proactive steps to protect against "wrong item received" scam?

[philbishop74]

I am a private seller/buyer and to date have not sold much of high value. Today I have sold a fishing pole at £500 and it costs c.£50 to send by courier as 2m long parcel.

I have been told that some scams exist where the buyer claims to have been sent the wrong item, requests a refund and return, sending back something of low value, retaining my valuable item. If that happens here, I would be down £600 as I believe you have to pay postage both ways. 

Are there any steps I can take before dispatching to protect myself against please?

NB I have no reason to suspect my buyer is a scam, feedback is all positive .

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

"Are there any steps I can take before dispatching to protect myself against please?"

Unfortunately not.

[philbishop74]

thanks Roger, the inability for sellers to leave any negative feedback and this potential scam makes me wonder if there's just too much risk selling on ebay. 

[papso22]

Usual advice is don't sell anything if you can't afford to lose the item and the money.

The risks are low, but they exist.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Afternoon Phil

Hopefully everything will work out for you.  All you can do is check on your buyers feedback,both given and received. If there is anything untoward then in your position I would cancel the sale and take the hit.

If and when sending just make sure that you have adequate postal insurance and pack it well.

Personally I would never sell anything with a value of say over £250.00 on eBay. If the item is valuable then I sell through an auction house. Yes you will pay fees etc but it is worth it just to eradicate any risk and to sleep soundly at night.

Good luck.

[philbishop74]

thank you. All their received feedback is positive, but it's impossible to leave a negative so that tells me very little. They have only left one feedback for others, and that was neutral. I'm unsure how to read that?

[dancewithadingo]

Hi Phil

It's your call. You have to weigh the possibility of having aggravation and the possible loss of a lot of money against the sale.  

Wait as long as you can and see what other respondents have to say.

Good luck

[lucy_farmer]

'They have only left one feedback for others, and that was neutral. I'm unsure how to read that?'

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My reading would partly depend on how many transactions the buyer had been involved in. If there were only 6 and he'd left a neutral already, I may be worried.

But if there were 200, I'd read that as your buyer just doesn't leave feedback when everything goes well, so you only get to see the problems.

A bit like the crust-pilot type sites: they are mostly negative because people don't often make a song-and-dance about something that happened exactly as it should have done 😊 (unless they're being paid to, of course...)

[philbishop74]

great insight, thank you. 

[kake100]

As others have said - a bit of checking on the buyers feedback history is a good place to start.

I never sell anything over £100 on ebay, in fact very rarely over £50.

And, if it is at all fragile I ensure the packing is as good as it can be and even sometimes take photographs of the various stages of packing in such cases. Then, no matter what I sell of any value I photograph the final sealed package before dropping it off at the post office. I only ever use Royal Mail, but I realise that is personal choice - however I have never had an issue - as opposed to just a handful of parcels received from Evri, of which a high proportion were damaged - 3 out of 9 I have received were damaged plus one was just an empty box as the item had fallen out in transit! But, they still claimed to have successfully delivered the empty box.

Finally, I send the buyer a message confirming posting accompanied by pictures of the packing and the sealed parcel along with tracking details. Apart from giving the buyer reasurance I feel it also lets the buyer know that you are 'on your game' and if they are going to try and 'pull a fast one' they won't do it with me as they know that I have taken good steps to prove my side of the story if there is ever an issue.

[philbishop74]

thank you for this. I've sent with ParcelForce as they are the only one I recognised that was willing to take a parcel 200cm long. The item is carbon fibre so fragile. Have bubble wrapped it before putting in a specifically designed protective case. That's gone into a sturdy cardboard box, well secured with brown tape to stop it opening en route, and with "fragile" tape in the vain hope that the couriers will not throw it around like a javelin.

Appreciate the photo advice and sending to the buyer. Have followed your advice. 

Wish me luck please 🙂   

[dancewithadingo]

Hi Phil

You are wasting your time photographing anything as eBay will not accept photographic evidence should things go pear shaped.

Just think about it,there's nothing to stop you photographing the packing process etc and then sending an item in another package,or you could pack it up and then when you stop filming open the box and take the article out.  It is a bit of a pointless exercise.  

[kake100]

Yes, but it is more likely to make the buyer think twice about 'trying to pull a fast one' as they say.

Like most things in life, it is all about perception!

[philbishop74]

agree that it cannot hurt, only took a moment to take the photos and send to the buyer. They replied to thank me for taking care to package carefully and to dispatch promptly. Might be a great actor but gave me confidence that this one is not a scam