Protecting yourself as a seller

[Scatterbug]

What approaches do people take to protect themselves from unscrupulous buyers who falsely claim minifigs are missing from sealed sets and want a refund? Pop seals, verify and reduce asking price? Can you insist refunds will not be permitted due to missing parts?

[Phil B]

I think there are several things you can do, but largely as insurance, not to prevent false claims.

1) Have a return policy but do not do partial refunds. So yes, you have to pay for shipping in case the buyer does send it back, but now you have the set back (potentially damaged or minus some pieces)

2) Make sure your profit on your sets is big enough that you can handle the occasional loss/scam.

[Fenix_2k1]

If it's a sealed set I'd be tempted to have a disclaimer saying. 

As this is a sealed set as supplied from Lego, any missing parts issues must be taken up with the manufacturer.

I bought a BNIB 75054 at the start of the year off ebay and there was a part missing but that's the risk you take buying a BNIB set. At no point did I expect the seller to resolve the issue, it's Lego's quality control that caused the problem. 

Edited March 21, 2016 by Fenix_2k1

[MagicShop]

TBH i had 1 guy that thried to do that with me. In the 1st instance ebay gave him the refund but i was able to appeal and got my refund back. But i had to do i dont know how many calls to ebay. I was about to lose the set and the fees to ebay/paypal...

[Scatterbug]

So what information did you provide eBay to win your appeal? How will you protect yourself with future sales?

[MagicShop]

I got lucky because he asked for parts that the set dindt have
But otherwise i dont think that i would be lucky

 

[Fcbarcelona101]

1 hour ago, Scatterbug said:

What approaches do people take to protect themselves from unscrupulous buyers who falsely claim minifigs are missing from sealed sets and want a refund? Pop seals, verify and reduce asking price? Can you insist refunds will not be permitted due to missing parts?

Opening a set doesn't necesarilly reduce its value as long as the bags are still sealed. However, verifying it before shipping would not do any good either (other than giving the seller 100% confirmation that it's all in there) as buyer protection tends to take the buyers word as true almost 100% of the time...

[sunkenbrick]

6 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

If it's a sealed set I'd be tempted to have a disclaimer saying. 

As this is a sealed set as supplied from Lego, any missing parts issues must be taken up with the manufacturer.

I bought a BNIB 75054 at the start of the year off ebay and there was a part missing but that's the risk you take buying a BNIB set. At no point did I expect the seller to resolve the issue, it's Lego's quality control that caused the problem. 

This reminds me of one case that was posted on the ebay section. Seller did what you have suggested and after a month the customer left negative feedback and ebay sided with the customer. My two options would be:

1) I would contact Lego and ask for the missing part(s) and once received send to the customer. ( time consuming and customer might get frustrated).

2) Offer a full refund. No partials. If you do partial you're giving money away without proof the parts were missing.

at the end of the day there is no way to protect yourself 100% you can only minimize your losses.

 

[ISO8T0]

Take good pictures of the seals. The pictures will be proof that the item was sealed when sold. eBay will take your side if you have a well documented item.

 

 

[biniou]

On ebay, use the "make on offer" option and refuse to sell to buyers with a bad profile.

[Sandwraith]

Pictures. Pictures of everything! Every angle, the item being boxed up, sitting on the counter at the post office, etc etc.

[Scatterbug]

Thanks for all the responses. Lots of photos as evidence and a disclaimer is the way to go I think (plus avoiding eBay where possible). Lego should help resolve any 'missing' pieces from a set that isn't too old. I doubt they would supply mini figures however.

[lodibricks]

Some "store return" thieves are getting better and better at hiding the tampering though, so it's possible we sell a "sealed" set that already had the minifigs stolen.

I try my best to inspect seals, weigh, etc, but I know some day, one of my buyer's is bound to get a tampered set I was sure was sealed/untouched. Then it's the honor system whether the eBay buyer stole them or someone before being in our hands.

[firos]

Check the weight of the set to see if it is consistent with the online information (bricklink/brickset).

[Scatterbug]

Surely there is too much variation to use weight as an indicator of missing mini figures? If the weight is significantly different to the online guides, fair enough. But I don't think it helps otherwise.

[gregpj]

29 minutes ago, Scatterbug said:

Surely there is too much variation to use weight as an indicator of missing mini figures? If the weight is significantly different to the online guides, fair enough. But I don't think it helps otherwise.

With an accurate scale, you can make an educated guess if minifigs are missing especially if you have two or more sets from the same source that have been stored in the same space for the same amount of time. The cardboard from the LEGO box can absorb moisture over time (and instructions to a lesser degree being inside the box), causing differences, but the rest of the LEGO set should in fact be very close. If a set has more than one minifig, the differences will be even greater and most thieves won't take the time to add a few random bits of LEGO back to the back to ensure the weights are back to "normal" before sealing it up.

[biniou]

15 hours ago, Sandwraith said:

Pictures. Pictures of everything! Every angle, the item being boxed up, sitting on the counter at the post office, etc etc.

You can take as many pictures as you want, it'll just prove that you did own the set, not that you have not sent a box full of rocks. ^^

[Sandwraith]

2 hours ago, biniou said:

You can take as many pictures as you want, it'll just prove that you did own the set, not that you have not sent a box full of rocks. ^^

Exactly, sad but true.

[KShine]

eBay/Paypal seller protection = The inevitable reality of helplessness.