Any eBay Sellers Here?

[Panthers128]

I sold an item on eBay with delivery confirmation and the tracking information shows that it has been shipped. The buyer has claimed that the item never arrived. The item was around $120. It's not going to make or break me, but nobody wants to lose money when they did nothing wrong.

Do any of you have experience with this type of situation? I'm getting mixed feedback from my Google research. Many have said that since the delivery confirmation proves I don't have the package and that USPS doesn't have the package, I should not have to offer a refund. Some more cynical posters have implied that this is an obvious scam by the buyer to try and keep the item and also get a refund. I don't want to get into all that. I only know that I shipped the package and that I have proof that I shipped the package. Anything could've happened to the package from there.

There are other results that suggest delivery confirmation is useless. I would really hope this is not the case. If so I never intend to sell on eBay again.

Further research revealed a case similar to mine where the seller initially was rewarded a refund but it was removed. Basically there are some cities in the USA that do not have post offices. When shipping to these cities, the delivery will not say it shipped directly to the city listed on their address, it'll list the city nearest to it that has the post office. It appears some eBay users are using this to confuse eBay representatives. They say that because the item shipped to an address different from their own, they should be refunded. In reality there is no way to ship a package to certain addresses. USPS will change the city to fit their system.

So far the buyer hasn't made a claim with eBay. I made a lost package claim with the post office today and was told I'd receive a reply tomorrow. I have no intention of giving the person a refund unless eBay forces one. I sympathize with the buyer but I'm not a rich company selling a product and can't justify such losses.

[Ja Rhule]

fug ebay. I had terrible experience selling there. I've been selling on the net for ages but it seems like ebay has a huge amount of fugtards these days. Plus ebay policies are poo. Ebay can even freeze ur paypal account while u under their investigation and it can take months to resolve.

[jasonluckydog]

I sell all the time and if anything I sell is over $100 I pay insurance so I'm covered...You did the right thing with D/C Paypal and Ebay will side with you but in the future use insurance.

[Ja Rhule]

Ebay can dig into ur account and take ur money without authorization.

[Rip Saw]

E bay cant take your money but paypal will if the buyer has ANY sort of beef with the deal - and 99 times out of 100 paypal will side with the buyer. the game is definately rigged on the buyers side these days and for that reason I hesitate to sell anything of much value on e bay with paypal as payment method. In the future you whould always ship with delivery confirmation with signature.

[Mother Grabber]

Ebay can dig into ur account and take ur money without authorization.

E bay cant take your money but paypal will if the buyer has ANY sort of beef with the deal - and 99 times out of 100 paypal will side with the buyer. the game is definately rigged on the buyers side these days and for that reason I hesitate to sell anything of much value on e bay with paypal as payment method. In the future you whould always ship with delivery confirmation with signature.

I work at PayPal...there is no conspiracy going on. If you have a problem, call them. They will try to resolve the dispute as best they can. I don't use eBay because I don't trust the person on the other end of the line...that and their UI is butt ugly and 20 years out of date.

There a ton of people out there trying to take advantage of anything they can, and eBay provides a way for them to do that. eBay is built on trust and the concept that people are generally good...it says so right on my badge. :)

When that works, it's great. When it doesn't, people get pissed off and blame the system. You can't blame eBay or PayPal if someone lies to you and takes your stuff. What you can do is dispute it, both with eBay and PayPal, and they will do the best that they can to resolve it. PayPal eats disputed claims all the time.

[Ja Rhule]

I love paypal. You guys did a great job by combining with Bill Me Latter services.

[Mother Grabber]

The previous posts on here are dead on. You have to cover your ass when you shop on ebay. If you buy or sell something of value, make sure you do everything you can to protect yourself from fraud, ie insurance and tracking. Use FedEx and make em sign for it.

[KendrickPanther]

The internet is full of scam artists. I've been trying to sell some stuff on craigslist and 9 out of 10 inquiries I receive are scams. I sold one thing on Amazon who took a massive cut. Luckily I wasn't scammed but I read horror stories from sellers getting ripped off by fraudulent buyers.

[Floppin]

I sold a road bike for 1700 bucks earlier this year on ebay and used paypal. So long as you do everything the way that they recommend then you shouldn't have any problems. Flat out refuse to sell to anyone who isn't willing to do things the recommended way.

[the butch]

they typically do side with buyers. but as far as i know, the fact that you paid for delivery confirmation should help you out. contact the carrier and confirm delivery. if they confirm, then it's own the buyer. if the buyer is given his money back, then request the package back from the carrier or file a claim with them to refund the value you lost, which in most cases if you take it up high enough and pursue it, they will just give you the hundred bucks.

[DC Amp]

I just bought something off ebay and it also had delivery confirmation with tracking, I tracked it till it was out for delivery. It never came that day and the tracking update said it had been delivered. Went to the post office and raised hell, somehow the package arrived the next day.

I've sold over 100 computers on ebay, I used Fed-ex only with tracking, insurance only if they paid for it because the first hundred was covered & never had a problem.

[jtnc]

First off, NEVER use USPS their tracking service is not only unreliable but the postal workers could not give one single fug if it is delivered or not. If it is not shown as 'delivered' then you're probably out of your money because the postal worker did not take the time to scan it. File a claim with USPS, but if you didn't pay for insurance then you're double fuged.

[Ivan The Awesome]

I used to sell on Amazon. I had one bad event happen, but everything was resolved. I didn't have to refund the person's money simply because I had paid insurance and delivery confirmation on it. It was worth the extra money. Turned out the guy did receive the item. Don't know if Amazon did anything about it though.