How to deal with buyer fraud on eBay

We got burned big time selling on eBay. We learned a lot of what not to do from this and stories from other people. I have put our story in so you know that these things really happen and are not urban myths. I have also taken the information I received from 100’s of people burned on eBay, both sellers and buyers, and used it to give you an idea of what happens and how to keep it from happening to you. If you are going to sell on eBay you need to know how to deal with buyer fraud on eBay. The best thing to do is to prevent it because it is very difficult to fix once it happens.

We put my Grandmothers ring on just before Mothers day. We got an email asking if we would be willing to ship that day as the person wanted it for Mothers day. The person had been on eBay for years and had a 100% rating. They were using Paypal to pay so we felt it would be secure. We said yes. They paid the $1116.00 right away. Once the payment was processed we took the ring to Fedex. By by ring. The next day about 24 hrs after the transaction Paypal notifies us that the transaction was fraudulent. We were one of about 10 people hit all on the same day all for rings worth about $1000.00 to $2000.00, ours was apprised over $1800.00.

Some one had gotten into another persons eBay and Paypal account and then used them to buy items. So we contacted Fedex to put a return to sender on it. It had already made it to customs and we would not be able to get it back until it cleared customs at the other end. At this point in time we were out the $116.00 it cost us to ship it.

Then we get a call from Fedex. The stop shipment order never made it to the ring. The person it was delivered to refuse to pay the Indonesian custom charges. Indonesian customs would not release the ring unless some one paid the $381.00 custom charges. Fedex explained to them that there was a stop shipment on the item and it should never have made it to customs. Indonesian customs response, not their problem, the custom charges had to be paid or they confiscate the ring to pay the charges.

We spent a week talking with Fedex trying to sort this out. We were told to pay the custom fees or we would never see the ring again. We agreed to pay. To help us, Fedex agreed to pay for the custom fees and then bill us so we could make monthly payments. Ring was to show up on a Tuesday. That day, no ring. We decide to wait until Wednesday afternoon before calling Fedex. Wednesday morning we get a call from Fedex. The Indonesian customs now wants over $900 for us to get the ring back, they had added about $600.00 in storage and handling fees for the week we were talking to Fedex.

Fedex stepped in at this point and said “no way”. They started negotiations and after about a month they were able to get the Indonesian Government to step in. We still had to pay the initial custom charges of $381.00 though. So by selling my Grandmothers ring on eBay we were out $497.00. The other sellers lost the rings. The person who bought them asked that they put a low value on the ring so they would not be charged the custom fees, so the rings were delivered right to them. Others lost them to the Indonesian customs because the customs fee was so high. We were the only ones to get the ring back. This person did get away with it, and nothing will be done to them.

Did we contact eBay and Paypal over this? Yes! We had to use emails though as there seems to be no way to contact them any other way. The end result was they refunded us our insertion fee and final auction fee. That is all they do for sellers. There is no protection for sellers, just buyers. That was it. EBay did nothing for us, even though some one had used a legitimate eBay account. Paypal at lest looked into it. About a month after they had contacted us about the possible fraudulent transaction they let us know that it was a fraudulent transaction. That was it. No explanation for how this happened, and no help with the debt we now have because of the sale.

We learned from this experience. If some thing seems to good to be true, it is. Hold all Paypal transactions for at least 3 days to make sure it is a legitimate purchase, then ship item. Do not list large ticket items or items you are not willing to loose. We do not sell on eBay anymore.

We shared out story with quite a few people and were told quite a few other eBay horror stories. Most are from sellers. Why, because eBay does nothing to protect sellers, just buyers and then only for 30 days. Common buyer stories, items were purchased, product was never shipped, and not the item bid on, did not work or was damaged. As long as it was with in 30 days eBay would negotiate for a new product to be shipped or money refunded. Paypal is best to use when buying because if you don’t receive the product ordered you can cancel the transaction with in 30 days and get your money back.

None of this does the buyer any good it the seller was using some one else’s account, fraudulently posting items for sale and then never shipping. You never know who actually put the item out for sale. The person whose account was used usually has no idea who or even how some one posted listings on their account. Another one is to open an eBay account list lots of products, get the payments and shut down the account.
This has been happening a lot. They have you send the money through Western Union and you never see the product or your money back. As a buyer you need to make sure you read the whole ad. If it says “as is” then what you get is it, and chances are it does not work or is damaged. If there is no shipping and handling fee listed, do not bid until you know what the cost is. I had one person charge me $10.00 shipping and handling for a $1.00 item that only cost $2.00 to ship. Check every thing out, and if you have any questions get them answered using the eBay emails so there is a record of the emails right on eBay.

Sellers get hit harder and more often then buyers. People will send bad cheques, which is why you never ship until the cheque clears. The most common scam is people get the product and then say they never received it and expect you to send more products or refund the money. You pay extra to have items insured and signature required when product is delivered. It may cost you more but it stops people from being able to say they never received it. And if they actually did not well then the insurance you paid for should cover that, it was a delivery service problem.

People will claim the product was damaged when received. Always take a picture of product before you send it, and again insure it so that if the shipping company damages it it is their problem. You have to get a picture of the product showing the damage when the person receives item. The problem sellers have is that they damage the item on purpose, or have a similar item damaged and claim it is the same one. This was a problem an eBay seller selling laptops was having. He recorded and photographed all numbers on the laptop and was able to prove several times that the item people claimed to be the one he shipped to them was not the same one.

Another scam he came across was people would receive his product, scratch it up, take a picture of it and claim it was received “damaged” or not as advertised in the eBay ad. It was always cosmetic damage. They would then email him and say refund me half the money because the product was damaged or I will give you a bad review for sending damaged goods. This one there is no real way to protect yourself from. You don’t give them the money they try to trash your reputation. Your only recourse is to refute the damage claim through eBay feedback.