# Advice on buyer not responding



## bikiba (Oct 4, 2021)

hey guys

so i have a buyer of a bike say the chain guard screw was stripped and a t8 black out pedal was "sticky" asked me for $70 which was 20% of the sale price. So i let it go to ebay to make a decision, ebay refunded the guy after i made my case. so now the guy has a refund from ebay and the bike. Ebay then says i owe them the money so they try to pull the money from my bank account. The weird thing is that they closed out what i owed them, but it doesnt show on my bank account. I called the bank and they said nothing was requested across this or any other account. they confirmed with the ACH department and called me back too. [ pretty nice service ]

The first pic used to say -390.00. After they confirmed they got the money it went to 0. Has anyone seen this before? 








So now to get the bike back, do i call the police in his town and say he has my property? I obviously know where he lives and have the return receipts etc. I filed a complaint with ebay, but it is just so painful, i cant get a number for them to call me back and I have a feeling they are going to say too bad so sad to me. 

any advice would be appreciated!!

and yes this is the worst ebay experience i have had to date ;(


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## Freqman1 (Oct 4, 2021)

Another great example of why I no longer sell on EBay. Sorry to hear this story but I’d just chalk this up as a learning experience and close your seller account. V/r Shawn


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Oct 4, 2021)

ebay hates you. you take up too much valuable space. they don't want small sellers and that has been apparent for years. they don't care if you ever sell again.


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## catfish (Oct 4, 2021)

Kiss it all goodbye, and close your ebay seller account. Just walk away.


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## HEMI426 (Oct 4, 2021)

E-Bay is feeding the scammers while screwing the honest, which just so happens to be the people they have made Billons off of for decades.


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## bikiba (Oct 4, 2021)

catfish said:


> Kiss it all goodbye, and close your ebay seller account. Just walk away.




i know you are right.... arghhhhhhhhhh


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## bikebozo (Oct 4, 2021)

If you know where he lives , it is probably not even his address . Be very careful there are many scams and lots of people who know how to get  your money. Some of the fraud , Is very crafty . Wpb , WANTED SUPER STREAMLINE or Fleetwood


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## SirMike1983 (Oct 4, 2021)

Did the money actually go into your account, or was it just "pending" with eBay? Ebay has, for some time, had the habit of holding your money until they close out the sale. Sellers who sold a lot and had good feedback might get the money faster, but a regular seller usually was subject to eBay holding onto the funds until the matter closed. Hence you would not see the money deducted from the account because it never really made it there, and instead they just refunded what was sitting in their system. 

This kind of refund scheme is all-too-common on eBay, and it's a risk all sellers take from time to time.

I doubt you'll get far in a criminal complaint, unless this is a known bad actor with a scammer history. If this is a low value, one-off thing, you'll probably be told to bring a civil suit to recover the item, or a small claims action to recover money. But if this guy is a known problem and scamming many people, a criminal complaint might bring action because these guys do eventually get on the radar if they keeping doing it.


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## Maskadeo (Oct 4, 2021)

eBay has basically become the Wild West at this point. A lot of people pulling scams and it seems they don’t want to reign in the the shenanigans at this time.


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## bikiba (Oct 4, 2021)

SirMike1983 said:


> Did the money actually go into your account, or was it just "pending" with eBay? Ebay has, for some time, had the habit of holding your money until they close out the sale. Sellers who sold a lot and had good feedback might get the money faster, but a regular seller usually was subject to eBay holding onto the funds until the matter closed. Hence you would not see the money deducted from the account because it never really made it there, and instead they just refunded what was sitting in their system.
> 
> This kind of refund scheme is all-too-common on eBay, and it's a risk all sellers take from time to time.
> 
> I doubt you'll get far in a criminal complaint, unless this is a known bad actor with a scammer history. If this is a low value, one-off thing, you'll probably be told to bring a civil suit to recover the item, or a small claims action to recover money. But if this guy is a known problem and scamming many people, a criminal complaint might bring action because these guys do eventually get on the radar if they keeping doing it.



hey Mike - long time

Yeah the crazy thing is i do have the money in my account. It got sent over at the start of sept. It is an account i only use for ebay. Not that i sell more than like 10 things a year, but i wanted to keep it segregated. They sent me a note saying my account was negative [ it showed -390 ] and that they were going to hit my "preferred payment" account if i didnt move money in. Then i got a note yesterday that it was completed. So i checked today and nothing is out and nothing requested

im wondering since i made so many complaints to ebay... even before he filed the return i told them he was trying to extort me for money... maybe they just closed it and didnt try to get the money?

i went into the bank on Sat and asked the guy what to do... he said IMMEDIATELY we can dispute it. I was a bit taken aback, he said it is happening ALL THE TIME.

Its unfortunate because it just has such a wide reach, like i love buying stuff off of it personally. oh well.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Oct 4, 2021)

I had a guy try to scam me on a Hot Wheel once. told me there was a crack in the windshield, and he would like $$$$$ back. so I looked at the giant photos I had, and there was no crack, so I did not respond at all.


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## Freqman1 (Oct 4, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> I had a guy try to scam me on a Hot Wheel once. told me there was a crack in the windshield, and he would like $$$$$ back. so I looked at the giant photos I had, and there was no crack, so I did not respond at all.



Unfortunately Ebay will side with the buyer even when they are wrong. I had a sale one time where the buyer, in an Ebay message, tried to blackmail me in to refunding their money and keeping the item saying they would "leave negative feedback" if I didn't comply. Even after Ebay read the email they still said "well you could just go ahead and refund the money"! I was like WTF you gotta be kidding me. Only after about a 15 min discussion did they agree with me. The buyer did leave neg and they retracted it. My brother had a buyer try to say "not as described" and sent Ebay a pic of a similar item in worse condition and my brother had to go through the same thing pointing them to look at the auction pics. Way more trouble than it's worth for us casual sellers. Add to that the IRS is going to start issuing 1099s I just see no upside. V/r Shawn


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Oct 4, 2021)

Freqman1 said:


> Unfortunately Ebay will side with the buyer even when they are wrong.



I'm guessing my scammer did this to everyone, and most give a refund. it would seem he does not follow through with ebay. probably 9 times out of 10 people pay up. this was 15 years ago before scammers became more important than sellers.


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## bikiba (Oct 4, 2021)

Freqman1 said:


> Unfortunately Ebay will side with the buyer even when they are wrong. I had a sale one time where the buyer, in an Ebay message, tried to blackmail me in to refunding their money and keeping the item saying they would "leave negative feedback" if I didn't comply. Even after Ebay read the email they still said "well you could just go ahead and refund the money"! I was like WTF you gotta be kidding me. Only after about a 15 min discussion did they agree with me. The buyer did leave neg and they retracted it. My brother had a buyer try to say "not as described" and sent Ebay a pic of a similar item in worse condition and my brother had to go through the same thing pointing them to look at the auction pics. Way more trouble than it's worth for us casual sellers. Add to that the IRS is going to start issuing 1099s I just see no upside. V/r Shawn



it really is way more trouble than it is worth for low volumes.


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## kreika (Oct 4, 2021)

So back to the bike. Is the guy going to return it to you? Have you contacted him? If this how eBay does it’s thing let’s all go buy killer prewar stuff and keep it and demand a refund. Free stuff! Nope just joking. Middle finger=eBay


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## bikebozo (Oct 4, 2021)

Facebook and all there companys are Down


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## HEMI426 (Oct 4, 2021)

After they get their money back, and keep the item, do you think the scammers resell the items, like is this their job. If they have 0 in it, other than time, what ever they get is 100% profit. I never did E-Bay don't the buyers get a feedback too. Glad I never sold there. But I had friends that sold for me.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Oct 4, 2021)

HEMI426 said:


> After they get their money back, and keep the item, do you think the scammers resell the items, like is this their job. If they have 0 in it, other than time, what ever they get is 100% profit. I never did E-Bay don't the buyers get a feedback too. Glad I never sold there. But I had friends that sold for me.



don't be glad you never sold there, just be glad you are not selling now. before 2008 it was great, then they started making changes trying to be Amazon and failed miserably.


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## Archie Sturmer (Oct 4, 2021)

I believe that the *seller* might have to *pay* for the return shipping.

Once I received the wrong item and the seller sent me a prepaid shipping envelope from one of the private entities that collaborated with the USPS; I packed the item and dropped it off at the post office.

Not sure how that works with large bicycle boxes?


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## vincev (Oct 4, 2021)

I believe in local pickup,cash and good bye.


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## bikiba (Oct 5, 2021)

kreika said:


> So back to the bike. Is the guy going to return it to you? Have you contacted him? If this how eBay does it’s thing let’s all go buy killer prewar stuff and keep it and demand a refund. Free stuff! Nope just joking. Middle finger=eBay



I contacted him and no answer. I found the local PD in his town and told him I was going to call today if he doesn't answer by noon.

And on the money front, I just checked and there is a pending eBay trans to pull the money. So seems like their process is a bit delayed when they pull.


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## bikiba (Oct 5, 2021)

Archie Sturmer said:


> I believe that the *seller* might have to *pay* for the return shipping.
> 
> Once I received the wrong item and the seller sent me a prepaid shipping envelope from one of the private entities that collaborated with the USPS; I packed the item and dropped it off at the post office.
> 
> Not sure how that works with large bicycle boxes?



It depends on the sale. You can offer free returns, but the buyer pays that. I know now to add that but if they claim it is defective the seller still has to pay  so basically this loop hole for buyers to claim it is defective is how sellers are scammed.

So I contacted the seller and asked when can FedEx come to pick it up, I'll send you the label. Crickets....


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## Robert Troub (Oct 5, 2021)

You can have eBay call you...it's tough to find, but it's there...you click a button, and eBay will call you back within minutes...you need to speak to THEM about this.....buyer doesn't keep the $$ and the item.....you may have to send him a shipping label...eBay will walk you thru that.....it's kind of a pain, but this is resolvable.......and if the buyer DOES NOT SHIP THE ITEM BACK, you get the $$.....


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## Coyote (Oct 5, 2021)

bikiba said:


> I contacted him and no answer. I found the local PD in his town and told him I was going to call today if he doesn't answer by noon.



Always an option.
I once sent a guy $50 for a bike frame, which he never bother to send me.
Numerous emails went unanswered, two months go by.
EBay "Service" was no help in the matter either.
Paid by Paypal, so I didn't have the guy's address or phone number.
Did a little internet sleuthing based on his name and the town EBay listed as "shipping from".

Couldn't find his home address but found out he worked as an assistant in his Church office.
Called him there one day, and boy, was he pissed!!
I told him - get off your arse and send me what I paid for and I promise you will never hear from me again.
Now, he started responding to my emails.
Then he gave me a bunch of crud about calling him at work and how I am being a jerk over a measly $50.
I replied "Hey, if you think I'm the bad guy here, you've got another think coming."
He refunded me in Paypal one day later.


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## bikiba (Oct 5, 2021)

Robert Troub said:


> You can have eBay call you...it's tough to find, but it's there...you click a button, and eBay will call you back within minutes...you need to speak to THEM about this.....buyer doesn't keep the $$ and the item.....you may have to send him a shipping label...eBay will walk you thru that.....it's kind of a pain, but this is resolvable.......and if the buyer DOES NOT SHIP THE ITEM BACK, you get the $$.....




i actually called the police in his town and talked to the officer for like 15mins and he said he would goto the house to speak to him. Which i thought was nice.

for the life of me i could not find that button to call me back! i emailed them and asked them. Ill try it again


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## bikiba (Oct 5, 2021)

Coyote said:


> Always an option.
> I once sent a guy $50 for a bike frame, which he never bother to send me.
> Numerous emails went unanswered, two months go by.
> EBay "Service" was no help in the matter either.
> ...



that is a good idea!


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## bikiba (Oct 8, 2021)

So ... in the next episode of the ebay tale

I finally figured out how to get them to call me, i told them the story and how this guy wasnt responding, spoke to the supervisor and they creditted my account today.

The policeman also contacted me and said he went to the guys house - and the guy said he has the bke and the money and under ebay policy doesnt have to return it. So the policeman asked me if i had proof that ebay said he has to return it. So i sent him messages from ebay that said he did and to report him if he didnt. I also asked the policeman if he could confiscate the bike. At this point - i just dont want this guy to have the bike. I'd rather throw it into the ocean.

So we will see.... BUT - i guess lesson learned are

dont go through ebay arbitration even if you think you will win.
if you get screwed, call ebay and speak to a supervisor.


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## ZOOK (Oct 9, 2021)

File a claim with PayPal. You can actually talk to a person. have had better luck with them than ebay.


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## Boneman (Oct 9, 2021)

I have a perfect 100% positive feedback score on eBay as a seller And I’ve been screwed twice on returns for buyers that had less than 10 auctions. eBay sided with both buyers costing me over 100 dollars in shipping costs. Even when you state in your listing that you don’t accept returns you are still forced to by eBay. I have not done a single listing since and never will unless they change there policies. They need to figure out that there profits come from the sellers and not the buyers.  Screw eBay.


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## raidingclosets (Oct 9, 2021)

I sell through eBay for a work account and ran into another unfortunate Ebay policy I was unaware of until this week...

Buyer opened a return, returned the item and when I opened the package it was their old non-functional item.  I report the buyer for abusing returns and escalate the return case to ebay choosing the provided option . I included pictures of the item we sent and the clear differences in the item returned to us.  Ebay decided in the buyer's favor meaning they got a refund and to keep the item.  I called ebay to appeal, and because we are a Top Rated seller they decided in our favor and returned all of our money.  That money is actually coming out of ebay's pocket and not from the buyers account, and because ebay is out the money this is a one-time option for us as a seller.  Ebay is unwilling to fault a buyer, and so the next time this happens the BEST option we have (and only because we are a Top Rated Seller) is to return 50% of the item cost to the buyer to close the case. So the buyer would get to keep the good item for half the price. I've called, talked to a representative who stated this to me and so requested a supervisor who said the same thing.  Worse yet, if you escalate the case to ebay they WILL side with the buyer and their will be a strike on your seller account for failing to resolve a return. 

*Just to be clear, this is not an isolated incident on ebay, this is their policy that all the reps follow.*

The only real help I've found to better resolve this fraudulent return came from a message board with the suggestion of messaging the buyer BEFORE escalating the case to ebay informing them that they "may have mistakenly sent the wrong item back", and when you don't hear anything from them messaging them once more informing them that you are going to file a police report in their city, report them for mail fraud ( https://ehome.uspis.gov/fcsexternal/default.aspx ), and reporting it to IC3 ( https://www.ic3.gov/Home/FileComplaint ) and hoping that scares them enough to close the return case. 


Hope this info helps someone else, as it's happened to us twice in the last 6 months.  Not sure if it's becoming an increasingly common occurrence or just an unfortunate streak we're on.


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## Schwinny (Oct 13, 2021)

Another scam I was previously forced to walk through was where a buyer bought a real expensive thing from me ($350). 
I mailed it with tracking and proper insurance. I followed the package via the USPS site and it was marked "delivered."
Two days later he emails me and asks where it is.
Long story short, he wants me to start an insurance claim with the PO to get my money back and he gets to keep the items.  I told him that I sent the package un-insured and he would need to talk with his mailman. I did that in case he was stupid enough to get mad and tell me he knows I did.... Next was crickets and then he started a eBay claim and eBay sided with me since it was marked delivered.
I have also had eBay let the buyer keep stuff and then refunded me for it so the only person assed out is eBay or their insurance company.
So many different ways to be unsatisfied on both sids = Not worth it


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## Freqman1 (Oct 13, 2021)

While eBay allows you to reach the widest audience possible I think too many buyers are gaming the system because they know 98% of the time they will win. Not worth it to me either. V/r Shawn


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