Sold a Trieste kevlar strap to a guy in Romania. Seemed good, I supplied loads of pics of a 100% condition strap. Today get a message with a refund request and attched is pictures of a knackered Trieste which he claims is the one I sent. I'm a little furious to be honest. Have a look:
Versus:
Good old eBay buyer protection giving scumbags the confidence to claim on you as their insurance on a "new for old" basis for their existing knackered strap.
Don't think you'll win this one but I would fight it nonetheless and in the event of a refund I would insist he sends the old steap back just so it's money out of his pocket for postage.
You will know better next time. Personally I would never sell abroad as said Ebay always side with the buyer
No good deed goes unpunished.
In my experience, contact Ebay straight away with clear photos and an explanation. You might not win, but will give you a fighting chance.
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Sorry to hear / see that and I'd be equally furious. Assuming that this is perhaps not the first time he's done this, is there any mileage in asking eBay to see how often he's returned stuff and perhaps compare it to the times you've been asked for a refund?
I'd do all in my power not to let a scrote like that get away with it.
Best of luck!
I'm fighting it hard. I raised a 'Buyer Issue' before he raised a 'Refund Request' as I 'kin loathe scammers. I included lots of comparitive photgraphs so I hope some human actually looks at them. Maybe the listing being 'No Returns Allowed' will help...
Hold on, now I'm getting multiple strange calls from an 0335 number!! I won't be answering those.
Maybe it's wrong, but I did think twice before sending it to Romania - but he seemed alright in communications.
I've come up with a cunning plan for next time, put some sort of mark or scratch on the strap or the furniture and make sure it is visible in the photos without bringing any attention to it, then when the scumbags claim you will know if it's yours or his old one.
Doesn't help the OP, but might help others in the future.
Never have this problem with buyers on ebay as I learned a long while ago that its a mugs game to sell on ebay, buy yes but sell a great big NO.
....Do they have letterboxes in Romania?
Even if he wins the EBay dispute can he not open another one with Paypal?
Thanks!Originally Posted by studly
On eBay chat now with customer services, think I'm getting fekked...
Yup:
I see from the messages between you both that you disagree with their reason for the return and I understand where you're coming from. However I hope you understand that from our position, as we never actually see the items sold on site, we aren't in a position to contradict what the buyer is claiming. We do not doubt that you listed this in good faith however we must adhere to online selling regulations and in situation like this, the buyer must be given the option to return an item if they claim there is an issue with it. Because of this, we automatically approve return cases such as this since it is a requirement under UK distance selling regulations as well as being covered as part of our user agreement. I understand that you feel we are bias toward buyers, but they are protected by their consumer rights in the UK and our hands are tied if they claim the item is not as described. We cannot legally prevent them from returning an item
As Royal mail does not get you to sign for items at the moment just claim you didn't receive the return from the scammer.
Did you provide any side pics of the clasp ? If so I bet the screws on his knackered strap are not in the same position ?
Last edited by Gobo; 29th July 2020 at 15:38.
I'm very sorry to hear that eBay have sided with the buyer liar, and having seen the auction I see why you're aggrieved! Regardless of any costs, it's the principle of the thing. Hearing accounts like yours, I have learned a valuable lesson about selling on eBay.
I wonder if any Romanian members can track him to a forum somewhere, and set out his despicable behaviour?
Chin up, hopefully the scrote will get his at some point.
Out of interest does the 14day online UK rule apply when selling to Romania?
Yes this is definitely the problem with ebay. Even the cunning plan above to put a mark on strap...how does it help you? He can claim the photos were not of the one you sent, mark or no mark.
Hope it was not too much Ł you stand to lose.
If the buyer wins this as a SNAD (Significantly Not As Described) case, then the seller will have to pay for the return postage.
In the current circumstances, eBay will accept an attempted delivery - they do not require a signature on delivery.
The 14 days only applies for "change of mind" returns. This would be a SNAD return.
Ouch. In that case I would be going into full stalker mode and seeing what I could do to repay the favour.
If the "buyer" doesn't send it back tracked then he has no proof of attempted delivery. Definitely insist on a return - if the guy sends it normal mail just claim he hasn;t returned it?
As above, insist on the return. What would eBay’s position be if the buyer didn’t make a return?
Is it possible to state the buyer's username here to help others avoid him/her?
Perhaps we can see if they're selling something - you know for a bit of reciprocal.
How will that help? He’ll just claim it’s a different one - if OP had marked his strap wouldn’t make any difference.
This ^. On the one hand TZ members who sell on ebay can block him, and on the other we can make things difficult for him if he sells.
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im just appalled at the lengths people go to, really are some low lifes out there.
I hope OP you get it sorted and not stitched up, raising with eBay first seems like a mart move. good luck
I've been in this situation before, I find if you keep kicking off wasting ebay's time they eventually give in and "as an act of good will" let you keep the money (they refund the buyer out of their own pocket) as a one-off. Though I have managed to wrangle this a few times. Speaking to them on the phone rather than online chat is more productive also.
Good luck, sorry to hear about it.
Is it possible that he's trying to scam you by returning a fake strap ?
The finish on his photo seems a bit different than the one from your photos. Talking about the clasp.
I don't see any other reason why someone would go to such great lengths with this...
Are the screws in the same position as they were when you shipped it ?
The seller will be required to provide (and pay for) a postage label for the return, which will include tracking. So there's absolutely no incentive for the buyer to use a non-tracked service to return whatever it is that they are returning.
My son sent 4 new Audi S3 chrome exhaust tips to some scum bag last year who claim they were corroded. They were brand new and never open the plastic film....tossers try their luck, to me it’s a dead platform
Selling via eBay is very risky and also very costly too, not sure why people bother
I actually meant to write that if "you" win the EBay dispute i think he can still open another dispute with Paypal.
I would agree with speaking directly. On online chat they just click on 'response#3'. They don't actually write very much. As you get scripted responses you will never get any deviation from policy even if it is a person and not a bot you are communicating with.
The obvious question is why include Romania in an area you want to sell to?
I would never send anything to Italy either, the postmen are paid very poorly and supplement their income by diverting deliveries.
When I ran an ebay site for a company I worked for Eastern Europe and Italy were no go areas, and if it was heavy or delicate, or expensive it was UK only.
Assuming the first photo is from your eBay listing.
Buyers photo cropped and rotated slightly for comparison.
Would be good to see another strap to see how screw positions compare.
Just playing Devils Advocate here; how was the strap packed? Any chance it could have been damaged in transit?
This has been said for years and yet people still sell.
The reality is that most private sellers do not know how to pack correctly and hence the high amount of buyers claiming that they have received damaged goods. This is very rare when commercial sellers send the goods, so the implications are obvious.
Ebay is a good place to buy from a commercial seller but a lousy place to sell from.
He swapped the buckle, keeping the same screw orientation?Assuming the first photo is from your eBay listing.
Buyers photo cropped and rotated slightly for comparison.
Would be good to see another strap to see how screw positions compare.
Just playing Devils Advocate here; how was the strap packed? Any chance it could have been damaged in transit?
May also be assembled by robot so screw orientation becomes pretty consistent hence be useful to see another one.
Many years ago in my pre-TZUK days, I sold a lot of my ‘high-end’ watches on Ebay. Rolex, JLC, IWC, Ulysses Nardin, Glashutte etc! Dealt with some great people and never had one single problem. About 10 years ago I sniffed the winds of change coursing through eBay and I stopped selling on there.
Since then I have not sold a thing on Fleabay and it seems my decision was correct given the horror stories I regularly hear. Frankly the site seems increasingly populated by chancers and scammers these days and my advice to anyone would be ‘Save yourself time, money and stress, just don’t bother‘!
Last edited by KavKav; 30th July 2020 at 09:44.
Remember to leave false positive feedback for him. Basically it has to be 'positive feedback' for a buyer but you can write something like "buyer returned broken strap after new one sent BEWARE".
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Sorry to hear your troubles but this is happening all too frequently on eBay. From what I can see, the straps are not the same and you are clearly getting humped by both eBay and the buyer.
Personally I would not sell a carrot on eBay now. I have even braved the horror that is Facebook marketplace rather than that.
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The buyer could get that removed by eBay - you cannot leave a positive feedback with a negative comment.
Real sorry to hear your woes, it seems so unfair on you and it really sticks in my throat when people get away with this stuff. I've had one or two issues with 'SNAD' when the items were very accurately described but the buyer chose not to read the description or look at the pictures.
It would be nice to think that eBay gave a damn about the private seller, but they don't. eBay morphed into an ali-express, a storefront for cheap chinese goods sold for pennies on mass. They would rather ditch the private seller completely.
Good advice, politely say “Yes of course, please send the item back recorded delivery for a full refund”
See what he says then. I remember years ago there was a guy in the UK buying stuff, saying it was damaged on arrival then demanding a partial refund. When I asked him to return it for a full refund he posted feedback saying I was a thief selling stolen goods! I raised it and the comments were removed, checking his feedback he had done the same to a few people I even managed to speak to some previous buyers by e-mail who all confirmed they had been scammed the same way. Seems he targeted sellers who didn’t sell much assuming they would just roll over and take the hit.
There are plans afoot for all private sellers to automatically receive insurance each time they list an item for sale. The insurance is in the form of a small sachet of lubricant, specifically designed for the ‘back door’. eBay feel that this might help with the pain.
Sadly you can.
I have asked for some to be removed from my account as the Seller has used positive feedback to state I am a liar, dishonest, awful worst ebayer ever.
He started a non paying dispute against me.
I purchased the item Saturday....and paid for it Monday morning. He had already opened the dispute by then ( I didn't even think it was possible to do so ..)
In addition the item was poorly packed and had suffered some damage due to the poor packing, it was spares or repair but even so.
Due to some Star ratings being autofilled at 5stars by Ebay, I was unable to enter a lower star rating so I left him neutral feedback, the above was his response.
Ebay has still not removed his comments, and I expect they will not.
I don’t tend to sell on eBay anymore but still use it to buy I had a couple of run ins with dodgy sellers Selling an obviously Broken car bumper and a heater fan And got very arsey when I left negative feedback
Stick with it. This is an eBay policy violation, and it should get removed. You may need to contact eBay more than once, until you get a helpful customer services representative. (I've seen suggestions that you may do better to ring them in the morning, as you've a better chance of getting through to the Irish call centre, who tend to be more helpful).
Sorry to hear this, OP. I would suggest, as others have done, on calling eBay and explaining the situation. Its always better speaking to someone directly rather than through messaging.
Just an update: The strap arrived back today. Well, I say strap, he's sent me the original buckle with his old damaged strap. You can see the screwdriver marks where he's taken the buckle off. Ebay are just about the tell me to F off and refund him but I'm going down fighting!
See the shot below of one section showing loads of wear on the rhs, the stitches are worn and discoloured whereas mine on the lhs are tight and not touching.
Pic below shows the screw bottom left has been turned and chewed to change over to worn strap.
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