Ebay scam

[bn1966]

Hope this one goes in your favour Fonzie..a travesty otherwise!!! I stopped trading outside of the UK because of a few 'chancers'..shame..but there we go.

 

[Fonzie]

Thanks mate, yeah, I don't know why they wouldn't side with me, it would be very unfair as this really is just a case of buyer's remorse with a bad outcome if the jacket is destroyed for not collection in Customs.

 

[Skyhawk]

I had nearly the same case but not through ebay, it was paypal. I sold a jacket to a guy I think it was in Germany. Customs was holding it. The guy said he tried to pick it up but it was not there. Customs could give me no info. The tracking never updated so paypal ruled in his favor and I was forced to refund the buyer. I never got the jacket back. To this day, I think that the buyer picked up the jacket and saw the tracking didn't update. He filed the claim and ended up with his money and the jacket. I have seen jackets that have been delivered that never updated from "In customs" on the tracking. This happened more than once with USPS. I explained this to paypal. I lost.

 

[Guppy]

Hi fellow Loungers,

I would like to ask you for advice and tap into your collective experience.

I have been sent a PayPal claim for a jacket I sold on eBay and the parcel got stopped in the buyers country customs department.

His country's custom services sent him a notification letter to pay the fees so he could get the jacket, but he refuses and now he claimed to PayPal that he didn't receive the jacket, even though it is just waiting for him there.

Ebay states that customs fees are responsibility of the buyer, not the seller, and because the jacket is being held in his country only he has access to this. I can't claim the jacket back or do anything as he is the only one that can easily fix this issue.

I have escalated to PayPal the claim as being unfair on me as, I have made no fault in this transaction and he can receive the jacket easy if he fulfils his part of the deal, as it's his responsibility.

Any of you have previous experience in a similar case? I'd like to know what possible outcome awaits for me and if PayPal sides with the seller, as I have done nothing wrong.

Thanks in advance.

This is a reason why I don't do international buyers.

 

[Fonzie]

I had nearly the same case but not through ebay, it was paypal. I sold a jacket to a guy I think it was in Germany. Customs was holding it. The guy said he tried to pick it up but it was not there. Customs could give me no info. The tracking never updated so paypal ruled in his favor and I was forced to refund the buyer. I never got the jacket back. To this day, I think that the buyer picked up the jacket and saw the tracking didn't update. He filed the claim and ended up with his money and the jacket. I have seen jackets that have been delivered that never updated from "In customs" on the tracking. This happened more than once with USPS. I explained this to paypal. I lost.

Thanks for your answer Skyhawk.

In my favour, I have a photo of the letter that customs sent him stating that the jacket is ready for collection (the buyer sent it to me via EBay, I think he wanted me to pay for it).

This is a PayPal claim too and I’ve attached this photo as proof of evidence supporting my case.
The postal tracking also shows that the parcel has been in customs since the first of March.
Surely they will have to accept that he is at fault for not wanting to pay?


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[Skyhawk]

I certainly wish you the best. In my case they told me their hands were tied unless they got an updated tracking status of delivered. Otherwise they considered it "Item Not Received". The problem comes in when you have some packages delivered with out the status ever changing out of "Held In Customs". In one case I checked back months later and the tracking still said "Held In customs". Meanwhile the customer notified me that he had received the jacket and was enjoying wearing it for months. Different case. Same potential issue.

 

[Fonzie]

Thanks, that certainly sucks, worst case scenario.
I hope PayPal will be more fair in this case. Otherwise they’re properly crooked.


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[ProteinNerd]

Wow, sorry to hear this. I can’t imagine eBay siding with the buyer as they have pretty clear terms that sellers are not responsible for customs etc....having said that, I’ve heard of a lot of ridiculous dispute resolutions from eBay.

All the best for the right outcome!

 

[Guppy]

If you do get ruled against, appeal it.

 

[Fonzie]

Can you do that? Maybe I should open a claim first on EBay (if that’s even posible)?
He’s opened the claim on Paypal but not on EBay.


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[Fonzie]

The way it is, he has full access to receive the jacket but simply ignores it.


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[navetsea]

it is impossible that in your case ebay/ paypal would side with the buyer.
most of their "solutions" are automation by stupid AI, but when the case is escalated where real human moderator get involved it should be OK.

 

[Fonzie]

Thanks, that gives me a bit of hope. [emoji4]


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[Cooper A-2]

I had nearly the same case but not through ebay, it was paypal. I sold a jacket to a guy I think it was in Germany. Customs was holding it. The guy said he tried to pick it up but it was not there. Customs could give me no info. The tracking never updated so paypal ruled in his favor and I was forced to refund the buyer. I never got the jacket back. To this day, I think that the buyer picked up the jacket and saw the tracking didn't update. He filed the claim and ended up with his money and the jacket. I have seen jackets that have been delivered that never updated from "In customs" on the tracking. This happened more than once with USPS. I explained this to paypal. I lost.

Sorry for your loss...
this is the reason why I only ship via prime carriers and NOT via mail priority etc...
Buyer always moan...( for USA, Aus-NZ , CIS, it costs 95-115 Euro) , but its traceable with signature until the last minute of travelling...and they have their own customs declarants..
Even for EU but non Euro users, it can become difficult...hence also here only this special Express services ( costs 55,—Euro for UK, Sweden , Denmark....if shiped from France)...But never lost an item...
Again, you only get what you pay for....

 

[robrinay]

I too only ship insured tracked and signed for but that wouldn’t have changed this issue. Customs are holding the item awaiting duty to be paid by the owner of the goods ie the buyer.
I shipped a Moulton bike to Thailand using DHL, a few years ago and received emails from Customs demanding payment and threatening to ship the bike back to me and charge me the cost if I didn’t pay. I contacted the buyer who says he had paid the duty already and to to ignore their ‘scam’. Had he refused to pay I’m not sure what would have happened? I hate to say it but using eBay’s Global Shipping Programme would have stopped the customs problem as the buyer would already have paid those charges and some! With the exact Science of hindsight Fonzies buyer deserved to pay well over the odds for the GSP - he’s not a nice person and deserves no favours.

 

[John Lever]

Yes I have. My advice would be to call eBay and PayPal. Any customs fees or duties are the sole responsibility of the buyer.

 

[JMax]

I think you will be fine. As you said, customs is buyers responsibility. Virtually written in stone.

Whenever I have a problem I call eBay/PayPal every day until the issue is resolved. JMax becomes a respectful (usually) yet consummate pain in the ass.

 

[Skyhawk]

Sorry for your loss...
this is the reason why I only ship via prime carriers and NOT via mail priority etc...
Buyer always moan...( for USA, Aus-NZ , CIS, it costs 95-115 Euro) , but its traceable with signature until the last minute of travelling...and they have their own customs declarants..
Even for EU but non Euro users, it can become difficult...hence also here only this special Express services ( costs 55,—Euro for UK, Sweden , Denmark....if shiped from France)...But never lost an item...
Again, you only get what you pay for....

I had insurance and filed a claim. Since it could not be tracked the USPS researched it and wound up paying my claim. It took over a month to get reimbursed though. I would not ship internationally without insurance.

It sounds like you can prove that customs has it because you have that document. All I had was tracking. You should be OK.

 

[Fonzie]

Thanks for your answers guys.
I’ll give Paypal a call as I have a pretty strong case in my favor, hopefully they’ll be reasonable.

If not, my faith in humanity will be forever lost in darkness.
Or maybe not, will see.
Cheers.


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[Monitor]

Thanks for your answers guys.
I’ll give Paypal a call as I have a pretty strong case in my favor, hopefully they’ll be reasonable.

If not, my faith in humanity will be forever lost in darkness.
Or maybe not, will see.
Cheers.


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If you call eBay, absolutely insist that they protect you against a negative review which the buyer will be able to leave you, even if the case has been closed in your favor. That's what happened to me. You can read about my case a few pages back but in short, even though I had won the case, the idiot buyer could still leave me a bad review and now I'm stuck with it.