advantage of this loophole in ebays rules. selling used items nowdays on ebay is open for abuse by dodgy buyers.

i can see in the future there being less and less honest secondhand goods sellers as they get tired of losing money because ebay sides with the buyer.

[chameleon54]

---

@*tippy*toes* wrote:

All I can say is keep hounding eBay. I would also make a report with ACORN or the police against this buyer. Sadly, in eBay's eyes, buyers can do no wrong. Even when it's proven they are scamming, eBay refuses to do anything about it. They need to be taken to task over it.

Hopefully others will be along soon to offer some better advice. Keep checking back here because there are some very knowledgable people who should be able to guide you in how to proceed with this.

Good luck.

---

I,ve got a buyer at the moment who has put in a case claiming item not as described. In a private message they have basically admitted they did not read the description and it was as described, but not what they thought, so want to return it and I,m supposed to pay the postage both ways.

The item was of low value and by far the cheapest option is just to refund and let them keep it. All I will lose this way is the $2 large letter postage one way, but you do feel like ebay is telling you to bend over and ............

I usually only get around two cases opened per year, but currently have one going on each of all three selling accounts. The second one is an item mailed to NZ. Buyer wanted to know why it had not arrived four days afer mailing.  What the .....

The third case is item not recieved. Probably genuine and I will send a replacement.

I,m not sure if I am just having a bad patch or if buyers are getting more unreasonable as news of how to exploit ebays unfair seller resolution policies spreads.

[digital*ghost]

---

@chameleon54 wrote:

---

I,ve got a buyer at the moment who has put in a case claiming item not as described. In a private message they have basically admitted they did not read the description and it was as described, but not what they thought, so want to return it and I,m supposed to pay the postage both ways.

---

If it's abundantly clear in a buyer's message that it's a change of mind, not INAD, you should be able to contact CS who can access and read all messages between buyers and sellers, and get them to (hopefully) do something about it. (I personally would, even if the loss would be minimal by refunding and moving on - I would opt for refunding when there's no other way, but I wouldn't let a buyer misuse the process if there was a chance I could stop it, even for low value items, because they're usually "testing the boundaries" and sometimes over time will escalate the activities to higher value items).

I had an unusal spate of INRs this week (3, while I can go several weeks without getting any), one was resolved (INR by error, apparently), the other two are ongoing and increasingly suspect. >_> 

[collect247]

As a seller I was unfairly dealt with and as a buyer I'm starting to get unfairly dealt with.

I just can't win either way 

[mbselections00]

How sad.  Just saw this post and was wondering how OP got on.  Judging from ID About Me section, s/he's no longer selling - another seller shafted by the looks

[clarry100]

---

@digital*ghost wrote:

I had an unusal spate of INRs this week (3, while I can go several weeks without getting any), one was resolved (INR by error, apparently), the other two are ongoing and increasingly suspect. >_> 

---

Any "special" tracking on these ones?