Abuse of eBay's Money Back Guarentee

General
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Fairly recently I’ve started to buy and sell a lot of cards on eBay and have had a few instances where people claim they haven’t received an item and am basically left sending them a refund because I don’t put tracking on lower dollar items. Not a huge deal, part of doing business. But today left a real bad taste in my mouth due to a number of events with a particular buyer.

He claimed he didn’t receive multiple items i sent him, including one that had tracking. After messaging back and forth for a while I got the sinking suspicion that he was abusing eBay’s money back guarantee and basically taking advantage of sellers sending low dollar items without tracking. He opened a case claiming to have not received the item that didn’t include tracking as expected. Right away I reached out to eBay to discuss with them the best recourse and they told me to wait on sending a refund and give them 72 hours to investigate the user.

So today that 72 hours was up and I had to call them back to find out how to proceed. After being bounced around to a few people I landed with the escalations department and they told me that the buyer is in fact abusing the buyer protection program and opening up a bunch of claims. BUT they were going to decide the case in his favor because of the lack of tracking information and put a mark against my account. So I had to argue with the rep a bit and explain how I was reaching out to them for guidance multiple times and was just doing what the recommend that I do. She allowed me to close the case myself and issue the refund so I didn’t receive the strike on my account.

The rep told me I could speak with someone in Dispute/ Resolutions following closing the case to try to get my money back. Turns out once I closed the case myself willingly that the dispute is automatically rejected so they wouldn’t even consider the case. So that’s it, out the money for the card even though they have a buyer that they are aware of that is abusing the eBay money back guarantee. It wasn’t a considerable amount, it’s just the one sidedness of eBay’s business model that really irks me.

TLDR: eBay will always side with the buyer if you don’t include tracking, even if the buyer is abusing the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

I suppose from now on I’ll just have to charge for first class mail on all purchases. I really liked offering a low cost shipping method but shady buyers just don’t make it worth it. Would love to hear what others do, especially for cards under $10-$15.

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Thanks for the info! 1 reason why I charge shipping on low priced items = to add tracking xD

Still sucks that people suck.

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God Damn; wtf is wrong with people - to take advantage of eBay and a Seller like that is just wrong… VERY SORRY about that whole situation that you had to go through - it sucks! While there is not much you can do in this circumstance, I would recommend posting his eBay User ID on the forum so that other eBay Sellers can simply block this buyer.

Anyway, to answer your question… This is one topic that I have been going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth (you get the idea)… The majority of my eBay Store is WotC-Era Common, Un-Common, and Rare Cards (Priced between $1.00 and $5.00). With this type of eBay Store, there are two options to consider:

1.) Offer free shipping via “white envelope” - and potentially increase eBay Sales?

2.) Charge shipping via “bubble mailer” (Achieving Top-Rated Seller Status) - and potentially lose eBay Sales?

I have been selling on eBay since 2009 (with a similar inventory throughout) and have tried both options on multiple occasions. Since re-opening my eBay Store, I have stuck with the “bubble mailer” route. I charge $2.75 flat-rate shipping via USPS First Class Mail with Tracking (Costs me $2.60). Because of this, the majority of my eBay Listings will not even show-up on the first page of eBay Results (Low to High - 25 Items / Page). Sure, I am loosing some eBay Sales do to the simple fact that I cannot compete with eBay Sellers who offer free shipping!

However, I have found that buyers are willing to pay a flat-rate shipping option if they know that there purchase will be mailed safely within a bubble mailer with tracking! I still have many eBay Buyers who will purchase one single-card from my eBay Store for $1.00 plus $2.75 Shipping. Heck, I have had MULTIPLE International Buyers who purchase one single-card from my eBay Store for $1.00 plus $13.50 Shipping!!!

That is just talking about buyers who are looking to purchase one single-card. Now, if you consider someone looking to purchase multiple single-cards, I can actually compete with many of the high volume eBay Sellers! Because I charge shipping, I am able to price my Common / Un-Common Cards at $1.00 - where-as my competition will price Common / Un-Common Cards anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50. Let’s just take the lowest competitor pricing of $1.50 (Free Shipping) - I would charge $1.00 plus $2.75 Shipping ($3.75 Total). Now, if a buyer is looking to purchase 10 of that card from my competitor, they would pay $1.50 x 10 = $15.00 (Free Shipping). If they purchased those same 10 cards from my eBay Store, they would pay $1.00 x 10 = $10.00 plus $2.75 Shipping ($12.75 Total). In this case, I have the lowest price-point - even though I am charging shipping!

And that is just talking about my Common / Un-Common Inventory… In regards to higher-priced cards $10.00 and more; I actually offer free shipping. If there’s a card selling on eBay for $7.50, I’ll price the card at $10.00 with free shipping. Everyone likes free shipping, and when you get into those “higher-value” cards, the pricing becomes less definitive, so the $2.50 difference really does not matter to most buyers - I actually struggle keeping $10.00 + cards in-stock with my eBay Store - even though my prices are a bit higher than other eBay Sellers!

If you are strictly referring to cards priced between $10.00 and $15.00 (for the most part); it’s a no-brainer! Bump your prices up by $2.50 and offer free shipping via bubble mailer!
Even if you are referring to Common / Un-Common Cards, I would recommend offering shipping via bubble mailer! Sure, you might experience a decline in eBay Sales; however, as you obtain more inventory, this decline will become smaller-and-smaller. Not to brag or anything like that, but I am currently packaging and mailing 15 to 20 eBay Packages everyday! For someone like me who is running an eBay Store for the fun of it, that is AWESOME!

There are many other ways in which you can promote your eBay Store asides offering free shipping and being the lowest price. Take professional pictures of the front/back of your cards, if you have multiple copies of the same card, only list the one and state that the card pictured is the exact one you will receive ($10.00 + Cards) - assuming that it is of course, mention within your description that you offer shipping via bubble mailer with tracking, create sales and/or offer discounts for larger purchases… If you run a professional eBay Store you will have repeat customers! I have gotten to know a lot of eBay Buyers (with both small and large wallets) who will search my eBay Store - even though they can find a better deal elsewhere - because they know me and my business. They know if they purchase a NM/M Condition Card, they will receive a NM/M Condition Card. They know if they purchase something on Monday Night, it will be package/mailed on Tuesday Morning. They know that is they have a question I will respond within a timely-manner.

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Yes, please post his eBay User ID on the forum so we can block this buyer!

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Thanks for the replies and the advice! I generally start all my auctions at 1 cent so I’ll have to rethink my business model a bit. I like to list large lots of similar set cards at the same time starting at a penny and let the market determine the price. With the exception of cards I know will command a premium I usually mark all shipping at $.50. I think I’ll have to either try a buy it now approach or just let all the listings run with increased shipping and still start the listings at 1 cent.

User ID in question is: “eddievitier1” out of Pompano Beach Florida.

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I’m not sure, what the buyer is doing seems to be straight up theft. Surely there must be a way of actually stopping this/making him feel some kind of retribution?

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Short of me watching his listings and seeing the cards he claimed weren’t received being listed I don’t know there is much I or any seller can do. Without the “proof” of delivery confirmation eBay will always side with the buyer. From the sounds of it his account will be suspended within 30 days. But that’s about the only ill effect he’ll experience. And he could probably just make another account and start again if he wanted to.

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Thank you for the name of this guy.
Blocked him

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I got my man in Broward County that could pay him a visit;)

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I wish I had men in different area codes :slightly_frowning_face:

What a pimp

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This is the visit you mean right Gary?

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Make sure u pit him on the proper buyer blacklist

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Actually, his nose isnt close to being that straight :wink:

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I’ve seen these issues rise even more recently in this year, back in the day you would probably only lose 1 stamped order out of hundreds, now it was just constant floods of resolution cases. I liked doing FREE shipping via Stamped Mail, because it was beneficial to both me and the buyer, Internationally, I could ship 4 cards for $1.75, and people really appreciated it. Only down side was no tracking, and well now many cards started getting lost. I changed my business model and yes, there is a decrease in sales, but it gives the seller breathing room that the card will reach the buyer. eBay’s business model has its flaws, but I mean, who else is there to compete with them? :\

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This was why I decided long ago not to list items under 50.00. Recently I put up some items all over 15.00 to test it and fortunately haven’t had any problems since. All is trackable though.

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This. I don’t know how guys do it without tracking. I have so many cards I simply can’t list under that $10-15 price point due to the tracking requirement.

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What do you guys do with the amassed low dollar cards you accumulate? I’d prefer to deal with nothing under $10 but that leaves me with so many cards that I haven’t a clue how to move them.

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They sit in storage. :relieved:

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19

Just sell them in bulk.

If you figure, and put a value on:

  1. Time to photo and list

  2. Time to answer questions/take extra photos etc when necessary

  3. Card search and storage

  4. Time to package print labels.

  5. Cost of supplies (bubble wrap, printer ink etc.

  6. cost of gas

  7. Time to deliver mail. Sometimes you only have one mailer.

I’m sure there’s more but you get the idea. How mch are you making on a dollar card? Or 3.00 card?

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You really just need to choose what is best for you. There is no right answer. High volume and low dollar cards or much lower volume and high dollar cards. For me, the 20% discount does not nearly cover the lost business nor does the occasional scammer cost me more money than I make by sending <$10 items in plain envelopes. I used to operate with that Top Rated Seller discount and do as @oldskoolpokemon describes, but now I moved towards more how @thecharizardauthorty operates with free shipping on almost everything.

The way I operate, my profits mostly come from the low dollar items. Sure it sucks that ~0.5%-1.5% of them I get scammed on. Those aren’t made up numbers, those are my actual long term rates on “item not received” cases. Some portion of that is legitimate. Don’t forget that. Sometimes items actually do get lost in the mail. Other times I may make a mistake and forget to ship something, or lose it in transit to the post office. The likely largest portion is scammers however which does suck. Whenever I have an item not received case, I delay them asking for patience and to wait a few more days. Most times this solves the problem. I am unsure if they forget due to the low value of the card, but I am sure in most cases they actually received it and leave feedback. Some are impatient at first, but honest and will close the case when they receive it. Others open the case ASAP and are clear scammers from the get go. Most of them I refund and block. My block list is very long at this point, but the issues had stabilized around 1.25% or so and seem to be trending down. Sometimes I will have a bad week where I get 5 cases or so, and it sucks to lose $$20-50 like that, but I just see it as a cost of doing business and it is all factored in to my pricing.

IMO most buyers in general are good people not out to scam you. As with everything else in life ~1% of them are scumbags and will scam you over it, but just make sure to block and report them. eBay won’t do much, but if a buyer receives a ton of reports over money back guarantee in a short period of time, they will eventually ban them. Do also note that from what I have seen, I also have a roughly 0.25% defect rate on tracked items as well. That is either returns (sometimes false returns, clearly swapping cards or just sending back empty), items not received, items not as described etc. So switching to tracking only isn’t 100% foolproof. Scumbags can be scumbags with or without tracking.

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