Buyer Fraud – Sellers Beware – Ebay Won’t Help

[thebootking]

I have been the victim of a buyer fraud and Ebay say it is not covered by Seller protection

In February 2024 I sold a £4000 Computer part I decided not to use to a buyer who had joined ebay one month before – zero feedback. I discounted the part from £4500 to £4000 to close the deal, he paid, I shipped the part to him by Royal Mail tracked insured service and on the Royal Mail tracking service there is a photo of him signing for the part at his door with his details displayed on the parcel. Ebay have a copy of this photo. Just to clarify he has never said he has not received the part, he has never questioned the condition of the part or the fact that it is the correct part that he bought. The buyer then messaged me asking for a further discount or he would like to return it, I had sold it with a no return policy and explained this and also stated that I could not retrospectively discount it any more. He then contacted Ebay saying he wanted to return it, Ebay opened a case, looked at the details and closed the case in my favour as I had followed ebay’s policies and the sale was conducted correctly. In March 2024 another case was opened by Ebay, saying that an outside financial institution had requested a refund of the full £4000 and until this was resolved my selling account funds would be on hold. I sent details to ebay showing the buyer had received the product correctly and suggested this was a fraud to get the product for nothing and I presume Ebay sent that information to the financial institution. This week Ebay messaged me to say the case had been decided in the buyers favour and that I needed to pay £4000 to ‘refund’ the sale. I contacted customer services to appeal and had a long chat with a service representative who said ebay could do nothing as the claim had come from the buyers funding source through paypal and they were powerless to do anything. I pointed out the buyer still had the part and the agent suggested I contact him to ask for it back – I have done this through messages  but have received no reply. Next week ebay want £4000 from me – bare in mind they took c£500 commission on the sale. So I would be £4500 out of pocket. The agent took my comments seriously and Ebay translated the ‘chat’ to a complaint, and within a few hours ebay responded saying they have followed their policies, refunded me £14 ‘dispute’ but they could do nothing. It has been suggested I contact the financial ombudsman if I am not happy, I will but on their website it says it can take them 6 months to reply. I am also going to contact the Police fraud hotline on Monday but that takes 28 days to get a response. So I lose £4500 to a scammer?  How can this be? Has anyone else fallen foul of a situation like this?

[crash_salvage_repair]

GO AWAY, what ever way u put it ive saved £50k+  frm that legal advice simple

[023kezza7]

Mate. Iv just been done for 1130 quid by a buyer doing a charge back 3 months after the sale of my item. I missed the disput me messages as I don’t sit on eBay 3 months later just incase I have a random dispute.  Now have debt collectors coming after me for the money. 

I sold a brand new iPhone. Posted it special delivery next day signed for. The seller then did a chargeback saying they didn’t recognise the transaction. EBay say they can’t do anything.  It’s ridiculous and I will never use eBay again and neither will a lot of people I know. *bleep* platform and *bleep* customer service.  Hopefully it’s a thing playform that disappear soon 

[*vyolla*]

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@023kezza7 wrote:

Mate. Iv just been done for 1130 quid by a buyer doing a charge back 3 months after the sale of my item. I missed the disput me messages as I don’t sit on eBay 3 months later just incase I have a random dispute.  Now have debt collectors coming after me for the money. 

I sold a brand new iPhone. Posted it special delivery next day signed for. The seller then did a chargeback saying they didn’t recognise the transaction. EBay say they can’t do anything.  It’s ridiculous and I will never use eBay again and neither will a lot of people I know. *bleep* platform and *bleep* customer service.  Hopefully it’s a thing playform that disappear soon 

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If you added the tracking number showing delivery to the order at the time you sent it (or shortly after), and the tracking number shows delivery to the address on the order details, then you are protected from an unauthorised charge claim.

You need a signature as the item is over £450, but RM Special Delivery would have required that.

See this eBay guidance page where it explains that you should be covered in the scenario you're describing:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/payment-dispute-seller-protections?id=5293&st=...

Now that it's gone to debt collectors there isn't much you can do via eBay, but what happened with the Special Delivery tracking?

[thebootking]

Hi long time no posting since the original and one update.

I beg to differ one one point "If you added the tracking number showing delivery to the order at the time you sent it (or shortly after), and the tracking number shows delivery to the address on the order details, then you are protected from an unauthorised charge claim."

I had/have a photo of the buyer receiving the item I sold in his hand from RM Special delivery service and the buyer never disputed he had had the item and when he contacted Ebay to try and cancel the transaction they sided with me and closed the case in my favour in a few hours as I had the proof of delivery to the buyer. However when the buyer contacted his CC company and disputed the transaction they gave him his money back and Paypal claimed it from Ebay and Ebay claimed it from me. I was not covered. Ebay admitted they could see the buyer had been delivered the item, the buyer never disputed he had the item, but Ebay claimed they could do nothing as he had contacted an outside institution beyond their control and wahtever he had told them they either did not know or would not tell me and they could do nothing. They advised asking the buyer for the item back - I did and ultimately he would not give it back. then he disappeared. So in my experience you are NOT covered if the buyer contacts their CC company and makes a charge back claim. Ebay won't help and certainly do not return the money. Maybe policies have changed in 16 months but last May I lost £4000 from this transaction and it has never / will never be recovered. And Ebay would not help (they did refund my sellers fees) for the net sale amount. 

So what is stated will happen in these transactions and what actually happens are not the same in any way. As I found out. 

[papso22]

You said your buyer's claim with the financial institution was for 'not as described', there is not ebay protection for those.

*vyolla* was talking about unauthorised transaction claims, where tracking gives protection, as it does for item not received chargebacks.

[thebootking]

That is correct but it was a specific CPU of a specific type. It was of course as described 100% but what he told the CC was not as described - Ebay had already sided with me what he tried it on with Ebay.  But you are right - that's where the loophole is for buyers who know. And Ebay don't cover that.

I am coming back to this after 12 months but you are right 100% - that's why I lost the money. Very frustrating!

Thanks though 🙂

[crash_salvage_repair]

matey why on earth did u send with royalmail for?

you should of sent it ups or dhl express as dhl express would of xrayed it and then on delivery got address match with id requirement, and you have ebay seller protection even if chargeback was done after 5 months you are still covered

only other option for you  is to drag the buyer to small claims court for fraud and see what they have to say in front a judge, moneyclaimonline , u have 6 yrs to make a claim 

costs £25quid 

as if ebay gave u sellers address and it was sent there then the owner of card must be at that address

its one thing lying to your bank saying didnt recognise transaction but different thing doing it in a court were you have to swear under oath and lying under oath = instant jail sentence

what have u got to lose?  

[papso22]

Please read up on payment dispute seller protection.

You only get it for item not received or unauthorised transaction chargebacks, and then only if you have online tracking showing you sent it to the address provided by ebay at checkout.

The extremely limited (and only) seller protection for not as described chargebacks comes if ebay has actively decided an earlier ebay case for exactly the same reason, in the seller's favour.  That will be extraordinarily rare. 

Essentially there is no ebay seller protection for not as described chargebacks,  sellers will lose the item and the money and if they don't refund voluntarily,  also be hit with an admin fee.

[motor_salvage_motor]

hence why many sellers like myself pursue them outside of ebay through THE LAW via courts

i currently in process of pursuing scammer , just  waitin for police if they can b bothered

u cant expect ebay to pursue every case they have a budget like every business

hence w e have THE LAW  and many legal instruments to catch the scammer n bring them 2 justice at very little cost 

[coralloverdiy]

Same case I am in now, I sold some coral 2 months ago using eBay and buyer paid with PayPal. Buyer on September log a dispute with PayPal and eBay start to open case and ask me for evident which I did and PayPal ask for coral to be sent and buyer sent few dead coral back and kept the remanining in his pocket and dispute for full refund. I challenge with eBay first and got reply no more evident is request and wait till this case is decide by PayPal in buyer favor and now can’t appeal from eBay as it’s outside their control. Same play here. 

[crash_salvage_repair]

how much was it worth? 

take him to court then you'll see if his able to lie in front of a magistrate with his dead coral

go on to moneyclaimonline .gov and its easy to fill in the form, 1st send him a letter of pre court action as court always like to see if you try to resolve b4, then if no response or him fessin up to rippin you off issue court proceedings, it may take around 6-8months to get a date sometimes sooner but u'll get your moneyback if he doesnt turnup then you can get a judgement on his name and pay court bailiffs to seize goods these are not ur normal bailiffs they have been approved by court so possess more powers, so what was a £300 odd claim could soon multiple into 000s even 0000s as all your costs are to be recovered as well 

if your unsure abt if he has the money do a land registry check on the address a few quid frm land registry and see if he owns the house or rented

ebay can only do so much,  there is laws in place to protect the public which are available at your disposal if you choose to

any advice drop me a line

[4_bathrooms]

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@crash_salvage_repair wrote:

how much was it worth? 

take him to court then you'll see if his able to lie in front of a magistrate with his dead coral

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What would a magistrate be doing in a county court?

[papso22]

I believe coral is a live animal (as you confirm on your about me page) and is therefore not allowed to be sold on ebay.

[coralloverdiy]

That’s the grey zone of ebay as they allow coral to be sale and many other are selling them. Coral share some characteristics of plant but more close to animal. And they are more delicate than fish and other animals as it can die easily if other party do not set up a proper tank.
Sent from my iPhone

[papso22]

Just because there is still a sub category for coral does not mean selling them doesn't breach the live animal policy.  Same goes for 'others sell them' which is not a valid excuse.

[coralloverdiy]

I understand so eBay should abandon it completely and there wont be so many
dispute going on. my guess is eBay do not treat it as animal and same goes
with buyer paying with paypal and they dont recongise it as animal.

[*vyolla*]

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@coralloverdiy wrote:
I understand so eBay should abandon it completely and there wont be so many
dispute going on. my guess is eBay do not treat it as animal and same goes
with buyer paying with paypal and they dont recongise it as animal.

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Time they did because this is the second time in 24hrs I've seen dead coral mentioned in a dispute type scenario. Ridiculous that this is allowed to be sold on eBay.

[61stephenuk]

It's not a grey zone, Live animals are not allowed to be sold on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/live-animals-policy?id=4327

[coralloverdiy]

its a grey zone unless eBay officially recognize coral as live animal.
Paypal has told me live animal is not protected in trading but allow buyer
to raise a claim as item do not match and stand with buyer and my
understand here is they dont treat it as animal but item.