I recently began selling again on ebay. In the course of three days, I have been met with 2 scams.
The first is from a lady who bought an item for $0.99 and flat rate shipping of $10. I added in some 'freebies' as a thank you. She has now accused me of increasing the shipping weight by adding the freebies. Understand, this was flat rate shipping & it actually cost me $12 to ship. Now she is holding her 'rating' hostage, until I tell her not to pay for it.
The second is much worse. I sold a turbo for $800. The buyer had no previous buying experience on ebay. He has now placed the transaction through Paypal on hold. He states that he didn't receive the item as described.
In both cases I fear I will lose. The first is only out $11, the second I cannot afford. ebay is siding with the buyers in both cases. This is a clear case of the tail wagging the dog.
I am venting but I am also using this to warn everyone out there about the dangers of selling on ebay. Here is an excerpt from another blog by Joel Lee:
The Scam: In this Ebay scam, everything goes according to plan. You put up an item for sale, a buyer bids on it (or Buys It Now if you
allowed it), you receive payment, you send the item, done! However, before he bought your item, he also bought a broken version of the same exact item. They use this to blackmail you into giving them a full refund or else they’ll report you to eBay.
How It Gets You: When something like this happens, it’s easy to feel helpless. You feel like they outsmarted you, you have no evidence that your item was functional, you can’t prove that they’re lying. In order to mitigate your losses, you agree to the full refund and move on while the scammer just got a free item from you.
How to Avoid It: Sadly, this scam is a little harder to avoid. You have two options. One, you can require your buyers to purchase
shipping insurance to protect yourself against this kind of thing. Two, you can state on your eBay listings that there are NO REFUNDS on your items.
(You can read more here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ebay-scams-to-be-aware-of/
The first is from a lady who bought an item for $0.99 and flat rate shipping of $10. I added in some 'freebies' as a thank you. She has now accused me of increasing the shipping weight by adding the freebies. Understand, this was flat rate shipping & it actually cost me $12 to ship. Now she is holding her 'rating' hostage, until I tell her not to pay for it.
The second is much worse. I sold a turbo for $800. The buyer had no previous buying experience on ebay. He has now placed the transaction through Paypal on hold. He states that he didn't receive the item as described.
In both cases I fear I will lose. The first is only out $11, the second I cannot afford. ebay is siding with the buyers in both cases. This is a clear case of the tail wagging the dog.
I am venting but I am also using this to warn everyone out there about the dangers of selling on ebay. Here is an excerpt from another blog by Joel Lee:
The Scam: In this Ebay scam, everything goes according to plan. You put up an item for sale, a buyer bids on it (or Buys It Now if you
allowed it), you receive payment, you send the item, done! However, before he bought your item, he also bought a broken version of the same exact item. They use this to blackmail you into giving them a full refund or else they’ll report you to eBay.
How It Gets You: When something like this happens, it’s easy to feel helpless. You feel like they outsmarted you, you have no evidence that your item was functional, you can’t prove that they’re lying. In order to mitigate your losses, you agree to the full refund and move on while the scammer just got a free item from you.
How to Avoid It: Sadly, this scam is a little harder to avoid. You have two options. One, you can require your buyers to purchase
shipping insurance to protect yourself against this kind of thing. Two, you can state on your eBay listings that there are NO REFUNDS on your items.
(You can read more here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ebay-scams-to-be-aware-of/
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