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

[LegoBro]

So item gets delivered on the 12th to a confirmed address. A week later buyer contacts paypal and says it was an unauthorized purchase. I upload tracking with delivery confirmation. Haven't heard anything on ebay from the buyer. Am I out of luck here?

[Val-E]

11 minutes ago, LegoBro said:

So item gets delivered on the 12th to a confirmed address. A week later buyer contacts paypal and says it was an unauthorized purchase. I upload tracking with delivery confirmation. Haven't heard anything on ebay from the buyer. Am I out of luck here?

Seller protection has your back if you have proof of shipment. Call EBAY customer service in any case to speed things up if they have taken back the money already.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I find that the quickest way to get help from eBay UK is via chat which is an option at the bottom of this page:

https://ocsnext.ebay.co.uk/ocs/cusr?query=166&levelHierarchy=3a6a3

I used it just now to chase up a FVF refund from a non-paying cretin buyer. I was refunded immediately. Chat is good as you get emailed the transcript in case things do get messy and it's useful for sending to PayPal to fight chargebacks.

[RunMan3]

6 hours ago, Captain_chaos said:

Could be spam or could be a mistake. I've listed a Star Wars set with 'Lego Harry Potter' in the title instead, when I used sell similar to save time. 

Yeah I understand that mistakes happen as I have made my share but just seems really strange to me so many on the 40139 Gingerbread House 2015 limited edition.

[RunMan3]

5 hours ago, Captain_chaos said:

Try a search for 10182 or 10185. Enough to make you want to scream.

It seems to me eBay should be able to detect if someone enters a item number in their title that does not match the MPN and flag it or something. I'm sure any of us make a mistake on occasion but seems like it is happening away too much.

[RunMan3]

7 hours ago, richieh69 said:

Is the general consensus then that if the Paypal and Ebay account details match, its a genuine sale? In a "hacked ebay scenario" part mean the ebay address could be the wrong one, but the paypal account is the correct one, as they can update the eBay account to the wrong address, but they can't update the Paypal one?

I'm rather paranoid after the last 3 being hacked accounts, I sold one on Saturday. Paypal and Ebay account details match exactly, paypal address verified, I emailed the guy and he responded back fairly quickly confirming it was a genuine sale - although I did realise, asking someone to confirm that doesn't mean anything.

A couple of weeks ago I received payment for a Simpson's House. All looked OK to me so I packaged it and was at FedEx ready to drop it off and got a message from eBay saying it was a fraud case and to not ship or if I had shipped to check with shipper if I could intercept it and have it returned. I also received an email from the supposed buyer that he had not placed the order. So I replied to him saying I had it packaged and was ready to ship but hadn't because of the message I had received from eBay about it being a fraud buyer. Then a little letter I get another message, supposedly from the buyer, stating that his brother had actually used his account to make the purchase for his son so please go ahead and ship it. So at that point I had no idea if I was communicating with the correct account owner or the scammer. So I just told them I was sorry but until eBay got it worked out and let me know if OK to ship I was keeping it.

One crazy world we live in if you ask me. I don't remember anyone asking but that's my 2 cents worth anyway. LOL

[RunMan3]

2 hours ago, KShine said:

Before you start reporting people, it is best to verify whether there is clear intent involved.

Sometimes ebay will fill in the blanks (incorrectly), other times they simply respond to searches with something that they find to be similar/related (often times wrong).

Yes, the bad ones should be reported/stopped/punished, but not the honest sellers that somehow fell into the same basket (without intent).

I agree. Not looking to blackball anyone or cause them a lot of trouble but just like to have them correct their mistake so we can both move on. I have contacted a few sellers about such. Most seem to be thankful you let them know as I would be. However in this case there are so many it would take hours to send messages to all of them.

[Darth_Raichu]

8 minutes ago, RunMan3 said:

I agree. Not looking to blackball anyone or cause them a lot of trouble but just like to have them correct their mistake so we can both move on. I have contacted a few sellers about such. Most seem to be thankful you let them know as I would be. However in this case there are so many it would take hours to send messages to all of them.

eBay is supposedly making this manipulation harder to do.   But like anything on eBay (except fees), this update will take time to reach all of their servers

[MoHu]

4 hours ago, LegoBro said:

So item gets delivered on the 12th to a confirmed address. A week later buyer contacts paypal and says it was an unauthorized purchase. I upload tracking with delivery confirmation. Haven't heard anything on ebay from the buyer. Am I out of luck here?

Your money will be "on hold" until they resolve the situation which will take a couple of weeks.  After that, you'll get your money as you've delivered as addressed.  

eBay dont even get involved but make sure you get your FVF back as well as any insertion fee

[LegoBro]

Your money will be "on hold" until they resolve the situation which will take a couple of weeks.  After that, you'll get your money as you've delivered as addressed.  

eBay dont even get involved but make sure you get your FVF back as well as any insertion fee

I called paypal. They released the funds right away since the item was shipped and delivered to the confirmed address. The rep said they take out of their end as part of the seller protection policy. I've had a few cancellations luckily before I shipped the item the past few weeks. The paypal rep said if I send it to a confirmed address after payment and it gets delivered I'm covered. Not sure how concrete that is.

[ravenb99]

3 minutes ago, LegoBro said:

 

I called paypal. They released the funds right away since the item was shipped and delivered to the confirmed address. The rep said they take out of their end as part of the seller protection policy. I've had a few cancellations luckily before I shipped the item the past few weeks. The paypal rep said if I send it to a confirmed address after payment and it gets delivered I'm covered. Not sure how concrete that is.

 

it is very concrete

[Darth_Raichu]

I got a few unauthorized purchase cases opened via Paypal on $300+ sets in the past 2-3 days.  The cancellation request came a few hours after purchase supposed to happen. 

Not sure if this were scammers / hacked accounts or just a few buyers who changed their minds. 

I delay shipping as long as I can because refunding is easier and faster than waiting for Paypal deciding on delivered packages. 

Just be careful out there.

[carini26]

So I have one buyer who continues to purchase my 41173 Elves sets and sends new, confirmed shipping addresses with instructions not to include any receipts, invoices, etc.  Am I working with a dropshipper?  I am not even close to the lowest price.  

[fuzzy_bricks]

4 minutes ago, carini26 said:

So I have one buyer who continues to purchase my 41173 Elves sets and sends new, confirmed shipping addresses with instructions not to include any receipts, invoices, etc.  Am I working with a dropshipper?  I am not even close to the lowest price.  

Yes, most likely a dropshipper.

I've always wondered what one of these buyers would do if their buyer wanted to do a return.  Would they try and return to the original seller or just eat it.  Some of their feedback numbers are pretty high so I can imagine the volume being large enough that it's not worth trying to sort that out.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

22 hours ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I got a few unauthorized purchase cases opened via Paypal on $300+ sets in the past 2-3 days.  The cancellation request came a few hours after purchase supposed to happen. 

Not sure if this were scammers / hacked accounts or just a few buyers who changed their minds. 

I delay shipping as long as I can because refunding is easier and faster than waiting for Paypal deciding on delivered packages. 

Just be careful out there.

100% of my fraudulent purchases were with hacked accounts and all were for £150+ sets which I no longer sell on eBay... at this time. I occasionally get the request to post to a different address as it's a "present" so I refuse even though it may be a genuine buyer (rather than dropshipper) wanting save paying for postage twice?

As and when I do sell expensive sets, I will insist on a current utility bill from the buyer at time of payment. Firstname, lastname and address MUST match or sale is cancelled. Genuine buyers won't have a problem.

Remember that chargebacks can occur months after the sale.

Account holders should be liable to some degree if they are too lazy or careless to check their accounts or change passwords regularly.

 

[minicoopers11]

3 hours ago, carini26 said:

So I have one buyer who continues to purchase my 41173 Elves sets and sends new, confirmed shipping addresses with instructions not to include any receipts, invoices, etc.  Am I working with a dropshipper?  I am not even close to the lowest price.  

Dropshipper. Money is money.

[dmc]

Sold a $300 statue to a buyer in Canada. He messages me after purchase asking me to indicate on the customs forms that it's a gift and only worth a $100. I tell him I can't do that. He whines to me about how much my refusing to commit customs fraud will cost him. I cancel and refund. He has messaged me 8 times alternating between begging me to sell him the statue and whining about what a jerk I am. Sigh.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

2 hours ago, dmc said:

Sold a $300 statue to a buyer in Canada. He messages me after purchase asking me to indicate on the customs forms that it's a gift and only worth a $100. I tell him I can't do that. He whines to me about how much my refusing to commit customs fraud will cost him. I cancel and refund. He has messaged me 8 times alternating between begging me to sell him the statue and whining about what a jerk I am. Sigh.

Report him to eBay/Amazon or whatever platform you used and block him. If you want to get nasty, send his details to the Canadian tax authorities and copy him in!

[Darth_Raichu]

16 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

As and when I do sell expensive sets, I will insist on a current utility bill from the buyer at time of payment. Firstname, lastname and address MUST match or sale is cancelled. Genuine buyers won't have a problem.

This is impossible to force via Paypal/Amazon

16 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

Account holders should be liable to some degree if they are too lazy or careless to check their accounts or change passwords regularly.

Amazon or eBay is not going to risk losing customers over this 

14 hours ago, minicoopers11 said:

Dropshipper. Money is money.

I'd cut the middleman act and compete directly with the dropshipper

[Guest TabbyBoy]

48 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

This is impossible to force via Paypal/Amazon

I know, it's not a legal obligation, but it helps your case with eBay if you've taken extra steps to verify that the sale if genuine. The last 33 genuine customers in a row all sent me additional details without question ;-)

49 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Amazon or eBay is not going to risk losing customers over this

Yes they are! They lost me as a large scale Business Seller last year and I was a much bigger customer than the average Power Seller. eBay need to realise that it's the sellers that pay (through the nose) for their wages, not the buyers ;-) I dumped Amazon years ago, never again!

Buying is free on eBay and open to abuse as witnessed by all of us.

[Darth_Raichu]

9 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

eBay need to realise that it's the sellers that pay (through the nose) for their wages, not the buyers ;-)

eBay used to understand this, but in the past 4-5 years they have been obsessed with trying to become like Amazon.  They are just beginning to realize (again) that unlike Amzn, without the sellers they have 0, zip, nada

[Phil B]

This might offer a glimmer of hope for European EBay sellers:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-paypal-hldg-court-germany/paypal-purchase-protection-doesnt-shield-from-lawsuits-german-court-idUSKBN1DM22W

But the court said on Wednesday that the sellers still had a right to pursue payment of the purchase price, even after money had been refunded, because PayPal’s policies stated that its purchase protection scheme did not affect the contractual rights of the buyer and seller.

It also said that PayPal’s purchase protection only involved a “simplified test” that could not ensure the interests of both parties were sufficiently met.

[John82]

Has anyone in the UK had the GALINA P****A address today?

I swear 1 in every 2 Millennium Falcon sales is to a fraudulent address.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

1 hour ago, John82 said:

Has anyone in the UK had the GALINA P****A address today?

I swear 1 in every 2 Millennium Falcon sales is to a fraudulent address.

I'm really surprised that so many people take the huge risk of posting these via eBay. I'd wait until the price goes sky high again and then arrange to meet the buyer with cash only. Of course, have somebody with you ;-)

[MarleyMoose]

5 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

I'm really surprised that so many people take the huge risk of posting these via eBay. I'd wait until the price goes sky high again and then arrange to meet the buyer with cash only. Of course, have somebody with you ;-)

I bring Lily my Pittie.