Fair ebay have evidence of lying buyer, refunds so buyer has item & money?

[firsteditionbookstore]

Dear All,

In December 2020 I sold the rare & old Walt Disney book Santa's Workshop. The buyer agreed that it was as described, but left a false negative feedback. ebay have now just advised me that I am without the money and the book, and a dishonest buyer is holding all the cards over me. Unfair of ebay to support dishonest buyers.

BACKGROUND

• Buyer has written to get more money off the item falsely stating that the item was not as described.
• When through ebay I poinrted out that the book was as described, and including the issues he raised he demanded the return of the book
• I assumed ebay would see the evidence and ensure justice was done. I WAS WRONG! THEY DID NOT!
• It is clear that the buyer wanted more money off the item, through devious means

STATEMENT FROM ME THE SELLER

The ebay description I posted made clear the faults, stating:

"The rare dust jacket is in Good condition being mostly complete, with a crease to the front cover, small loss to the front cover, crease to the back cover, small loss to the top left corner of the back cover. But, the flaps are complete, advertising the following Walt Disney books to the front flap:"

This was also posted in the "Conditino" section of the ebay posting as well as in the main descritpion.

STATEMENT FROM THE SELLER

There is clearly no recouse through ebay for a dishonest buyer, who put in writing that he knew the book was as described and falsely stated in his ebay message: of 23 Januaury 2021 :

"I see what you are saying, but the images themselves, which are the main depiction of an item,"

NO TRUST IN FAIRNESS THROUGH EBAY

If buyer had an issue with the images and read the description he had the option to ask a question before buying. He did not.

ebay needs to be honest and fair.

The buyer now has the book and the money, and I do not know what condition the book will be returned in,if returned at all. Thank you ebay for assisting in this fraud.

WE NEED TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM EBAY FRAUD

The vast majority of my dealings with Customers on ebay has been very good. I have even received a recent positive feedback for another Disney book that had defects, and the comment was "as described". Ebay were made aware of this and ignored this too!

I now have to remove all my valuable items from ebay because the risk of fraud on ebay is too great.

ebay simply ignored all my messages and the evidence.

How can anyone possibly say that it is safe to buy and sell on ebay, where there is no accountability for those lying and breaking enay rules - and they are given your money and the item - and iof returned you have no recourse if it is not returned in the conditino it was sent!

I wish ebay would take fraud seriously!

[rusticrye]

Ebay can have no idea what you actually sent, or what condition it was in when sent or received or received back, as they were not present when sent or received, so have no choice but to accept a buyer's word for it when they claim Not As Described, as per their Money Back Guarantee.  They cannot get into disputes between you and a buyer.  Only a judge can decide if a buyer is a liar or scammer.

You agreed to comply with the MBG when you registered your account. If you dig your heels in and refuse to offer refund on return, Ebay will either force you to pay for a returns label, or they will force the refund without the need for return. You will also have a damaging defect slapped on your account for failing to comply.

This may sound unfair, but it's the fairest it can possibly be.  The MBG is a very good thing (although you may not think that at present) as it gives buyers the confidence to shop with you and every other Ebay seller.  Without it, you'd be lucky to sell anything at all.  In fact, without it, Ebay would no longer exist.

If the item is returned, you have to refund on receipt, and then report the buyer to Ebay for abusing the MBG by fraudulently claiming Not As Described (via the 'report' button on your ‘leave feedback’ page) if you're 100% sure that's what they've done.  A few of those from different sellers, and their account will soon be toast.  And add their Ebay ID to your Blocked Bidders List so they can’t darken your doorway again.

You can then deal with the buyer outside of Ebay as follows:

Send them a PayPal invoice to cover your losses, giving them 7 days to send cleared payment or you will be taking legal action and reporting them to Action Fraud (the police's online fraud unit).

If payment is not received within that timeframe, send them a 'before action' letter by Signed For post, giving them 7 days from receipt to make full and cleared payment, or you will report them to Action Fraud, and take them to Small Claims court to recover your money and all court and other costs.

If payment is still not received (unlikely, as this is generally enough to put the fear of god into small-time fraudsters), take them to Small Claims court if you wish.  Very easy to do, and the process can be started online.

@firsteditionbookstore 

[firsteditionbookstore]

Thank you for your response. But there are some very serious issues with
what you write.

1. The item was as described, and this is confirmed by the Buyer

2. There is an ebay dispute process - which I understood was for buyers and
sellers

3. ebay had the evidence that even the buyer agreed that the item was as
described but ebay refused to view the evidence

4. There is no email address since even on the PayPal form it comes from
ebay and there is no field for the email address

5. The person is in the US

6. Regardless of the country, the person is in breach of ebay policies
including extortion where he stated that the items was not as described, I
quoted the ebay listing, he agreed and then tried to say that it was the
photo that should in some way take precedence over what was stated

7. The buyer was not concerned about condition of the item when buying, if
he was he would have pressed the button and asked a question. HE DID NOT!

8. This is clearly unfair where I have acted honestly, and appealed the
return - NOT refusing the return.

9. This is a $400 book that I expect to get back. If I do not then clearly
in my view ebay have allowed theft and fraud on their website through the
clear abuse of their policies.

There is nothing fair about this process, where the evidence is ignored. It
appears that this judgement was done through an automated process without
the intervention of any human beings.

If ebay states it cannot act fairly, then it should not have the pretence
of having policies, procedures, and a complaints system that they do not
even adhere to, and allow theft and fraud.