Naughty buyer/seller - cautionary tale...

Babylonian_2

Just thought I'd share this with the forum...
A few months ago I decided to sell some stuff. I decided to use a secondary account to sell rather than my usual one. So in all I would seem to be a newbie to anyone buying my stuff.

Anyway, the sales went well, including one large item which went for a decent price. The buyer of this item (an ebay seller) then got in touch and accused me of firstly selling a fake item and trying to pass it off (wrong) and saying it was damaged (I had thought I had packed it very well, but you never know.... )

I was able to say where I had originally bought the item from and the "fake" issue was never mentioned again and I asked her to return the item and I would refund. The buyer declined to return it saying she didn't want to pay for postage twice and asked me to submit a claim to the carrier for damage, which I did.

The compensation dragged on and on, but this morning the cheque turned up at my house. This evening, I thought I would take a peek at her shop and see if there was anything I needed from there as a goodwill gesture as she had been so patient waiting for the complaint to be sorted.

How amazing - there is my item (absolutely no doubt about it) offered as a "buy it now" at just over twice the price I sold it to her for (not a cheap item anyway!)

I'm convinced that I was targeted because I appeared to be a newbie - I could have felt bullied enough to just send her a cheque from my own pocket - thank goodness I didn't.

So there you have it - a seller who must "buy" high value items and then fake a damage story so they get the items for free - I had told the carrier that the item was damaged beyond repair !

In hindsight I suppose I should have asked her for proof of the damage???

rose_sparky

I think I'd be inclined to message her and say how pleased you are that she managed to find another item the same.

If nothing else, it might make her feel uncomfortable (providing it's the original item of course).

Babylonian_2

LOL! That's very tempting - and it is the same item - she even points out a flaw in the item which was identical to mine...

stolt

yeah thats shocking or send a email advising her that a claim investigator wants her to verify her address to clarify the damage etc. I hate dishonest people esp when they try to rip other people off.

Hintza

stolt wrote:

yeah thats shocking or send a email advising her that a claim investigator wants her to verify her address to clarify the damage etc. I hate dishonest people esp when they try to rip other people off.

I'm with stolt on this one, P+P prices will keep rising with people like this about.

Agutka

She's not very bright either - anyone pulling this stunt would use a different buying account to their selling one.
Excellent idea about the investigator email.

bleugh

:rotfl: why not buy the item off her and claim its a fake.........also that it got damaged in the post

080766

It happened to me nearly the same story. I gave her a refund back. She sold my item about 5 times more expensive. That's my new ebay id. I didn't do anything about it. I just have to be more careful next time never give a refund back before I get my item back. I'm too optimistic.
But it's never happened with the old ,more feedback ebay id.

Babylonian_2

Well, you've all cheered me up anyway...
The bizarre thing is that she told me that an investigator did come round to inspect - I wonder if she had a similar item stashed away for this purpose?

greeneye

Babylonian wrote:

Well, you've all cheered me up anyway...
The bizarre thing is that she told me that an investigator did come round to inspect - I wonder if she had a similar item stashed away for this purpose?

Was this via royal mail or a courier company? And am I right in guessing the item was glass or something similarily fragile?

Also be wary, if item was paid for via paypal she can still open a dispute for item not as described and charge you back.
But she would need to do this within 45 days, so if 45 days haven't elasped yet don't be tempted to let on that you have recieved the cheque , drag it out.
Also if she paid via credit card on her paypal account the time limit she has to chargeback is likely to be longer dependent on her card issuer.

If she was smart (and your suspicions about her having another damaged item to show an investigator are correct) she would have done a chargeback straight away and sent the damaged item back to you.
But considering she listed the item on her own ebay account I'd say she's devious but dim ;+)

Whatever I'd save a copy of her auction page incase this one comes back to haunt you at a later date.

Babylonian_2

Greeneye - I used Parcelforce, about 3 months have passed since the close of the auction too. Am I reading it right that although she can't chargeback via paypal, she may be able to via her creditcard???

The item wasn't fragile either - it was a large, practical product, so robust and not made from (usual) breakable materials. I would have been happy to have had it back - but she refused to send it back to me. In her description she actually says she was the original owner !

Can sks advise how I save a copy of the page please?

I feel very uneasy at having uncovered this.