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Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Hey guys,

I have an ebay account with 60000 feedback's...anyways I usually sell cheap stuff but the one time I decided to sell something over $500 I get scammed....I sent an email and pictures of the crap I got returned to the buyer. I also threatened to contact local police and lawyer.....is there any point fighting this? Will ebay just refund them even with all this proof?? please help me....

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

This sucks, especially on such an expensive item.
What did the buyer actually return to you?

Yes, I would contact eBay and explain it to them. Won't hurt.
Unless the amount is extremely high, contacting local police or a lawyer will likely result in nothing coming of it.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Welp I just lost. I contact eBay explaining everything. 10mins later I guess the buyer just contacted eBay and they refunded them $550. Is it worth perusing? Heard police don't do "civil cases" in which this is a "civil case" FML Can I re-open it?

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

$550 is a lot to lose + the item. Really sucks to be in the seller in this case considering eBay/PP almost always sides with the buyer and gives sellers the shaft.

If it were to happen to me, I would be considering "unofficial" channels to deal with the buyer. Unfortuantely that's not something that can be openly discussed on this forum. ;)

As far as reporting to law enforement, it's unlikely they will do much of anything except maybe file a report. Unless there is actual evidence the buyer scammed you, as you claim, it comes down to "hearsay".

Maybe some other members of the forum can chime in and offer suggestions?

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Did you ship with tracking,signature, and insurance?

Edit: sorry I read it wrong so if u got returned back wrong item u can definitely get your money back just because they gave the money back to him doesn't mean he won. Call them and explain it they will give you your money for sure don't take that loss. If u have to ask to speak if supervisor.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

call ebay and say you got returned something different and that you will go file a police report on it. they will most likely will refund your money back to you and the buyer will keep both the refund and item, ebay will eat up the cost.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Good advise.

I was wondering if this scenario would be covered under their so-called "Seller Protection Policy" ?

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Never sell anything above 200$ without some kind of insurance, it's too high risk...
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Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

EB is going to say it's your word against his, they're not going to refund you a dime and your 6K feedback is meaningless to them.

Honestly, there's nothing practical you can do. EB has enabled this kind of fraud, and it's very rare for the seller to win.

You'll get people here saying things like file a lawsuit, contact bbb in CA, file a police report, file a mail fraud case, talk to your TV station, file a complaint with ICC, call FBI, CIA, NSA, etc, but here's the skinny:

You say he sent you back crap, he'll say no he didn't.

Until a court of law hands you a judgment, nobody is going to do anything. And even then you're going to get a big pile of nothing.

You can try all the suggestions, and maybe you'll be the one in a thousand who gets lucky, but this scam is very common and getting anything back is very rare.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Dallis is right. You should still try though

I remember I called in about this some time ago. Their response was basically that you should just write it off as a business expense as a cost of doing business. HA. Why can't THEY write it off on THEIR books as a business loss?? When they're the one facilitating this fraud

The irony is that their User Policy explicitly says that they cover sellers in the event that the buyer returns a different item. LOL

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

I don't agree he has more of a chance then u think, I won't lose no money by eBay/PayPal never back down they will make it fair. I'll keep calling till I get my money.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

ebay has, on more than one occasion, given me money and let the buyer keep his money. They are doing so more and more. Ebey reps even have a certain limit of how much they can give out in a given time period. It is a thing, and they do give out money all the time.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

can't exactly have some kind of insurance, when it comes to a buyer returning you garbage.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

That's the thing dallis above said, it comes down to your word against his. Hearesay, lack of evidence. eBay or PayPal have no idea who is telling the truth.

You are claiming the buyer shipped you a brick. Buyer claims they shipped you what you sent him, etc.

Contacting Law Enforcement might result in a report being filed, and likely going nowhere. No lawyer is willing to take such a case without a nice retainer from you up front. For a $550 item, just the fees to pursue this guy would exceed that. Even if by some miracle managed to secure a judgement in any court, how would you go about collecting it?

The only thing you can do at this point is try and reason with eBay and see if they can help. Good luck.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

There some kind of investigating body you can file a charge on and they will investigate. Sometimes PP and Ebay will refund if they see the charge filed. I forgot the name of it but Ebay CS knows

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

You can also take their name adress and phone number and file a Rip off report on them and make a YouTube vid too This will at least hurt their chances of finding a good job or more customers for a biz. This gets their name on Google as a crook.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Ebay and paypal rules are $750 for signature. Just follow those rules and all is OK.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

I've done this to several stereo shop owners who robbed me for parts

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

ebay is literally all scum lol best thing to do is scum someone else

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

While a $10 or $20 or even $50 'courtesy refund' from EB is not unheard of, EB is never going to take a $550 hit/loss over a he-says she-says dispute.

Spend all the time you like calling and filing complaints, they'll just ignore you.

And calling 10 or even 500 reps isn't likely to get you a $550 credit.

And like dhand says, you can post a video on youtube and make a ripoff report, be sure to use their name so that if you successfully get them turned down for a well-paying job or cost them money or reputation, they can get a plaintiff's attorney to sue you for damages on a contingency basis. Keep in mind that any insurance you have won't cover you because you took those steps with intent to injure.

Then your out of pocket loss just to make the lawsuit go away could be 10 or 20K, not just $550.

Great advice!

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

ebay WILL take the loss but you have to work for it including a police report. I have had them refund me thousands of dollars when I did everything they have asked for.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Listen to what yotano and yankee have been saying - file that police report ASAP

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

I'll add make sure you keep all evidence and can easily prove you were scammed d. Truth and free speach is always a defense against slander or defamation many lawyers have tried to shut down rip off report and others like it but have failed for this reason

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Also if usps was used. It's mail fraud and that's a Fed crime

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

It's not fraud until a court says so. Until then it's an allegation of fraud.

Get your facts straight.

Another case of 'I think I'm an attorney because I watched part of an episode of LA Law once when I was ten...'.

Certainly there's no harm in trying all the advice you're hearing, just don't count the money until it's back in your account.

Just sayin'...

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Civil court is highly variable. Usually, they have a limit of 1-3000/5000 dollar suits. It is all depending on the district it is in.

As for your situation, as horrible as it is and I feel for you, I would not pursue it outside of the realm of ebay/paypal. Even if you got it accepted to the docket in your district, the judge would possibly rule against you because of no signature or proof of returned items weight in said box.

This is why you should always have enough profit margin or risk/reward in your business plan to take these hits. I have had several categories that had 5-8 percent fraud rate. You just have to bake it into the price. Good luck with your pursuit of the scammer.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

IT IS a "he said, she said" case, UNTIL you involve the authorities.

Once you contact the police and get a report, THEN it becomes "He said, she DID". In other words, the mere act of obtaining a police report shows you're serious and putting your neck on the line (filing a false police report is a crime in most places). So yes, filing a police report will almost definitely win the appeal for you. Everyone saying "oh eBay hates you and they won't ever side with you" roles over on their back a lot and deserves to get scammed for being such easy marks. If you're willing to put in the time and effort you can get your money back. UP to you as to whether that's worthwhile.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Try it and get back to us.

We're all very interested to see if EB will give you the $550 based on your word and a police report.

Contrary to Ghost's assertion, filing a police report proves nothing, it doesn't give your claim any instant legitimacy that will make EB's highly trained crack team of CSR experts suddenly see the light and say, "Golly gosh, this guy HAS to be telling the truth, see, he filed a police report, let's just hand him $550 because NOBODY ever files a false police report, that would be ILLEGAL!'.

Filing a police report is an assertion by one party only, it has no legal weight, and assigns no particular merit to a claim.

Aside from the question of jurisdiction, which nobody has addressed at all, the police can barely keep hordes of rapists and murderers under control, and consider these kind of online squabbles to be an utter waste of their time.

Monetary disputes are a civil, non-criminal matter and their advice is going to be to take your claim in front of a judge.

I've danced this dance many, many times, and know all the steps by heart.

Do try, but don't count your money until it's back in the bank.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

was " EB's highly trained crack team of CSR experts" intended to be sarcasm, or for serious?

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Lmao lmao "EB's highly trained crack team of CSR experts"

No that was serious. Why would he joke about it?

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

dallis:

How many times have you personally filed a police report for fraud when a buyer attempted to scam you out of your money? Because I recall several threads where you never made any mention of attempting to beat scammers yourself, you just seem to spew that it "never works" and to "give up". Almost makes me wonder if you're a scam buyer yourself, perhaps thats why you need stealth? Just pondering.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

was " EB's highly trained crack team of CSR experts" intended to be sarcasm, or for serious?

Humor, of course. :)

Wow, Ghost, truly despicable lame and pathetic.

Accusing ME of being a scammer because you want to blow sunshine and moonbeams and fairy dust up the butt of some poor guy who lost $550... pretty thin stuff.

There's nothing I haven't tried to recover my money over the years, and all of the time and energy and creativity spent ( some of which exceed any suggestion ever made here ) added up to $0 recovered.

As I've said many times, come back here in two weeks and see exactly how much money this guy has recovered.

I've yet to see ANYONE EVER say they got their money back. If I've missed a few it just reinforces the overall odds: once EB gets your money, they ALMOST NEVER give it back.

Pound all the sand down that rat-hole you like, but it's still true.

Business 101: time has value; if the cost of recovering a loss exceeds the loss of possible revenue due to lost time and focus, recovery does not make financial sense. The 3-4 hours spent chasing this could be better used selling 3-4 more $550 products.

Besides, this loss can be used as a direct offset against profit at tax time. The OP may recover as much as he would have profited in tax relief, so it's a wash even if he doesn't recover a dime.

And btw, this unhelpful, personal attack is exactly the response I've come to expect from you.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

It's fraud the moment they tried defrauding another individual or company. Your definition makes it sound as if you're innocent until proven guilty, but people still get arrested or held beforehand, it doesn't mean it's not fraud. Enron took forever to unfold, it doesn't mean the fraud has not occurred until the date they were sentenced.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

well you both have a point but

Remember ebay has the power to refund you out of its own pocket, it can and often does so, both to buyer and seller - and a police report can prompt that, I have seen some anecdotal evidence on the forums at least, so the thing about them taking you seriously stands more.

Getting anything from a buyer, no forget that, it would mean a court case. Hard, but harder if stealth...

But the other thing is a threat of law enforcement can work on some buyers, worth a try

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

So last night I just got $229 out of ebay. Buyer claimed package was empty. He got his money back. I got my money back. Defects all removed. AND I'll probably try for $50 insurance from USPS. Next up is to try and get my FVF back as well.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

A. You're missing the point.

B. You're not offering ANY helpful advice.


Bottom line: if you go belly up for every scammer out there, they're going to keep scamming.

This is coming from someone who REGULARLY wins disputes in the high fraud digital goods category....As in cases closed in my favor with no refund to the buyer.

eBay WILL side with the seller if the evidence is clearly against the buyer. You must have some sort of proof, tracking, messages contradicting what they claim in a case, something, but if you have evidence, you WILL win.

Example: If the buyer bought an Xbox off you, and it weighs say 14 pounds, and their return weighs 2 pounds, you can bring that up to prove the buyer didn't send what they received.

And yes, you CAN get your money back via a Police report, ESPECIALLY if it's coupled with evidence as mentioned above.

If you really want to screw with someone, get yourself some legal insurance that comes with unlimited attorney letters. There's a service out there for it, can't recall the name but it's great.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

It's a week, no victory dance...

So far, though, exactly as I predicted. No evidence of a refund.

That would be Dallis 1 ( + however many I've said this about in the past ) Ghost... wait a second, had to take time to count, both hands, fingers, toes, calculator, carry the 9, multiply times PI, that would be.... oh, yeah, drum roll... zero. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing.

So the police report worked again... not. The BBB worked again... nope. The post office complaint worked again... whoops, so not. IC3? Nope.

I'll check back again in a week. Maybe you'll have a victory then.

The point is not to give up. The point is to not to spend the money before you see it back in your account.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

Yes, because we all know every member ALWAYS updates threads.

Not.

Most people open a thread, get advice, use the advice (or ignore it) and then aren't heard from again until they have a new issue.

OP hasn't even LOGGED IN since August 28th, aka 2 days after he created this thread.

So you haven't "won" anything. Nothing has been proven.

He's made a whoping 160 posts in 3 years. Not exactly our most active member.

But keep telling yourself how great you are, whatever makes you feel good about yourself.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

I JUST LULZZED

ANYWHO..long story short. I was fooooked. ebay even said by the proof i gave them that I was right. but the policy they have they said they HAVE TO SIDE WITH BUYER. they said i could appeal give police report blah blah. probs still lose.

Re: Being scammed by a buyer! I have 60,000 feedback!
 

come on man... You're not seriously here are you?