Buyer said they received their package with nothing in it?

[lakernation10]

Recently sold a $60 card and the buyer said they received the bubble mailer with nothing in it. They said it looked as if the bubble mailer was opened. I always tape ip the part where the bubble mailer seals so idk how this would happen. Just got hit with the paupal claim. This is a first for me. Anything i can do to prove if the buyer is lieing or will paypal just automatically side with the buyer and be out $60?

[COMCMax]

Originally Posted by lakernation10

Recently sold a $60 card and the buyer said they received the bubble mailer with nothing in it. They said it looked as if the bubble mailer was opened. I always tape ip the part where the bubble mailer seals so idk how this would happen. Just got hit with the paupal claim. This is a first for me. Anything i can do to prove if the buyer is lieing or will paypal just automatically side with the buyer and be out $60?

You're pretty much up the creek. Ebay is turning into Amazon lite.

[Sushiyoshi]

How is his feedback?
Be sure to ready them, not just look at the percentage since he may only buying on this account and use it to scam people. If he's done this before based on the feedbacks posted, call ebay and have them look into it. They may refund buyer on their own dime.

[the27guy]

Have had this happen only once... some polish guy told me he didn't get a KG auto....

It's been like ten years, but of course ebay sided w him.

[spurs50fan]

I would say go to feedback but even that seems tainted with Ebay. It does sound like you may be screwed but I would see if USPS can help out. Maybe the weight at shipping can help??

[lakernation10]

If ebay just automatically sides with the buyer cant anyone just buy anything and say they didn't receive the item?

[pgisback]

Originally Posted by lakernation10

If ebay just automatically sides with the buyer cant anyone just buy anything and say they didn't receive the item?

Yep, it's a scam that is impossible for ebay/paypal to know if true or not since the scam goes the other way also where people truly do send bubble mailers with nothing in them. I really wish ebay had a way of keeping track of people who claim these things, so before you sell you can see how many times they've claimed the item fell out of a sealed bubble mailer, or whatever other scams they come up with.

[pejc300]

Originally Posted by COMCMax

You're pretty much up the creek. Ebay is turning into Amazon lite.

I don't know why everyone says this. It's not true. Just follow the papal protocols. They'll see you're tracking uploaded and possibly have you sign an affidavit stating you did not send an empty mailer. The most important part is to be professional, courteous and stick to the facts. You will be fine, unless there is more to the story we don't know about (such as bad feedback on your part or something).

[COMCMax]

Originally Posted by pejc300

I don't know why everyone says this. It's not true. Just follow the papal protocols. They'll see you're tracking uploaded and possibly have you sign an affidavit stating you did not send an empty mailer. The most important part is to be professional, courteous and stick to the facts. You will be fine, unless there is more to the story we don't know about (such as bad feedback on your part or something).

You've had better luck than me then. $60 worth of time and effort and maybes. I haven't had one in awhile ,so maybe Ebay is looking out for the seller more these days. Good luck OP. Let us know how it goes.

[bryzzo2016]

"I really wish ebay had a way of keeping track of people who claim these things, so before you sell you can see how many times they've claimed the item fell out of a sealed bubble mailer, or whatever other scams they come up with."[/QUOTE]



That is an excellent idea.

[HP7163]

Originally Posted by pejc300

I don't know why everyone says this. It's not true. Just follow the papal protocols. They'll see you're tracking uploaded and possibly have you sign an affidavit stating you did not send an empty mailer. The most important part is to be professional, courteous and stick to the facts. You will be fine, unless there is more to the story we don't know about (such as bad feedback on your part or something).

Well can't you also show proof via label of the package weight to confirm departure from A to B ?

I usually only do insurance over $200 but also pay for sig confirmation every time. Never had this happen but now that I'm buying/selling again this is concerning.

What are the loop holes for people who claim you sent the wrong card ?

[Wings]

Just had somebody claim this on me today, name please.

[BigZigBoom]

I always insure whatever I can't afford to lose.

[myusasets]

wow don't like this story. don't like didn't get envelope story either. ebay and paypal look after buyer (fine). realize you have no one and are taking a chance selling. protect yourself best you can or hire a middle man. sad but true.

[jhileman79]

I had this happen to me. Turns out the package came open and the local post office where I shipped the card had the cards. I called my post office and his and they had the cards in his PO’s lost and found. I gave them the description and he drove there and picked them up. Hopefully your story turns out as good as mine.


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[kingmogul]

I tape all around my packages now and take pictures of each package. To be fair though I one time did get a package with the card missing so stuff can happen.

[Stat Monsters]

In the world of eBay "The Customer is Always Right" under all circumstances.

The best remedy is to be at peace with the fact that your'e out both the card and the money and don't stress out over something you can't control or have corrected.

The "empty box" scam is quite prevalent and amounts to a "he said / she said" where the buyer is always right and the seller is always wrong.

In cases where seller send empty boxes, the buyers are protected, so you rarely hear about that on eBay. In cases where a buyer claims anything ranging from an empty box, or damaged merchandise (and in cases where a buyer has that "buyer's remorse" and wants a refund, many just take force and damage the card on purpose themselves and claim that's how it came, including cracking BGS/PSA plastic cases to have cracks). I've had the reverse happen where a buyer sent a return for a refund with an empty envelope so they kept the merchandise and got their money back. I now video tape returns and when I open them up just as added evidence as a seller with no support from eBay.

So, there's nothing you can do about it. USPS insurance might be one remedy. Once you file a claim, anything that happened is investigated, and mail fraud is a federal crime, so if a buyer is committing it, they are on record to that case and future citations will be scrutinized as well. The delivery confirmation and signature release say nothing about the contents, so if the claim is the empty box, you're still up a creek.

With that, again, move on with your life, put that buyer on your seller's block list so you don't ever deal with that person again (they can't bid nor buy from you) and if you wanted to and suspect foul play, you can do a "fair warning" post with that user's ID in case others also encountered the same monkey business and then all of a sudden it becomes apparent it is fraud and you're helping out the community.

[pejc300]

Originally Posted by Stat Monsters

In the world of eBay "The Customer is Always Right" under all circumstances.

The best remedy is to be at peace with the fact that your'e out both the card and the money and don't stress out over something you can't control or have corrected.

The "empty box" scam is quite prevalent and amounts to a "he said / she said" where the buyer is always right and the seller is always wrong.

In cases where seller send empty boxes, the buyers are protected, so you rarely hear about that on eBay. In cases where a buyer claims anything ranging from an empty box, or damaged merchandise (and in cases where a buyer has that "buyer's remorse" and wants a refund, many just take force and damage the card on purpose themselves and claim that's how it came, including cracking BGS/PSA plastic cases to have cracks). I've had the reverse happen where a buyer sent a return for a refund with an empty envelope so they kept the merchandise and got their money back. I now video tape returns and when I open them up just as added evidence as a seller with no support from eBay.

So, there's nothing you can do about it. USPS insurance might be one remedy. Once you file a claim, anything that happened is investigated, and mail fraud is a federal crime, so if a buyer is committing it, they are on record to that case and future citations will be scrutinized as well. The delivery confirmation and signature release say nothing about the contents, so if the claim is the empty box, you're still up a creek.

With that, again, move on with your life, put that buyer on your seller's block list so you don't ever deal with that person again (they can't bid nor buy from you) and if you wanted to and suspect foul play, you can do a "fair warning" post with that user's ID in case others also encountered the same monkey business and then all of a sudden it becomes apparent it is fraud and you're helping out the community.

Again, OP, I would not encourage you to take this advice.

[CastleBeachCards]

These issues freak me out about selling anything online.
I've sold nice cards a few times and have had potential buyers not bid on my stuff due to almost no selling (only buying) on my Ebay account.
There's gotta be a better way to sell.
What if USPS films you packaging items at store..............that way no one can say "I got package, but didn't get "ITEM" I paid for.? I'd pay extra $1 or $2 for that..........and that money could cover their storage capacity account.........plus once recieved, they could delete the video.........freeing up space