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Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

We have been selling a lot of laptops and macbooks on ebay. We only sell brand new items because they all have 1 year warranty. We only sell to buyers that have a good history to prevent against fraudulent purchases and scammers.

We sold a brand new MSI GS75 Stealth 10SE which is a 1700$ laptop. Upon receiving it the buyer opened a case and sent us this message.

Description indicates that I should have received a LAPTOP. Everything other than the laptop and charger is inside the box. Boxes, booklets, fillers, foam etc are inside the box but no laptop to be found. This is unacceptable. In the thousands of ebay purchases on my account over the past decade, included sales of my own that I have done, this has never happened. I am not necessarily blaming the seller, as tempering could have occurred during shipping or at warehouses depending at where the box was stored, but I certainly can not afford to buy another one and to just let this go. I would appreciate it if seller could double-check to make sure the laptop is not laying around somewhere. I DO NOT mind if this is actually an open box purchase, if laptop has been temporarily removed by the seller etc, I just need a new working laptop as described on the product page.

Please let me know what I should do. This is a huge loss if we have to issue a full refund. What should i do?

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Well you should think before you selling high end items online,
Unfortunately if you dont sorting ebay will issue refund, all you can do to report to police here in uk its action fruad not sure about usa side

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Ouch, that is a tough one. Does the buyer have a good buying history via his feedback?

And honestly, knowing ebay, he will get the refund. Best thing to do is take a complaint out on the courier since tampering may have occurred during transit.

I also assume you are a top rated seller, so if you receive back an empty box you can appeal to ebay and regain half of the funds.

Additionally, do you have the serial number of the laptop, i think you can report them as stolen so they can be disabled maybe?

Sorry to hear about this, all the best.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

You cannot disable a Laptop.
First,who is the carrier,and is there insurance?
I would first call him,then if it is a private carrier like Fed Exp or UPS and it is insured,tell him not to discard anything but Wait for the carrier to take a look.
even if it is not insured,the carrier would send someone to investigate,
If you have insured it with USPS,same deal,one of you will file claim but he may have to go to the post office and show the item.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

My carrier is UPS. There is no way that there is no laptop in the box. I called ups and found the dimensions of the box and the weight. The weight is 9lbs. I plan to just ask him to return everything exactly the way it is give him a label and the match the weight of the return. It should be less than 9lbs and show it to ebay.

The difference in weight should be proof enough that the buyer is lying.

Any thoughts on this?

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

it's it's over $500 you can file a police report.
You can try showing this to eBay.

Definitely talk with a manager at UPS about this and see what course of action you can take.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

If shipping label shows weight then it is a good evidence that item was inside the box. So if buyer stated box was empty it means that item was lost down the road or buyer stole it, as simple as that.

weight on the shipping label does not necessarily match the content,I can pay for a 25 lbs item and yet just have shredded newspaper inside,carriers do not care,it only care if you underpay not overpay.
UPS and Fed Exp and USPS will check weight,but your laptop could be removed during transit,at one time my UPS driver told me some UPS warehouse workers were stealing phones ,they can tell from the size of the box,weight and the name of the shipper there is a phone inside.

You need to contact UPS and they will look into it,Asking him to return the empty box,what good is that?
Switch a Roo,empty box,Ebay rental are all common on Ebay,I hope EBAY will compensate you as the other said

You dont know the weight?
Are you dropshipping?

----------------------
you sound like a newbie,Ebay is not judge Judy,it is a sales venue.
Insurance is to protect the seller.
If he does not get his money back,he will turn to Paypal or worse his cc issuer

one does not have to register a laptop,whoever has the laptop,costs him zero,so no need to register for warranty,even if he does,what can any one do?
It sounds like OP never see the laptop or ship the laptop,so now there is another layer -middleman?

Ebay being a fleamarket,sellers do sell refurbished,open boxes and call it new,so the buyer can assume since he is shopping on fleabay,he could be getting one with no original packing etc.
If you read OP comments,she is not the one who did the shipping,whoever did the shipping is the one she should contact.
Whoever did the shipping should contact UPS,it would send a driver to buyer house and learn more about the case,the best OP should do is t o ask the buyer not to throw anything away and wait for UPS.
UPS does offer insurance,whoever shipped the laptop must have taken out insurance for $1700,insurance protects the seller,buyer needs no insurance

she has already obtained the weight of the package,it weighs 9 lb.
But it does not sound like she is the one who did the shipping,there is another party involved/

GLAD TO hear your shipped the item and it weighs 9 lbs,so you do know there is a laptop inside,now it is up to UPS to find out more.
So your buyer is a reseller!
DIDNT he say in his last email he needs the laptop to work ,not to resell?
(I certainly can not afford to buy another one and to just let this go. I would appreciate it if seller could double-check to make sure the laptop is not laying around somewhere. I DO NOT mind if this is actually an open box purchase, if laptop has been temporarily removed by the seller etc, I just need a new working laptop as described on the product page.)

We have been selling a lot of laptops and macbooks on ebay. We only sell brand new items because they all have 1 year warranty. We only sell to buyers that have a good history to prevent against fraudulent purchases and scammers.

We sold a brand new MSI GS75 Stealth 10SE which is a 1700$ laptop. Upon receiving it the buyer opened a case and sent us this message.
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Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Nothing you really can do if ebay sides with the buyer. If you wanna take him to small claims court you could try that, But goodluck!

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

I would call their bluff, tell them that a you have the serial number and other information that goes with that laptop and that you will be making a police report. If anyone registers that laptop the police will be notified and thus an investigation will resume at that point. Or you can come up with something similar.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

There is a way to win this case with 100% full amount and also receiving your remaining items back ofcourse on your own return postage cost.

Also, buyer wont be able to open PayPal dispute and bank/cc chargeback.

Research . . . Research . . . Research . . .

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

This is a difficult one, and one you will not win easily, maybe the buyer is scamming you, maybe not.

The way to get some protection is if you offered free returns and then have them return the box back for a refund. As you are offering free returns you will be able to limit your exposure by giving half the purchase price back. That way you can sell your side of the case to eBay if they make a fuss and appeal your refund.

If you did not offer a return for the laptop you are sunk!

If the buyer has opened a case for item not received in the resolution center then you can have it closed as tracking shows it was delivered and they can not leave negative feedback for you or if any left will be taken down.

At best you may be able to keep half of your money at worst (as eBay calls it) this is the price of doing business on eBay and you have to refund 100% to the buyer.

Good luck on this one!

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Can you tell us what way you shipped it ?

Usps still doesn't weigh packages mostly. Fun fact. Some places do, most places do not. UPS/FEDEX DO .. and there should be logs of it.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Fun fact is that f you use Shipstation and have an account with Stamps.com a greater majority of my shipping is weighed as evidenced by the shipping correction we receive and debited to our account.
We deliver our parcels directly to the main regional USPS sorting plant due to volume

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Based upon the reply by the buyer I's say this was almost certainly a scam.

Who in their right mind and given the nature of electronics, buys what they assume is a new and sealed laptop and says " I DO NOT mind if this is actually an open box purchase, if laptop has been temporarily removed by the seller etc, I just need a new working laptop as described on the product page."

No me that's for sure.

In any event, it is highly likely ebay will side with the buyer and you will need to use the legal system to get any form of justice.
Ensure the buyer knows you intend to haul the courier into this and directly accuse them, or one of their employees, of theft and they'll be expected to assist.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Perhaps you have proof of weight of the package or can obtain this from the shipping you've used if you can prove the weight of the item shipped compared to the weight of a empty you may be in with a chance I've won 3 cases like this but stating that I've lost one.

All the best. Good Luck!

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

I actually shipped this item out myself. The boxes dimensions were 28x16x5. I called UPS to find out the actual weight of the box which is 9lbs.

I messaged the buyer last night and this is what I said:

Hi,
Thank you for keeping in touch with us and for choosing to do business with us! We apologize for this great discrepancy as we also sell thousands of units on our accounts and have never come across something of this nature.
Nonetheless we will have our research team investigate the several discrepancies we have noted in your comments. If we find there to be an error, we will fully reimburse you.
However, if we find that there is an error on your behalf, we will pursue legal actions regarding this transaction, so if perhaps you have overlooked anything, please do let us know!

The buyer responded within an hour:


Thank you for replying quickly! You are more than welcome to investigate, I am here if you have any questions. I have quadruple checked the contents, I have separated the boxes within boxes carefully as to not damage them, removed cardboard partitions, and there is still no laptop here. I believe it would be very difficult to overlook a laptop regardless.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

The world of selling electronics. F*ck!ng nightmare when it goes wrong.

Sounds genuine but dodgy at the same time. But how can you prove otherwise ? this will be another one of those "factor in the occasional loss into your business plan" scenario's when ebay or paypal get involved.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Which was???

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Tis the season, and many hands have touched this box. And those many hands prob have experience knowing what was in that box. Honestly, with the info you gave, I would bet the person who delivered this to his door is the one who stole it.

The buyers account, if true, sounds legit. And how he is addressing you also makes him sound honest; whoever, it could be a lie. But I think you need to reach out to UPS and make them investigate the last driver to handle the package. Good luck to you and this matter!

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Ill have to keep track. i see the adjustments, but it doesn't seem to reflect correctly in my balance, or i am braindead this weekend, well that would suck heh.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

if OP is a top rated seller and accept return,he should send a return label and get his package back,issue 50% OF the payment and let Ebay picks up the other 50%,so his loss is 50% plus Paypal fees.
I read the buyer emails several times,he is a reseller and he is buying to resell and the way the emails are written,make me wonder if they are meant to be used every time they like to get a free laptop?
OP should report him to Ebay,Ebay could suspend his buying privilege if enough sellers report him,as he is a hazard to the Ebay seller community

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

The 50% off Edit deduction button is only for those who offer 30 days or more days of returns and it has nothing to do with top rated seller badge. Top rated seller has advantage of reporting the buyer with specific report buyer reason code just to get return postage cost reimbursemnt subcidy in their monthly invoice.

And once the buyer akss eBay to step the 50% off button will disappear and remain restricted for use for the specific transaction.

You can contact any eBay rep and get it confirmed or simply read seller protection help page. I had 50% off button on above standard seller

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

My concern about this... While a good tactic. Lately after I've been 50% refunding people returning opened and used products... the account gets suspended like a day or two later.I think a team is reviewing partial refunds. So i stopped doing that. Unless the item is super cheap, where they probably don't care.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

This is fully automated system and no human investigation is involved. The partial refund tool access will be removed if you overuse it than average usage of all the sellers (same category/same price group/ peers of service metrics) and also equally depends on from which buyer you're deducting refund. If the buyer's account has solid history and almost none of the sller ever reported this buyer than system marks as incorrect removal entry.

Also, it depends on how much % you temove it. If removal is not followed as described in removal guidelines table than too you'll loose partial refund tool access. It creates an account issue and eBay rep will ask you to get the issue resolved from their dedicated team. If your refund % removal partter is like always 50% than they'll take away option from you and flag your account.

Last but not the list, your account will get flagged if % of number of buyers who asks eBay for help for remaining refund amount. If it's higher than average seller % than you are a gone case. The edit deduction option will be removed no mater what your serive metric, seller standard level or any other status for that matter.

The final conclusion is, its automated system and until you do something fishy, no human is going to investigate it.

All the best to all for using partial refund tool wisely and not getting your account suspended due to it because misuse records seller is risky for eBay.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Well, i had one last week... This account had 1 return ever. I partial refunded it by 50% customer escalated, a day or 2 later it was suspended, there was no reason otherwise for it to be suspended, i make accounts and use accounts daily, i have more accounts than i need. So my sales are literally spread out enough to have 1 item on 1 account and not on another, so it was very weird coincidence. Of course the return was for not as described... but the item was factory sealed, they return it opened, it wasn't returned in the same condition that it was sent in, which technically is a violation of ebay money back guarantee, but ebay never enforces it against buyers

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

That is true. ebay suspends buyer as well and remove them from ebay guaratee but their threshold of violation is huge. Unless the buyer scams so many sellers eBay doest take any action. Not sure about your suspension as ideally they just remove partial refund tool upon misuse in their eye (we may have used it correcty).

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Nice identification of the issue

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

seller may want to ask himself why he is getting so many returns.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

I don't know if it helps much but I bought a iphone off ebay rather cheap and the seller sent me a watch instead of a phone. I looked up the weight of a phone and box and then compared it to what sent plus reported to the police..of course the police here in the uk did nada aka nothing..but the weight argument to paypal did resolve the matter and i won the case...i guess as it was a cheap price it was all a scam

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

did Paypal ask you to return the item?
Police does not get involved,they have more important cases to tackle,you go to fleabay and take your chances because it is cheap,and get scammed.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

This is a common scam, people usually do it to retailers but there are some scummy folk that do it to ebay sellers aswell.

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

if they do it with the retailer,they would lose chargeback,as cc issuer tend to side with retailers more than the buyer ,but us peons on Ebay are not so lucky,
No one knows who is telling the truth while retailers like WMT,TGT,their business is retail sales,they dont dumpster dive ,they order MIB merchandise from the manufactuer/wholesaler,if it is defective,they will accept return and they will just sock it to the wholesaler..
Once I bought a Lenovo pc from Bestbuy,the damn disk wont open,so i returned it to BBY,an expert was called to investigate,no problem,they just refund and return it to Lenovo !

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Thank you.😊

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

Big retail companies absorb quite a lot of hits to the product quality issue

Re: Buyer said no laptop inside box! Advice help!
 

not if they can prove it is a manufacturer defect,mine is brand new within 30 days,
if BBY absorbs the issue,they could resell it at BBY outlet if it has been refurbished or certified,or just unload it to liquidator .
All these retailers have outlets for returns,refurbished or cosmetic damage,I just bought a handheld vaccum sweeper on AMZN site ,it has one in the warehouse with cosmetic damage for a lot less,also an Irobot floor cleaner battery for less ,the generic one just does not work!