Dealing with bad eBay buyers....

N

nekrosoft13

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
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I had a CPU for sale on ebay, it was open box, fully tested.
CPU was listed on eBay with no returns.

So this guy from Missouri bought it, and day after the CPU shipped he sends me this message:

"Hi. I've had a change of heart and want to go with AMD. Is there any way I could return this when it arrives? Thank you for considering "

I replied to him:

"I'm sorry but the item was posted with no returns accepted. "

After the CPU arrived I got this message:

"Hello. This CPU is dead on arrival. It failed to boot, so I took a trip to Microcenter and bought an extra new motherboard, ram, and psu to confirm, and the CPU is still failing to boot. I need a full refund including shipping."

I accepted the return... but now i'm out 25-30 bucks shipping both ways...

And I know the only reason he returned it because he changed his mind.

Anyone else dealt with something like this before? I was thinking about doing a video of testing the CPU, showing it works, and then doing a refund for cost - shipping both ways.
 
I have not had to deal with Ebay customer service in a long time. However, in the past, they were helpful with things like this.
 
nekrosoft13 said:
I had a CPU for sale on ebay, it was open box, fully tested.
CPU was listed on eBay with no returns.

So this guy from Missouri bought it, and day after the CPU shipped he sends me this message:

"Hi. I've had a change of heart and want to go with AMD. Is there any way I could return this when it arrives? Thank you for considering "

I replied to him:

"I'm sorry but the item was posted with no returns accepted. "

After the CPU arrived I got this message:

"Hello. This CPU is dead on arrival. It failed to boot, so I took a trip to Microcenter and bought an extra new motherboard, ram, and psu to confirm, and the CPU is still failing to boot. I need a full refund including shipping."

I accepted the return... but now i'm out 25-30 bucks shipping both ways...

And I know the only reason he returned it because he changed his mind.

Anyone else dealt with something like this before? I was thinking about doing a video of testing the CPU, showing it works, and then doing a refund for cost - shipping both ways.
Click to expand...
nekrosoft13 said:
"I'm sorry but the item was posted with no returns accepted. "
Click to expand...
end of.
 
Accept the return, and test it, recording everything from the moment you get it.

If it works, refuse the refund and contact ebay to show them the buyers attempted to weasle out of a buy and lied about it being DoA. You'll probaby still be screwed, but at there's some small chance they'll side with you (though you may have to send the CPU back again).
 
ryan_975 said:
Accept the return, and test it, recording everything from the moment you get it.

If it works, refuse the refund and contact ebay to show them the buyers attempted to weasle out of a buy and lied about it being DoA. You'll probaby still be screwed, but at there's some small chance they'll side with you (though you may have to send the CPU back again).
Click to expand...
Good point ryan_975! You still have to refund the money; when you get it back. You should have options with ebay support to go through resolution. Pain in the a$$ but screw that guy!
 
nekrosoft13 said:
I had a CPU for sale on ebay, it was open box, fully tested.
CPU was listed on eBay with no returns.

So this guy from Missouri bought it, and day after the CPU shipped he sends me this message:

"Hi. I've had a change of heart and want to go with AMD. Is there any way I could return this when it arrives? Thank you for considering "

I replied to him:

"I'm sorry but the item was posted with no returns accepted. "

After the CPU arrived I got this message:

"Hello. This CPU is dead on arrival. It failed to boot, so I took a trip to Microcenter and bought an extra new motherboard, ram, and psu to confirm, and the CPU is still failing to boot. I need a full refund including shipping."

I accepted the return... but now i'm out 25-30 bucks shipping both ways...

And I know the only reason he returned it because he changed his mind.

Anyone else dealt with something like this before? I was thinking about doing a video of testing the CPU, showing it works, and then doing a refund for cost - shipping both ways.
Click to expand...

No returns isn't really no returns, as you can see from your situation, I do not advise using it unless it's for parts or not working. There is nothing you can do in this situation really, it's not even worth your time proving that it does work. Ebay sucks for that reason. You're also out the 3% PP fee because those assholes stopped refunding fees on returns. I'm sorry but consider this a lesson on why Ebay sucks.
 
A buyer on eBay can basically do anything that they want to and you'll be forced to take it. Buyers can even buy your item, swap it with a broken item, return the broken item, and basically get a free item at your expense. Even among the buyers that aren't trying to straight-up scam you, if they make a mistake and bend a CPU pin or ESD it, they can basically get a free warranty return at your expense. eBay doesn't care, as they are fully invested in the idea of making it as "easy" and "safe" for the buyer as possible, even if a few sellers have to go under the bus.
 
GotNoRice said:
A buyer on eBay can basically do anything that they want to and you'll be forced to take it. Buyers can even buy your item, swap it with a broken item, return the broken item, and basically get a free item at your expense. Even among the buyers that aren't trying to straight-up scam you, if they make a mistake and bend a CPU pin or ESD it, they can basically get a free warranty return at your expense. eBay doesn't care, as they are fully invested in the idea of making it as "easy" and "safe" for the buyer as possible, even if a few sellers have to go under the bus.
Click to expand...

That's because there are too many sellers that are also scammers. Like 3rd party sellers on Amazon and similar stores.
 
It is why eBay is a last resort for me. I am about to toss up my 7820x on there since it hasn't gotten any interest on here, cl or FB. I am still very weary on doing it.
 
I’ve good experiences and bad ones on eBay. Personally , I would rather sell something here for less to established buyers than randoms on eBay most of the time.

Basically take your price, subtract the eBay fees and just sell it here for that. The net to you is similar and hopefully less risk.
 
Its gotten to the point with ebay buyers/scammers, I expect for "parts/asis/notworking" item, a refund request with "not working" as the reason. Buyers either don't read, can't read (e.g. non-english speaker), or are just straight up scammers. Usually if it is something over 150 bucks in value, I don't bother with ebay. I've learned the hard way unfortunately.
 
Thanks for all comments. i guess I will look for alternative way of selling. sometimes putting stuff on forums, can sit for months.
 
more than once i have had people file a return, ship "something" to me and then ebay will process the refund no matter what. i always have tacking info, and item pictures. usually i can defend myself but it is not a guarantee with ebay. one time here recently they guy added return tracking info that did not match the weight of the item or go anywhere near my address. ebay STILL force processed a 300$ refund, while the guy got the parts.
 
Zedicus said:
more than once i have had people file a return, ship "something" to me and then ebay will process the refund no matter what. i always have tacking info, and item pictures. usually i can defend myself but it is not a guarantee with ebay. one time here recently they guy added return tracking info that did not match the weight of the item or go anywhere near my address. ebay STILL force processed a 300$ refund, while the guy got the parts.
Click to expand...
Same here. I have had pretty good luck on appeals -especially if the tracking number issues before the return is forced by ebay. But, for me, 100% of the time, the return is absolutely fraudulent and the item has already been fwded halfway around the world.
 
Ebay can read your private messages. Call a rep right now and have them look at both of those messages, they will rule in favor of you.
 
nekrosoft13 said:
I had a CPU for sale on ebay, it was open box, fully tested.
CPU was listed on eBay with no returns.

So this guy from Missouri bought it, and day after the CPU shipped he sends me this message:

"Hi. I've had a change of heart and want to go with AMD. Is there any way I could return this when it arrives? Thank you for considering "

I replied to him:

"I'm sorry but the item was posted with no returns accepted. "

After the CPU arrived I got this message:

"Hello. This CPU is dead on arrival. It failed to boot, so I took a trip to Microcenter and bought an extra new motherboard, ram, and psu to confirm, and the CPU is still failing to boot. I need a full refund including shipping."

I accepted the return... but now i'm out 25-30 bucks shipping both ways...

And I know the only reason he returned it because he changed his mind.

Anyone else dealt with something like this before? I was thinking about doing a video of testing the CPU, showing it works, and then doing a refund for cost - shipping both ways.
Click to expand...

I would be surprised if the real cpu actually came back. I bet he planned the return the day after shipping because he needed a replacement for his blown cpu.

Hope you kept the serial number.
 
You got snaked, it happen to me. They did a motherboard swap on me on eBay. eBay ruled in my favor, I got to keep his money but refunded money to the buyer to keep the buyer satisfied.

I didn't pay for for the refund.

:)
 
There's "kind of" a way around this kind of nonsense from buyers on ebay. Because the buyer originally sent you a message saying, I just changed my mind - you COULD have done the return. However, they need to open a case with ebay and select "changed my mind" as the return reason (you can't actually do this as a seller).

Most of the times buyers will just pick "defective or doesn't work" because it means they don't have to pay return shipping.

But since the buyer had originally sent you a message, using ebay, claiming they just changed their mind, you could go to ebay and tell them, look this guy is trying to get free return postage when he just changed his mind. And ebay might change the return reason for you, making the buyer have to pay for the return postage.

Unfortunately ebay's customer service is useless, so if you have already accepted the return they won't do anything to help you.

But as everyone has pointed out, you'll find jerks and scammers everywhere - and that includes Reddit.
 
NIZMOZ said:
Don't use Ebay though. It has gotten bad lately. Try Reddit HardwareSwap group. I've had good luck there and here selling stuff. https://www.anandtech.com/ forums too.
Click to expand...

I won't be so sure of Reddit. I recently got scammed out of 3x hard drives on Reddit. Seller shipped 6 drives to me, 3 were defective. It was a seller that has many confirmed trades. There are lowlife scammers everywhere if you look.
 
To oversimplify, Ebay favors the buyer, because more sales = more profit for Ebay.

If you sell anything on Ebay, regardless of the return policy you state, the buyer will have 45 days to get a refund/return if requested.

I'm unsure if they still have it, but either Ebay or Paypal used to offer a limited amount of free return shipping offers that may be applicable.
 
LFaWolf said:
I won't be so sure of Reddit. I recently got scammed out of 3x hard drives on Reddit. Seller shipped 6 drives to me, 3 were defective. It was a seller that has many confirmed trades. There are lowlife scammers everywhere if you look.
Click to expand...

I've been less scammed on Reddit than Ebay. Almost every other transaction on Ebay has been some scam. So I no longer sell on Ebay now.
 
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Rvenger said:
Ebay can read your private messages. Call a rep right now and have them look at both of those messages, they will rule in favor of you.
Click to expand...
i tried calling, basically seems like no one is there, ebay wants you to use selfhelp resources and tells you to stay safe and hangs up :(

866-540-3229

anyone else knows a better number?
 
Last edited:
nekrosoft13 said:
i tried calling, basically seems like no one is there, ebay wants you to use selfhelp resources and tells you to stay safe and hangs up :(

866-540-3229

anyone else knows a better number?
Click to expand...

Don't waste your time, chances are low they will help you. Unless you have verified and can prove the CPU is NOT defective it's just your word vs. his at this point.
 
FYI, they usually lock these eBay threads as it has nothing to do with the forum. Good luck.
 
if you have high feedback and explain your case to a rep they often will side with you. But like everyone said here there are tons of scammers on ebay. I only sell stuff that i can afford for an ebayer to skimp me on. I have 1121 and 1 neutral for a laptop deemed dirty.
Recent example
Working iphone 6sseller said was defective then returned me a light bulb. took pics and gave it to ebay and paypal. The tracking number that i paid for connected the dots. Also sadly i ignore buyers from certain locations by copying their address into google. if it comes up as a scam location i kill the sale.
 
deathhorse said:
if you have high feedback and explain your case to a rep they often will side with you. But like everyone said here there are tons of scammers on ebay. I only sell stuff that i can afford for an ebayer to skimp me on. I have 1121 and 1 neutral for a laptop deemed dirty.
Recent example
Working iphone 6sseller said was defective then returned me a light bulb. took pics and gave it to ebay and paypal. The tracking number that i paid for connected the dots. Also sadly i ignore buyers from certain locations by copying their address into google. if it comes up as a scam location i kill the sale.
Click to expand...

How do you kill the sale after the trasaction ended? Don't you get dinged for that?
 
Best bet is to allow returns with a big restocking fee. That way if you do get your item back, at least the fee might cover the shipping. Put no returns in text in the ad, but set your returns setting to returns accepted with the fee.
 
NIZMOZ said:
How do you kill the sale after the trasaction ended? Don't you get dinged for that?
Click to expand...
there is a certain option that doesnt hurt you The buyer asked to cancel the order, or there's an issue with the buyer's address. i was told this by a ebay rep
 
I once made the mistake of selling a higher end AMD GPU to someone in Puerto Rico (via ebay).

Very similar. Except the person at least thought about things and damaged the card on return.

There's a lot of trust built into just about any buy/sell/trade system. We're banking on people not being evil. And some days, everyone is the devil.

(And we wonder why people are so divided? Look what we made!)
 
I don't sell internationally for this reason. Be sure to uncheck the option to sell internationally using eBays global ship program. Nothing but headaches with people who don't speak English well enough to understand the condition or description of an item.
 
I only use a few places
Ebay- I only buy from knowing returns and whatnot are a risk but I take that when it comes to hard to find items like my HP MSA micro-db9 to db9 cable most places want 200+ for
-Did that with the cable before the one that worked. I bought the wrong cable, realized I screwed up and left it to be that. A $40 mistake. I didn't even contact the seller.
Here- If I actually have stuff worth the effort, I list it here
Craigslist- If it's not worth it to post here, it goes on CL, still a pita with the people playing 20 questions when the info is in the ad but at the end of it, it's cash in hand.

If I can't sell it for whatever reason, and there isn't a lot of value, I'll recycle it. You guys here though... upgrading every few months.. I do like the FS/T section for that :D
 
CPU was allegedly send back on the May 17....

On may 9th return information was provided
He allegedly shipped it back on the 17th, with current tracking info it says

Status
Status Not Available
The tracking number may be incorrect or the status update is not yet available. Please verify your tracking number and try again later.
 
got a response from eBay

"
I know that this is very frustrating as a seller myself to know that you sent the correct item then they are going to file a case where they are going to ask for a refund, I do apologize if this is causing you any inconvenience.



if ever that the return item is not damaged or defective then know that we can report the buyer as he is abusing the return request or appeal the case.



I trust that the information I've provided will help your concern. I wish you all the best on eBay in the future.

"
 
so just now I got a new message from the buyer

"
"Hi,

The CPU does work. I had a friend help me, and we figured out it was the motherboard configuration. That's my bad. I will not need a refund after all.

Thanks" "


now to figure out how to get my money released, since paypal put it on sometype of hold.
 
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