EBAY and the famous 'chancers', take my warning

[BurberryIsSo2000]

I didn't realise it was a big thing before selling a load of stuff...

I've sold 10 items, 2 of which have been reported as 'not received'. 1 I've had to refund because she says I said the dress was mint green but she insists it's 'teal'. It's brand new with tags, designer label.

One of these three people even had the cheek to say they didn't receive it, but they signed for it with their signature.

Apparently this isn't the case, and someone has tried doing her signature for her.

eBay seem 100% on the buyer's side, no matter the outlandish reasoning.

I've looked at the feedback from two of these people and lots of people have said they claimed they didn't receive when they know they'd sent the item(s).

I'm gobsmacked. Cheeky fuckers.

I don't sell on there anymore for this reason.

Yes, definitely appeal the dress one! Most of the process is done by the computer and not every eBay employee has been fully trained either.

@BurberryIsSo2000

That is ridiculous. If this happened recently I would phone eBay again for a different adviser. Just say that they are being dishonest as you have tracking and a signature, you’re not sure how they were refunded etc. Be super nice and they may reverse it, or give you your money as a goodwill gesture as you fulfilled your seller obligations. Honestly I’d keep calling or ask for a manager until this was resolved as it’s ridiculous that they won the case. I have heard some people have better success through eBays business Facebook page

PayPal would definitely take your side. Sucks that you can’t open a case with them! Perhaps chat to PayPal over the phone too?

Also tell eBay that Royal Mail records if an item was delivered to a neighbour or not. Start a Royal Mail claim and tell them about the neighbour apparently losing the item.

To be fair Royal Mail doesn’t really take signed for deliveries that seriously, my postman doesn’t know but always writes ‘Self Cert’ on them and leaves them in our porch, which surely defeats the point of signed for delivery!

Knock*

Regarding buyer disputing the colour of the item, surely there was a photograph showing the colour.... Before she bid.

I have had the same in the past. I once sold a bundle of tots bots nappies for approx £50. The buyer was happy and even left positive feedback until about three or four weeks down the line when she suddenly claimed they were defective and leaked . I let her open a case and refused to refund because of course if they were defective, after that amount of time she had caused it (and she had left positive feedback initially so wasn’t unhappy). eBay of course sided with her, as they always do with buyers and I lost out MAJORLY. Had to refund the £50 and had a pile of suddenly defective nappies I couldn’t re-sell. I’m obviously just a mum selling bits and bobs on eBay, not a major seller so it really hit me hard.

I try not to sell on there much now, it’s full of chancers.

Maybe I’m the lucky 1%. I’ve sold on eBay for over 10 years and there has been the odd buyer who has chanced it, but I’ve always managed to get Ebay to deal with it appropriately. One thing I do is, I always call when I have an issue rather than use the open/close a case function.

Op, I had a similar colour issue with an item, I refused to refund and eBay found in my favour.

Then I had a bonkers buyer who bought a designer sweatshirt for 99p then complained that the item was worn and bobbled. I told her if she had wanted a new item them perhaps she should pay the £100 for it brand new.

A woman purchased two items from me two nearly two weeks ago. She paid for them in separate transactions, a couple of days apart so I sent them both separately.

I got a message from her on Sunday saying she hasn’t received either of them so according to her Royal Mail have lost two pieces of post. I’m covered by the Proof of Postage for both as they were less than £20 each but I really don’t believe her to be honest.

I haven’t sold on EBay but I’ve had two items I’m sure were fakes. One was a skirt - supposedly Topshop, with no label, and I contacted the seller to say I thought she’d made it herself, and she said it was Topshop and she’d got it from a trade show and things at trade shows never have labels (aye right).

I've recently shut my eBay account down. Been on there for 15 years and never had a dodgy buyer until late last year, when I suddenly had loads. Got negged on feedback which I did refute. EBay sided with the buyer every time and I got so much abuse which is a bloody cheek from people who were clearly operating a postal scam. I actually called the police for advice and they said they knew about it but couldn't do anything.

Ive recently had a bit of a clear out and was just about to advertise a load of stuff on eBay - I’ve changed my mind after reading this. Thanks for the heads up 😩..

Toast you might be better selling on Facebook marketplace or Shpock I’ve had more joy and success and less hassle on there.

I had an item I sold signed for. The buyer contacted me because she hadn't received it.

I sent her a screen shot of the signature.

She asked neighbours but they hadn't got it.

Eventually went to the sorting office to talk to the postman.

Turns out postman had signed for it then returned it to the post office.

We both complained about the practice. The only reason we could think he was doing it was he was signing and keeping parcels in the sorting office and if no one came looking he would have eventually taken them home.

I only do cash on collection now. I cant be arsed sending stuff off.

Re proof of postage with Royal Mail, when you lookinto it I remember you need a receipt and I think there isn’t protection if you can’t provide the receipt. Not sure what there policy is regy2nd hand goods. When we lost a birthday parcel I looked into it and it wasn’t as simple as you’d think.

Cash on collection, it’s the only way I’ll sell on eBay and even that can be a load of hassle with the amount of muppets on there.

Facebook selling sites are brilliant. I’d never use EBay again for all the reasons posted. People are so flaky. Another issue we had is that people just bid for stuff, having seen the photos, full description etc and then you never hear from them again, or they try and reduce the price after the auction has ended. Just a load of chancers.

Yup, I had this when I sold an unlocked iPhone. Sent proof it was unlocked and the seller raised a dispute so eBay held my money for ages. Resolved in my favour thankfully but I realised after reading his ratings that he had pulled this scam (or similar) hundreds of times before

Interesting to read people’s experiences selling on EBay. I’ve often wondered about doing it but worried about the lack of protection. I felt the same about HEWI because I couldn’t get any response from them when I enquired multiple times about buyer/seller protection. I use Vestiaire Collective because (despite all the negative reviews, some of which I find suspicious, or perhaps a bit misguided as to how it works) I have had 99% good experience both buying and selling (about 10 items purchased, and 70 plus items sold in last year and a half). I have found VC to be protective of my interests as a buyer, and of my interests as a seller. My heart was in my mouth buying some very expensive bags (at good prices) on VC but it all worked out just fine. Nothing’s perfect and commission is high but you do get peace of mind, in my experience. I wrote some info about it in another thread detailing my experience because it’s stuff I wanted to know before I started using it but couldn’t really find anywhere. In case it’s helpful:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/2552114-Vestiaire-anyone-used-this-site
If things don’t sell after a few months I take them off and give to charity, or take them off and resubmit the listing so they get another chance. I feel quite evangelistic about this because I worry about the ecology of our wasteful approach to fashion and feel this isn’t a bad piece in the jigsaw of addressing that!
If we crash out of Europe I don’t know if it might become less economically attractive to sell via a French site though ...

In the cases I've had where a buyer fraudulently tried to say they didn't receive an item, EBay sided with me as I had confirmation of delivery or a signature.

They were actually great about it and told me she had no chance of being refunded. Looks like I'm in the minority which is a shame!

I cba selling on eBay anymore because of just this.

Last time I attempted to sell baby/children’s clothes and reusable nappies I ended up ‘making’ £150 but I had to refund about £70 of that due to people not reading the listing correctly or claiming it hadn’t arrived. I also massively underestimated postage charges so lost out there too. I had one person give me positive feedback then claim about four weeks later that the item was defective, after they’d clearly ruined it themselves... I let them open a case believing eBay would side with me because it was a no brainer. They didn’t and I lost the money.

Fuck eBay.

I had the opposite. I bought on ebay, never received item. Seller only answered me with an expletive riddled tirade about people stealing from her, then eventually provided a signed reciept that was nothing even vaguely like my name or signature that clearly showed she had mangled my address so badly that it can't possibly have got to me. Ebay sided with her and I lost my money.

I’m a business seller on eBay, and I am totally perplexed as to your claim that you had proof of delivery yet ebay still refunded the buyer who claimed not receipt, this is very bizarre indeed.

In my ten years of ebaying I have had quite a few cases where buyers claim non receipt and I have always won the case.

I would definitely appeal as you have met the eBay criteria to maintain your seller protection.

I once had a complete CF buy a new playsuit from me which I duly posted. A week or so later I was contacted by eBay saying a case had been opened against me as I’d sold an item with a broken zip and demanding that I refund the buyer. I got back in contact with them explaining that it had never been worn, was brand new, and basically refused to refund the buyer. She left me a very negative review telling people I was a con artist (for £15) I had about 300 positive feedbacks prior to this and 10 years of eBaying without any issues.

Another week later and the cheeky little bint had the exact same playsuit for sale, brand new condition, which then sold and she received positive feedback!! Contacted eBay again with screenshots of everything and they removed the negative feedback.

“I haven’t sold on EBay but I’ve had two items I’m sure were fakes. One was a skirt - supposedly Topshop, with no label, and I contacted the seller to say I thought she’d made it herself, and she said it was Topshop and she’d got it from a trade show and things at trade shows never have labels (aye right).”

This is actually true. Trade and resellers are legally obliged to cut out store / brand labels, so they can’t be returned to the store for credit or a refund.

It’s pretty standard. However, the listing should explain that the labels have been cut out.