Crime pays on ebay

Holeypockets

A fortnight ago I sold some items on ebay. Amongst them were a pair of shoes I had only warn once so were in excellent condition. The shoes were snapped up early after a buy-it-now request from one of the watchers.

He paid up straight away and I packed the shoes up and sent them off without delay.

A couple of days later I get an email from the buyer saying he is not happy with my shoes because they were 'coming apart' and he wanted a refund. I knew the shoes were in perfect condition when I sold them but apologised to the buyer and said I would refund him in full upon return of the shoes.

He then said he needs the funds to return the shoes upfront too because he has no spare cash. To this I said I would be happy to refund his return postage costs AFTER I recieve the shoes back. He again demanded the money up front and then opened a case against me and left me my first ever negative feedback.

I reported him to ebay and left his a negative commend albeit on a positive feedback score (stupid system). I told ebay that he was a scammer and refused to return the item. Also looking at his feedback he has duped other sellers like this.

Anyway, one week later and ebay have now just closed the case by giving him a full refund of this £10.

They have also removed teh feedbacks

So he has my perfectly good shoes, and the £10 he should have paid for them.

How is this fair?

What can I do about it?

Ebay are an accessory to theft in the eyes of the law are they not?

I am a bit p1ssed off right now and feel like closing my ebay account - however, I find it useful and would rather get this resolved.

mikey72

Did they debit your account by the £10, or have ebay paid him?

And you can't abuse the feedback system. Tit for tat feedback was prohibited for this very reason.

Crowqueen

Check your Paypal account, this sounds like a no-fault refund and you might not even have lost the money.

You were pretty stupid to have left them the feedback, as your account will now have a mark against them. The system may or may not be silly but civil disobedience is sometimes even sillier as it puts you in the wrong too now.

I would have sent him the postage cost to return them if he wasn't happy with them and refunded in full when I got them back. Although you could stand your ground on change of mind returns, it's practically a bit pointless as sometimes to win a dispute the buyer will intentionally damage them, so you get them back in a state you can't sell on to recover your costs.

Also they might have been damaged in the post as well; you don't really know what happens to some things in the post these days.

vax2002

I sold a printer the buyer pulled the same stunt and did not return the item, so I drove down to his house and thumped on his door at 6.oclock in the morning , he soon gave me the printer back when he had a few choice words about what will happen within 1 minute if he doesn't. He said I am calling the police I replied, no mate call the Ambulance first, you only have 30 seconds left, he appeared quick sharp with the printer boxed up.
The fault he claimed was bogus and I knew it , it cost a few quid in fuel, but U bet he thinks twice next time, at least I got the printer back, but when I got home the box had a name and address post to stuck on it, cheeky sod had re-sold it on e.bay on another account.
It is a thief's paradise

Holeypockets

I thought the feedback system was just for leaving feedback on a transaction. If negative comments were allowed by sellers I would not have dealt with this buyer. He has done the same thing to many selers by the looks of his feedback profile - there are a lot of negative comments yet his feedback score is 100%. He is doing the same thing over and over - complaining about goods, asking for a refund and return postal charges - but her never returns the item - just keeps the goods, the refund and the postal charges if they have been offered too.

ebay told me not to refund him unless he returns the goods by recorded delivery. He never returned anything and yet he still gets his £10 refunded by paypal. It's one big racket.

mikey72

vax2002 wrote: »

I sold a printer the buyer pulled the same stunt and did not return the item, so I drove down to his house and thumped on his door at 6.oclock in the morning , he soon gave me the printer back when he had a few choice words about what will happen within 1 minute if he doesn't. He said I am calling the police I replied, no mate call the Ambulance first, you only have 30 seconds left, he appeared quick sharp with the printer boxed up.
The fault he claimed was bogus and I knew it , it cost a few quid in fuel, but U bet he thinks twice next time, at least I got the printer back, but when I got home the box had a name and address post to stuck on it, cheeky sod had re-sold it on e.bay on another account.
It is a thief's paradise

I like it, but you're right, I would have called the ambulance first if you woke me at 6 in the morning, then the police could have had you in A&E.

mikey72

Holeypockets wrote: »

I thought the feedback system was just for leaving feedback on a transaction. If negative comments were allowed by sellers I would not have dealt with this buyer. He has done the same thing to many selers by the looks of his feedback profile - there are a lot of negative comments yet his feedback score is 100%. He is doing the same thing over and over - complaining about goods, asking for a refund and return postal charges - but her never returns the item - just keeps the goods, the refund and the postal charges if they have been offered too.

ebay told me not to refund him unless he returns the goods by recorded delivery. He never returned anything and yet he still gets his £10 refunded by paypal. It's one big racket.

So you haven't refunded the money, you've still got the payment and the original postage for it?

vax2002

mikey72 wrote: »

I like it, but you're right, I would have called the ambulance first if you woke me at 6 in the morning, then the police could have had you in A&E.

:rotfl:...............................

custardy

Holeypockets wrote: »

I thought the feedback system was just for leaving feedback on a transaction. If negative comments were allowed by sellers I would not have dealt with this buyer. He has done the same thing to many selers by the looks of his feedback profile - there are a lot of negative comments yet his feedback score is 100%. He is doing the same thing over and over - complaining about goods, asking for a refund and return postal charges - but her never returns the item - just keeps the goods, the refund and the postal charges if they have been offered too.

ebay told me not to refund him unless he returns the goods by recorded delivery. He never returned anything and yet he still gets his £10 refunded by paypal. It's one big racket.

it was changed because when a buyer left a deserved neg
they got a neg back from the seller
so buyers werent leaving negs to avoid the neg

soolin

I suspect the false negative assisted ebay in finding for the buyer. Ebay dislike any one playing outside their rules, it's the same as sellers who use false tracking to 'prove' an item was dleivered, they get the case decided against them immediately as well.

techspec

soolin wrote: »

I suspect the false negative assisted ebay in finding for the buyer. Ebay dislike any one playing outside their rules, it's the same as sellers who use false tracking to 'prove' an item was dleivered, they get the case decided against them immediately as well.

I think the false positive helped him - and thats why Ebay had to remove BOTH feedbacks (its their policy if removing one to remove the other). This meant his negative was removed, which was a bonus.