Are fruitcakes running rampant on eBay lately? Selling, buying, listing, feedback, etc...

[fuzzy_bricks]

What's the protocol for receiving a package that the sender did not pay adequate postage?  USPS wants an extra $26 to give me the package or I can refuse it.  If I refuse it, won't eBay side with the seller since it shows that delivery was refused?

[biking_tiger]

I too have a question about refusing a package--the seller claims to have sent the wrong item and will send the correct one but I should "refuse the package." Does that mean I lose money back guarantee protection? The seller insists he/she will send the correct item--and I should add, this seller has excellent, current feedback as a seller. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by biking_tiger

[minicoopers11]

Lol. Love it when I get these comments.

"Buyer's note: please put in the shipping box instead of plastic bag. cancel the order if u gonna put this in plastic bag"

[minicoopers11]

30 minutes ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

What's the protocol for receiving a package that the sender did not pay adequate postage?  USPS wants an extra $26 to give me the package or I can refuse it.  If I refuse it, won't eBay side with the seller since it shows that delivery was refused?

This is a good question I don't have the answer to. And an unfortunate mistake I've made as a seller...inputting incorrect dimensions and realizing it after the fact. Hopefully I'm not the seller in this case!

[Val-E]

1 minute ago, minicoopers11 said:

This is a good question I don't have the answer to. And an unfortunate mistake I've made as a seller...inputting incorrect dimensions and realizing it after the fact. Hopefully I'm not the seller in this case!

Contact the seller and ask them to pay you the difference before you pay it to the shipper? Paypal for friends works great for stuff like that.

[Darth_Raichu]

53 minutes ago, biking_tiger said:

I too have a question about refusing a package--the seller claims to have sent the wrong item and will send the correct one but I should "refuse the package." Does that mean I lose money back guarantee protection? The seller insists he/she will send the correct item--and I should add, this seller has excellent, current feedback as a seller. 

 

37 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Contact the seller and ask them to pay you the difference before you pay it to the shipper? Paypal for friends works great for stuff like that.

Yes. Just make sure to send the question via eBay message: Purchase History -> Pick your order -> Ask Seller

[scatttcat]

Hi, I am sure this is easy for most of you but I had a question on returns... and I know eBay heavily favors buyer here.

So a customer bought a used set I had up that I very clearly in description said there was only 1/4 minifigs in it. They even acknowledged they didn't read carefully but still feel "misled". Whatever I don't mind returning it, however the return options LITERALLY don't give me an option to have them pay for shipping or even charge my restocking fee...

How do I get around this? My options are attached in pictures below. As I said, I have no problem returning the item and I can even live without charging them the restocking fee... but I really don't want to eat the return shipping too....

I am assuming this is because the buyer chose a certain reason for the return? How has anyone fixed this?

 

[brickvoyeur]

1 minute ago, scatttcat said:

Hi, I am sure this is easy for most of you but I had a question on returns... and I know eBay heavily favors buyer here.

So a customer bought a used set I had up that I very clearly in description said there was only 1/4 minifigs in it. They even acknowledged they didn't read carefully but still feel "misled". Whatever I don't mind returning it, however the return options LITERALLY don't give me an option to have them pay for shipping or even charge my restocking fee...

How do I get around this? My options are attached in pictures below. As I said, I have no problem returning the item and I can even live without charging them the restocking fee... but I really don't want to eat the return shipping too....

I am assuming this is because the buyer chose a certain reason for the return? How has anyone fixed this?

 

Call eBay and get the return reason changed. Likely picked "missing pieces" or "not as described", which puts the return on you.

They can read through your messages and correct it for you. Have had to do it a few times myself.

[ravenb99]

1 hour ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

What's the protocol for receiving a package that the sender did not pay adequate postage?  USPS wants an extra $26 to give me the package or I can refuse it.  If I refuse it, won't eBay side with the seller since it shows that delivery was refused?

it should not as it should also say postage due on that end.  

Don't always assume the post office is right about it either.  Not sure of the exact reason or situation but the shipper may not have done anything incorrectly and it can be a postal error.  They have messed up on stuff like that in the past.  They are supposed to just bill the customers account going forward now anyways which is what they have been rolling out the past few months.  The shipper would either get a notice from paypal if they used that or whatever shipping software they used.

I have had about 2 or 3 in the last decade and there was no postage actually due, it was uninformed postal employees not knowing the difference of some rules for online shipping when they did there random audit at a hub.   

 

[Alpinemaps]

 

1 hour ago, minicoopers11 said:

Lol. Love it when I get these comments.

"Buyer's note: please put in the shipping box instead of plastic bag. cancel the order if u gonna put this in plastic bag"

That buyer has bought from Kmart one too many times.

[fuzzy_bricks]

1 minute ago, ravenb99 said:

it should not as it should also say postage due on that end.  

Don't always assume the post office is right about it either.  Not sure of the exact reason or situation but the shipper may not have done anything incorrectly and it can be a postal error.  They have messed up on stuff like that in the past.  They are supposed to just bill the customers account going forward now anyways which is what they have been rolling out the past few months.  The shipper would either get a notice from paypal if they used that or whatever shipping software they used.

I have had about 2 or 3 in the last decade and there was no postage actually due, it was uninformed postal employees not knowing the difference of some rules for online shipping when they did there random audit at a hub.  

I didn't get into specifics with the delivery person, but she did say it was listed as 3 lbs and the actual weight was 9 lbs.  Considering the size of the package it would have been easy to assume it didn't weigh 3 lbs.  It could have been a dimensional weight issue too.  I just gave the seller the local number to the post office since they have the shipping details.

[mizeur]

It's not often PayPal gives me money before eBay lets me know an item sold.

ETA: I also have a 2.5 month long streak of not receiving any feedback for sales.

Edited October 4, 2017 by mizeur

[Jackson]

From China to you.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Monster-Fighters-Haunted-House-5-sets-total-10228-9461-9462-946-/263244627615?hash=item3d4a9a3e9f:g:l1cAAOSwG4lZ1DVu

[gregpj]

1 hour ago, Jackson said:

From China to you.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Monster-Fighters-Haunted-House-5-sets-total-10228-9461-9462-946-/263244627615?hash=item3d4a9a3e9f:g:l1cAAOSwG4lZ1DVu

 

Quote

Up for auction is Monster Fighter set 10228 box is in good to fair condition. The box has been open to verify that all bags and directions are there. auction also included set 9461 The swamp creature, 9462 The mummy,9463 the Werewolf & 9464 the Vampyre Hease

Well now... I guess the box has been opened to verify that you're getting a complete set of bogus bricks and laser printed instructions. Or maybe the boxes were opened to verify that all bags and instructions were there prior to their removal and the sale of boxes full of junk to you.

PS If you want a laugh, go to the google image search page  https://images.google.com/, click the camera and paste the url of the image to see what google thinks of this auction. I'm pasting the URL below...

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/l1cAAOSwG4lZ1DVu/s-l1600.jpg

 

[Guest TabbyBoy]

On 27/06/2017 at 8:34 PM, John82 said:

I've had a new one today. Brand new ebay user who had 2 postal codes in their address, one located in brentford and the other in East London.

Somehow this passed as a paypal confirmed address, and ebay said they would offer seller protection as long as i send it to the address they confirm in the messaging system.

Luckily the buyer replied straight away and said that it was a fraudulent transaction and not to ship it.

Not sure what to make of this particular con, but how can an address with 2 postal codes be a confirmed address?

 

Even an address with 1 post code that is verified, matches eBay/PayPal can still be a scam. I used to ask for a copy of a utility bill before shipping anything over £100 in value. Genuine buyers never had a problem with that. Having friends who are bailiffs meant I could "send the boys round" if anything got messy. Luckily, this only happened once and the cash was quickly handed over to them without incident. No impact to me as a seller as the buyer was the fraudster and had nothing to do with eBay.

Warning signs:

A BIN set with Best Offer where the set is sold without an offer being made.

A BIN set selling within minutes of listing, especially when it's not the cheapest.

Somebody asking for it to be shipped to a "work" address or untracked as they won't be in to sign for it.

 

You can't rely on addresses, just  make sure you have seller protection. And... even that's not a guarantee! ;-)

I kept asking eBay to use 2-factor authentication (eg. Hardware token or security keys) when a purchase is made to prove that the genuine account holder made the purchase. I never got a reply... funny that!

When I was last on eBay, over 20% of my sales were to scammers. There's no way that I'll ever use eBay again.

[Fenix_2k1]

1 hour ago, TabbyBoy said:

Even an address with 1 post code that is verified, matches eBay/PayPal can still be a scam. I used to ask for a copy of a utility bill before shipping anything over £100 in value. Genuine buyers never had a problem with that. Having friends who are bailiffs meant I could "send the boys round" if anything got messy. Luckily, this only happened once and the cash was quickly handed over to them without incident. No impact to me as a seller as the buyer was the fraudster and had nothing to do with eBay.

Warning signs:

A BIN set with Best Offer where the set is sold without an offer being made.

A BIN set selling within minutes of listing, especially when it's not the cheapest.

Somebody asking for it to be shipped to a "work" address or untracked as they won't be in to sign for it.

 

You can't rely on addresses, just  make sure you have seller protection. And... even that's not a guarantee! ;-)

I kept asking eBay to use 2-factor authentication (eg. Hardware token or security keys) when a purchase is made to prove that the genuine account holder made the purchase. I never got a reply... funny that!

When I was last on eBay, over 20% of my sales were to scammers. There's no way that I'll ever use eBay again.

I have had one experience of the dual postcode scam, but I opted not to send. The reason there's a dual postcode is because if they change the original postcode PayPal would require reverification. The hope of the scammer is that when it goes to the sorting office that they'll resolve it to the new address/postcode not the original postcode.

However I think my fraud attempt rate on ebay is probably less than 1% and I've always caught the fraudster out before sending.

 

[John82]

I've had 3 attempts of that scam altogether, all on £200+ sales. Since removing the next day delivery option on those sets I haven't had anymore attempts.

Luckily i sold my last UCS/large-exclusive yesterday, so i longer have to deal with the larger sets thankfully (except for Technic at 50% off).

Edited October 5, 2017 by John82

[brickvoyeur]

Sold a set to a buyer. Feedback was left "Item arrived quickly and in perfect condition!"

Message arrived from same buyer stating that the item was in great condition, but they thought it was pretty cheap of me to reuse a box and not put their set in a box that was picked up new from the store.  Pretty sure on this order I used a Target shipping box that was in perfect condition. Set wrapped in bubbles and sent on its way.

No reason to respond and upset one of our valued buyers with too much money to blow. But I'll have to hack down a tree next time for a fresh box when I see his username appear. At 400% profit nature will just need to take one for the team. I'll plant a sapling in its memory.

[Captain_chaos]

4 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

Warning signs:

A BIN set with Best Offer where the set is sold without an offer being made.

A BIN set selling within minutes of listing, especially when it's not the cheapest.

Somebody asking for it to be shipped to a "work" address or untracked as they won't be in to sign for it.

I recently shipped a £270 BNIB 6210 to a work address without incident. Sometimes people just want work deliveries so they don't miss them. 

I'd agree that if somebody wanted untracked I'd just cancel the transaction.

[Huskers1236]

1 hour ago, brickvoyeur said:

Sold a set to a buyer. Feedback was left "Item arrived quickly and in perfect condition!"

Message arrived from same buyer stating that the item was in great condition, but they thought it was pretty cheap of me to reuse a box and not put their set in a box that was picked up new from the store.  Pretty sure on this order I used a Target shipping box that was in perfect condition. Set wrapped in bubbles and sent on its way.

No reason to respond and upset one of our valued buyers with too much money to blow. But I'll have to hack down a tree next time for a fresh box when I see his username appear. At 400% profit nature will just need to take one for the team. I'll plant a sapling in its memory.

That's pretty amazing of them to make that comment if you used a nice box.  I re-use Amazon boxes all of the time for shipments and have never heard of someone complaining that I didn't purchase a new box for their delivery.  I guess it would be one thing if you had sent in a box that had been previously beat to hell, but to complain simply because box had a retail logo on it is pretty extreme.  

[Val-E]

3 hours ago, Huskers1236 said:

That's pretty amazing of them to make that comment if you used a nice box.  I re-use Amazon boxes all of the time for shipments and have never heard of someone complaining that I didn't purchase a new box for their delivery.  I guess it would be one thing if you had sent in a box that had been previously beat to hell, but to complain simply because box had a retail logo on it is pretty extreme.  

Maybe they have a fetish about virgin boxes. Sometimes it is better not to ask....

4 hours ago, Captain_chaos said:

I recently shipped a £270 BNIB 6210 to a work address without incident. Sometimes people just want work deliveries so they don't miss them. 

I'd agree that if somebody wanted untracked I'd just cancel the transaction.

So they can use their work address as paypal delivery address then there is no issue. A lot of us do that with Ebay and Amazon as it is good for pick ups too.

[edgecrusher]

Fruitcakes are definitely running rampant on Craigslist. This listing popped up for $2,040 the other day; I don't usually troll people, but I had to find out what was going on here. The sets I was seeing definitely didn't add up to over $2,000 worth of Lego.

Me, via email: Are there other sets not shown in the pictures? Just curious since you’re asking over $2k.

Them: Yes there is a modern house (it's actually a very dusty 31012 Creator Family House) which I am including in pictures with this email.. I am more than willing to break down these Legos into smaller sets and sell them as such. For example, somebody might be interested only in all of the Lego city vehicles and nothing else. We could work something out for specific sets. I was not expecting someone to purchase all of them per se but if someone is interested in purchasing all of the sets here, that would be great.. If you have any further questions please ask and keep in mind that you can get in contact with me much quicker by calling or texting my phone (redacted). Thank you.

Me: Thanks for the follow up. So just to confirm, the asking price is $2,040 for everything shown in the pictures, plus the house you sent me the picture of?

 

I'll let you guys know how this turns out. I'll stay nice, I promise.

[Phil B]

Fruitcakes are definitely running rampant on Craigslist. This listing popped up for $2,040 the other day; I don't usually troll people, but I had to find out what was going on here. The sets I was seeing definitely didn't add up to over $2,000 worth of Lego.
Me, via email: Are there other sets not shown in the pictures? Just curious since you’re asking over $2k.
Them: Yes there is a modern house (it's actually a very dusty 31012 Creator Family House) which I am including in pictures with this email.. I am more than willing to break down these Legos into smaller sets and sell them as such. For example, somebody might be interested only in all of the Lego city vehicles and nothing else. We could work something out for specific sets. I was not expecting someone to purchase all of them per se but if someone is interested in purchasing all of the sets here, that would be great.. If you have any further questions please ask and keep in mind that you can get in contact with me much quicker by calling or texting my phone (redacted). Thank you.
Me: Thanks for the follow up. So just to confirm, the asking price is $2,040 for everything shown in the pictures, plus the house you sent me the picture of?
 
I'll let you guys know how this turns out. I'll stay nice, I promise.

I for one am very interested in finding out more about Norma's Jetske's ... keep us posted.

[Captain_chaos]

28 minutes ago, edgecrusher said:

Fruitcakes are definitely running rampant on Craigslist. This listing popped up for $2,040 the other day; I don't usually troll people, but I had to find out what was going on here. The sets I was seeing definitely didn't add up to over $2,000 worth of Lego.

My guess is that these people have read news articles about certain Lego sets, like Cafe Corner. You know the story, better than gold, get rich, blah blah blah. 

These people then, for some bizarre reason, think that their used Lego city models, covered in drool and teeth marks, must also be hugely valuable because they're Lego, right?

[edgecrusher]

That's what I'm dying to know. Back of the envelope, I'm guessing this is between $200-300 of used built Lego to somebody that really wants it, and probably not remotely worth the time to break down to inventory and resell. It is, overall, a really really boring lot.

Edited October 6, 2017 by edgecrusher