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If you read public forums like this you occasionally hear about buyers returning a different item to what they were sent. After 3 years of selling it happened to me. I thought it was worth sharing the story here in case it helps anyone else.
It was an old Apple keyboard worth about $50 plus $15 shipping. Not a very valuable item but it angered me that someone was going to steal from me. (The keyboard that was returned rattled when shaked so I assume it was broken but I no longer had the kind of computer I could test it on so the returned item was useless to me). I contacted the buyer but he didn’t answer my messages
I refused to refund him. I called ebay. eBay sympathized with me as I had photos of the serial numbers of the original and the returned keyboards and they were clearly different but they couldn’t be 100% certain that the buyer had switched keyboards because I couldn’t 100% prove what I sent him. The buyer was refunded by eBay but they advised me that I could appeal and file a police report and they would review my case again.
On public forums recently I’ve read about other people filing policy reports to get eBay to rule in their favor so I went ahead and did that. In my town you can file a police report online and it gets reviewed and approved online. I didn’t even speak to an officer.
After a bit of a wait my appeal was denied automatically and then reversed and ruled in my favor a few days later when a person actually looked at my case and read the police report. So i got my money back in the end. I think the buyer probably kept his refund too. I’d love to send the buyer a copy of the police report and scare him a bit but I think I’ll just let sleeping dogs lie. (I also file a postal fraud report too but it’s a waste of time because you don’t get anything back that actually shows that you filed a report).
Hope this helps someone else in the future.
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That sucks. It’s interesting that it doesnt happen more because there really are no safeguards. Whats to prevent a buyer from just sending back an empty box? I assume that if a buyer had too many complaints, eBay would do something about it.
Good news is that most people are honest, keeping society flowing along 🙂
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I read recently that fraud a retailers is going up exponentially.
I guess last year a lot of people were returning Xmas decorations/trees/lights just after the holidays. Over the summer, people buy patio furniture, BBQs, etc for events and return them after the party or season is over.
Other fraud was the old switch-a-roo of an old/broken item, returning stolen items or items from other stores, or returning items with the valuable part missing (for example a drill in a case was replaced with objects that weigh the same and then the box is re-sealed to look factory sealed).
I’ve only had one buyer pull the swith-a-roo on me in about 20 years. Be vigilant if it is worth your time!
Big retailers limit returns, and ask for ID when you return something of value – I would hope eBay is tracking buyers for returns and has a limit.
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When I get a higher-ticket item back, I take a copy of the return document with me to the Post Office and open it there in front of them. If it’s not what’s on the return, I file a Fraudulent Post claim right there. Plus, I have the Post Office employee as a witness. Hard for eBay to dispute that one!
Fortunately, the only time I had this issue, it wasn’t an eBay item, so I didn’t have to fight The Faceless Ones. And I’m sure living in a small town where I’m on a first name basis with my PO employees is very helpful! 😉
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