Dealing with eBay fraud

So, I gave up on selling on eBay for a while because of how shady buyers could be - I did list a few statues recently and everything went fine except for one.

I listed a sealed statue direct from the manufacturer and a buyer messaged me twice asking me to end the auction early and buy it outside ebay (both times below market value, imo). I declined, and he won the auction (for about 30 bucks more than he offered). It took him 9 days to pay, which is another red flag (I invoiced and e-mailed him 3 times). He also has ~95% positive feedback, with lots of neutrals and negatives.

So, I shipped the item fully insured and tracked. He receives it and low and behold, I get a e-mail saying something broke during shipping. No problem I say - I don't accept returns or exchanges but the item is fully insured so FedEx claim will be opened. He said he already fixed it and just wants a refund. I said that isn't how it works - you can open a dispute with me, I'll give you 10% back, or we can do the FedEx claim.

I've now contacted my lawyer (don't worry, it's free or I wouldn't bother) and put ebay on alert. Any advice on how to proceed on this? It stinks of a scam (the one broken picture he sent was a blurry phone pic).

If it was insured, what can the problem be? That's why you insure it.

What was his other negatives for?

SCAM ARTIST WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH HIM AGAIN! Seller never sent $500 laptop

Seller returned item to store, so did not receive. Has not yet issued refund.

Seller cancelled transaction with no communication at all. 100% sketchy seller.

paid for item in full, then seller wanted more money , i would not give more $$

Game cannot be played without security code, game has to be purchased as new.

All negatives by this ebayer in the past year.

And, yes, the package was fully insured - he doesn't understand why we have to go through the hassle of contacting FedEx (wtf?).

Is it against forum policy to indicate the name of the ebay buyer here?

I sure as hell would like to avoid him.

Make him send clear pictures of the damage before it was fixed. If he has no pictures just ignore him until the claim is filed. Then let the process play out and know you have the insurance to cover YOU if needed. Just check how soon claim must be made with Fedex.

I had someone claim a statue was broken when it arrived and threatened to file a claim asked for pictures, got a couple, asked for more since parts were missing , never got anything. Its now past 45 days so I could care less.

I would have blocked them after the first couple low ball requests and for sure after looking at their feedback.

I was debating selling a few things; but wondered can you see who is buying a pre screen them before you request money after the auction has ended?

In today's ebay i would take details pictures of the item(with a proven date ie newspaper) both out of the box and in packing. That plus insurance and signature required on delivery should cover you for any situation.

I see 1 neg feedback and it's a blocked buyer.

Take that low balling, scam act over yonder.

It seems common now for buyers to attempt to extort a refund or partial refund on items. I sold a bunch of 1/6 figures on ebay recently and got hit up at least 5 times. I refused to be extorted and I got my first negative.

But take LOTS of pictures before you send, especially if it's an open item.

Not everything is an extortion attempt. I recently bought a Spock PF off eBay and the it arrived in the original packaging and brown shipper. The triquarter had come broken out of his hand and his thumb was broken half off. I offered pics to seller, but he declined and we worked out a partial refund ( he even offered a full refund )

I was able to repair the PF and the damage isn't noticeable, but I still know it's there so I was happy with a small partial refund and repair job.

It's sad that every buyer thinks sellers are jerks who sell broken stuff and then want to say "too bad" and every seller thinks every buyer is a scam artist. Sure, there are some no question, but most are honest buyers and sellers. Sometimes, no matter how careful a seller is, something breaks in shipping.

KitFisto said:

Not everything is an extortion attempt. I recently bought a Spock PF off eBay and the it arrived in the original packaging and brown shipper. The triquarter had come broken out of his hand and his thumb was broken half off. I offered pics to seller, but he declined and we worked out a partial refund ( he even offered a full refund )

I was able to repair the PF and the damage isn't noticeable, but I still know it's there so I was happy with a small partial refund and repair job.

It's sad that every buyer thinks sellers are jerks who sell broken stuff and then want to say "too bad" and every seller thinks every buyer is a scam artist. Sure, there are some no question, but most are honest buyers and sellers. Sometimes, no matter how careful a seller is, something breaks in shipping.

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Hey, for sure, breaks happen, and I get it - that's why I insure (and usually over-insure) everything. But then you offer 1 blurry picture, and you don't want to go through FedEx? That's shady.

I've had to offer a partial refund before, and I have no problem doing it if the person seems genuine.

In the future, I'll know to block a bidder if I see a negative - didn't really know that was an option.