MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Would you take an eBay buyer at face value?

Cloudane

Not naming names but some perpetually angry souls need to chill out before they have an aneurysm or something!

There are some good stories if you Google for "ebay empty box" - fair to say although there are no doubt quite a few scammers on the buying side there are plenty on the selling side too, and as long as you put "empty box" in tiny little small print somewhere you are completely covered. People should learn to read carefully of course, but they do all sorts of tricks to try and stop you noticing.

So I'm curious, how would one go about proving that the DVD was present when you shipped the box? I imagine where larger items are concerned you could substantiate it a bit as long as you used recorded delivery, as there should be a record of the item's weight somewhere which would match up with the manufacturer's spec. But DVDs, with varying size booklets included, would be a little more difficult. If it was really valuable maybe you'd have to take a video of yourself placing the item in the box, sealing it with anti-tamper tape, signing a unique pattern on all lengths of tape writing the address on, taking it to the post office, and making sure to get a good shot of that unique pattern a second time (proving it's not been tampered with on the way to the post office) as it gets passed to the cashier!

Unfortunately for sellers, the way the world works (or the UK at least) is usually to protect the buyer. If you think about this type of situation, either side could be trying to scam the other - the seller could've knowingly not included the disc and say that the buyer is lying, or the buyer could've received the disc and claim they hadn't, and say that the seller is lying. If it's just one person's word against another's, the law has to take a side somewhere.

The reason it's usually sided with the buyer is probably because on the whole the larger businesses (not so much private individuals mind you, but I guess for consistency they have the same liabilities) are better able to afford it by factoring in fraud, piracy etc in their profits or their prices.

I'm not disagreeing, but I find it quite interesting that there's such a bias towards sellers on this thread on a forum all about consumer revenge

Tua

adrienne1945 wrote: »

I was annoyed to receive an email informing me that anything I sell in future I will have to wait 3 weeks for the money to be released by paypal. Yeah right. Nice little interest earner for them. Ive never had negative feedback although I don't sell much, and I've been with them for years. B****y cheek if you ask me But its the principal of it. As you say it's all in the buyers favour especially the sneaky types.

This happened to me too. I have 100% positive feedback and 144 DSRs @ either 4.9 or 5.0 ... but ebay/paypal claimed that my account was likely to be one where 'fraud' could take place. I've been selling designer dog collars for over a year, for goodness sake!!!

I was SO angry :mad: I fired off numerous written complaints to both ebay & paypal HQs, contacted the OFT and financial ombudsman.

The OFT replied that I could actually bring legal action against ebay because of the slanderous implication that I was using my account for criminal activity ... which could (theoretically) impact negatively upon my business reputation. Trouble is ... the cost of doing this; and the added 'complication' of eBay/paypal being registered abroad.

Eventually, after sending ebay/paypal a notice that I fully intended to pursue a legal course of action they lifted the 'hold'!

Please just keep pestering ebay to get your 'hold' lifted. As you've pointed out: it's sheer greed for extra amounts of interest on the cash YOU'VE earned. And it seems as though they'll try this scam on quite randomly with anyone.

issa

Hi since I started selling on Ebay about 10% of purchased have got lost in the post!!!! I always refund. I have never bought something whick got lost in the post.

jenniewb

If the disk wasn't in there, I'd have found it whilst cleaning up. Then I'd send it on. No refund, £20 is a lot of money to me!

TurkishDelight

issa wrote: »

Hi since I started selling on Ebay about 10% of purchased have got lost in the post!!!! I always refund. I have never bought something whick got lost in the post.

I would be looking at what I had done wrong in your case.

Is the address always readable on the parcel?
Is it on a label that could fall off?
Have you put a return address on it?

Failing that- are the items you are sending out up to standard/description?
It's wrong obviously, but some buyers would rather go through a not recieved claim than a item not as described becasue they don't have to post it back.

I have even seen this advised on other parts of this website.

Ebenezer_Screwj

Surely the buyer took a risk by being on holiday when the item was due to arrive ? However, if I was certain that the game was complete when I despatched it I would say so and regard the matter as closed.

awehla

No I wouldn't. I sold a Queen CD to someone in Portugal and apparently it never arrived (according to him). Unfortunately he'd emailed my email address I use for PayPal which I hadn't checked for a while (since I thought all my sales had gone through fine) and because I didn't reply to his email PayPal gave him a refund anyway. So yeah maybe PayPal would give them a refund anyway so what I do wouldn't matter.

wendyA2

Just before Christmas I actually sold an x-box with games for one of my sons on ebay. I checked everything and made sure it was all there.

When the buyer received it, he said that one of the games was missing from its case. Of course I didn't believe him as I had checked everything myself when listing it. But before I started calling the buyer a liar etc., I thought I would check my other sons x-box console and there was the game! He had decided to 'borrow it' for one last play before I sold it and he had taken it from the case in between me listing (and checking) and packing the parcel and forgot to put it back.

So don't always assume the buyers are lying. Mistakes DO happen at both ends.

Taffybiker

SADIE wrote: »

Doesn't work like that, you only confirm you have an item not you've checked it. I wouldn't dream of keeping my postman or courier while checking all's well with my items and as a courier I wouldn't be pleased if every one expected me to wait while checking. Some sign and add UNCHECKED suits me.

Of course you are right, but as I said, that is what I would be using as my arguement which I believe would hold some validity in a case like this. I wouldn't normally keep a courier waiting either. Only once I did so and that was because he was delivering an expensive replacement item, the first of which had arrived damaged. (Not ebay BTW). I explained my reasons to the courier and he fully understood. Even then, I kept my check to a minimum time.

pokerati

i was in a similar situation once, I sold a palmtop system to someone who was clearly an electronics trader. They said the equipment I had sold was faulty. They were able to produce a faulty item I was unable to dispute it. So I say do anything you can to make sure you know what your item is and what condition it is in. Take photos write down serial numbers etc