Being Scammed by Buyer (I think)

moneysavvy35

please help with some advice. my son sold a pair of trainers for £750. Everything as described. My son sent the trainers next day delivery. Now the buyer, has sent a picture of the box ripped stating that he does not want to accept the trainers. The box was in pristine condition when sent (have pics to prove) and I believe the box was ripped on purpose as no other damage has been done (as in partially flatened in transit etc).

Now he is saying he wants my son to send him £5 to get the trainers sent back to him. I just think this is a scam, and I'm not sure what to do. I actually believe he may be trying to swap them for a fake pair or something, I really dont know what his game could be??? My son paid for the postage out of his own money. buyer is saying once he gets the £5 he will return the boots.

The guy is saying you better do what I say as if I file through paypal - i'll win anyway. Can you guys offer any guidance please

forgotmyname

As the buyer says, you dont get a choice on whether to pay for the return.

The goods arrived damaged and they will win, you should still get them to open a case though. They may do this to many sellers.

If you sent them in the standard box then it may have been inadequate, the buyer may have wanted a pristine box, not a crushed one.

Double box everything expensive, if you cannot sit on the box then wonder how its going to cope with heavier boxes stacked on top of it.

When its loaded onto the van its not a case of this is light it goes on top, its a case of this ones last so its at the bottom. The box above could be a 20kg set of weights. with more above that.

moneysavvy35

hi..thanks for your reply. good advice re getting them to open the dispute anyway. the box has not been squashed or crushed in anyway. it's just has a simple tear in the box which was not there before.

I really think he may try to swap the trainers as he clearly has 'ripped the box' or maybe he just dosent want them anymore and has decided on this silly reason to request the refund. (money has not actually been recieved - a hold was put on the account' even if that was the case my son would have been disapointed but would have accepted the situation. ((sigh))

Thank you for your advice....

theonlywayisup

Can I ask how he sold them, I can't see it in your OP. Was this an eBay sale or somewhere else?

How did you son send them, what service did he use?

If the buyer opens a dispute on Paypal the BUYER will be forced to pay for the return. You could direct the buyer to the below link, which will allow Paypal to contribute £15 towards the postage cost.

Edit - to add link.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns

moneysavvy35

Thanks for the link. He paid via PayPal. they were sold through eBay. what can he do..if maybe he is a fraud an returns fake trainers or tries to damage them out of spite? and if he files a dispute will he automatically win?

sham63

I would not have thought £5 would be enough to send an item worth £750 anyway?

RoyaleMale

What's the buyers feedback like. For me the scammers I have encountered usually have low feedback.

Did your son use an outer box for the trainers, if he didn't it's possible the buyer may have inadvertently ripped the box while opening it unaware there was no outer box. Though if you're buying £750 trainers you'd be extra cautious when opening any such package.

Also possible it could have got torn during transport by any number of the handlers or drivers, trainer boxes can be quite flimsy.

Brywalker

I've been living in the dark ages. I honestly thought it was a typo when I saw 'sold a pair of trainers for £750'! Having now checked on ebay there are loads of people selling used trainers for hundreds of pounds.

I find it incredible that anyone would pay such amounts for blimin' trainers!!
Is it me?

theonlywayisup

moneysavvy35 wrote: »

Thanks for the link. He paid via PayPal. they were sold through eBay. what can he do..if maybe he is a fraud an returns fake trainers or tries to damage them out of spite? and if he files a dispute will he automatically win?

As suggested above, do not do anything other than offer the return and wait for the buyer to open a case.

There's not a lot your son can do in terms of knowing if there is a scam in the waiting until the item arrives back.

askmeaboutsofas

Tell them to open a return request through eBay, copy and paste the eBay instructions on how to do so (https://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/return-item.html) and tell them that you'll accept the return and eBay will generate a returns label for them so they can return them for free.
Then tell them that because the trainers are such high value they have been marked with a unique stock code in UV, and as soon as you get the trainers back and you've checked the stock code matches you will issue their refund right away. And ask them for any additional photos they might have so that you can send them to the parcel company, as you'll be claiming from the delivery company for the damage.




That's what we do any time we get a return. People with legitimate problems will follow the process, send the return and often will provide evidence to help you get your money back from the delivery company. But, many of the sketchy buyers who wanted to return something they bought elsewhere will think twice, as your mysterious UV stock code will not be present on the fake and/or broken garbage they're going to send you. It doesn't guarantee they won't do it, but it helps to gently discourage them.


brywalker - I don't own any £750 trainers (or shoes for that matter lol) but some of them are collectors items, especially some of the limited edition / older ones from the 80s and 90s.

theonlywayisup

askmeaboutsofas wrote: »

Tell them to open a return request through eBay, copy and paste the eBay instructions on how to do so (https://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/return-item.html) and tell them that you'll accept the return and eBay will generate a returns label for them so they can return them for free.

It will be cheaper for the OP if the buyer opens a Paypal case - that's what the buyer has seemed to infer they will do in the OP.

askmeaboutsofas wrote: »

Then tell them that because the trainers are such high value they have been marked with a unique stock code in UV, and as soon as you get the trainers back and you've checked the stock code matches you will issue their refund right away.

Do you know how Paypal and eBay returns cases for SNAD work?