Ebay situation that happened tonight. How to handle in the future?? long read

[gmsieb]

Maybe this has happened to others, if so, how did it turn out??
This was the first time I ever rcvd this email and I know, it would
not have ended well for me, because of ebay policy, which scares
me for future ebay sales of the kind.


I sold a 2013 inception corey seager auto redemption card.
I pulled the card and had never scratched the back, even looked at it
at the time of shipping. I shipped the card and card was dlvrd.


I rcvd an ebay message tonight, from the buyer, stating:
The card I shipped had already been redeemed and he wanted
a refund, because I never put in the description it had been redeemed.


Knowing this not to be the case and assuming it to be an attempt to rip me
off, I replied that the card was unscratched at time of shipping and that I was
calling ebay. I didn't accuse the buyer of anything or say any more than that.

I then called ebay and started telling the story to ebay. I explained, I have been using
ebay for 17 years, never rcvd a neg feedback, never ripped anyone off in the past, why
start now, over 10 buck? We talked for a second about how it would go to a special person
to decide the case. In the middle, he said, did you read the email he just sent you 2 minutes
ago, I said no, we are on the phone. I asked him to read it to me. The buyer was now stating, he tried it again and
it worked. He said that he had tried it a few times earlier and kept receiving the same
message. He also said he was sorry and thanks for the card. Now, most of us know, if you
enter a code wrong a few times, topps system locks you out. So, sounds like another hole
in his story.

At this point, I asked the ebay employee, how it would have turned out for me, he admitted,
probably not good. I said, I told you I was an honest guy, you saw 17 clean years, but be honest,
with you not knowing me, you have no way to know for sure and ebay would have decided in the sellers
favor. He basically said I was correct. Now, in the middle of this conversation, it has been proven to you
I was/am honest and I still would have been ripped off and ebay would have helped it happen. I
asked if that changed his opinion of the matter and he didnt say much.

I finally asked, if I should continue to sell redemptions and if there was anyway to protect myself.
He answered, you could continue for now, unless you lost a case and then at that point it would be
smart to stop.(kinda a no brainer there). He said, there was no real way to prove the redemption was
sent unscratched and it would be hard to win the case. Most of us know, I would have lost my $10
and the case.


How do we protect ourselves from this? Anyone dealt with this before? I don't know that I want to risk
shipping a $1000 redemption, with this possibility out there.

I know sellers get a bad rap and there is a thread making fun of sellers on fcb right now. As stated, I
have been using ebay for 17 or so years. I am equal parts buyer/seller. A few years ago, I spent 115g
on ebay(fun year for ebay bucks or ebates, whatever I was using at the time. In all those years, I have
had sellers try to rip me off once or twice. Buyers try to rip me off monthly.

LMK what you guys thing on this one and the future of selling redemptions, with ebay policy.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[hive17]

record yourself on video at the post office sealing the unscratched redemption card in the envelope and then immediately dropping it in the box/slot/whatever.

 

[Musial Collector]

Cant the redemption code be requested from the buyer then go to Topps and request when the code was entered/redeemed to prove one way or the other when the code was entered. This would show a date either before or after the sale/received by buyer date because one would use tracking.

 

[mrmopar]

You could seal the redemption card inside a top loader with a tamper seal. That won't necessarily prove you actually mailed it that way, should the card arrive with the seal broken, but might stop someone from simply scratching the bar and replacing the card if it were that easy.

Sounds like in this case, the buyer just failed to enter the code correctly though, if it eventually worked.

 

[gmsieb]

Cant the redemption code be requested from the buyer then go to Topps and request when the code was entered/redeemed to prove one way or the other when the code was entered. This would show a date either before or after the sale/received by buyer date because one would use tracking.

I thought about this, but I'm not to sure topps would continue to want to get in the middle of this and give out the info or ebay would trust it second hand.
Plus, if you were trying to rip someone off and had a decent brain, you'd probably have a friend or family member somewhere else redeem it for you.

I honestly don't think there is as safe method for a seller to mail a redemption to a buyer and be able to win a case, if needed. That is pretty scary.
I have sold 1g+ redemptions before, that would hurt.

 

[rsmath]

I don't think there is any way to protect yourself as a seller in the future other than scratching and redeeming the code and then sell whatever card comes. You have to just hope the buyer is honest otherwise.

 

[gmsieb]

You could seal the redemption card inside a top loader with a tamper seal. That won't necessarily prove you actually mailed it that way, should the card arrive with the seal broken, but might stop someone from simply scratching the bar and replacing the card if it were that easy.

Sounds like in this case, the buyer just failed to enter the code correctly though, if it eventually worked.

I hope and wish you were/are correct, but I seriously doubt it. I think he was hoping I'd just give a refund. I think it was a
planned rip off attempt. I think, based on 100 feedback, possibly a newer ebayer and got a little scared about the call to ebay,
or it just made him not want to draw attention to his acct, for further attempts. A long time ebay user would have known that a
call to ebay would have just led to me being told I was SOL. Plus, I put in a code wrong a few times in a row and my acct was blocked.
I had to call topps and explain the problem and they fixed it and unlocked my acct. I don't believe he entered a code and got the
already redeemed message at all, that would be lotto odds, and if he got the invalid message, his account would have been closed.

 

[gmsieb]

I don't think there is any way to protect yourself as a seller in the future other than scratching and redeeming the code and then sell whatever card comes. You have to just hope the buyer is honest otherwise.

I have been thinking it through for a while now and I think you are correct. A smart criminal, with a little bit of ebay knowledge would win this case every time.
That's pretty scary for me and should be to many. I am going to have to really rethink what I sell and to who, in terms of redemption's. The ebay employee
basically agreed with us. He said it would come down to the word of the buyer/seller. That's a losing case on ebay for the seller, almost every time. He said
when selling redemption's, I could change my buyer requirements. That's not very assuring.

 

[mrmopar]

As an honest ebayer (and buyer only for the most part), it scares me to know how easy it is to rip someone off and that has kept me from the desire to sell much of anything. I don't think twice about hitting a BIN or winning an auction, paying and waiting for my item and more often than not, it's arrival as expected. There are many ways that this transaction could go wrong for me or the seller, from non-receipt, to damage in transit, to tampering and item not as described among other things. I could claim any one of those at any given transaction and not have it be true though and fully expect to win the case as a buyer. That is pretty scary for a seller!

I guess you just have to hope that most people are honest and if you do get ripped off now and again, chalk it up to the cost of doing business and hope that the big hits are not where you lose. Every business has to deal with some level of loss/shrinkage/theft, so it is inevitable that an ebay seller would be no different.

 

[gmsieb]

As an honest ebayer (and buyer only for the most part), it scares me to know how easy it is to rip someone off and that has kept me from the desire to sell much of anything. I don't think twice about hitting a BIN or winning an auction, paying and waiting for my item and more often than not, it's arrival as expected. There are many ways that this transaction could go wrong for me or the seller, from non-receipt, to damage in transit, to tampering and item not as described among other things. I could claim any one of those at any given transaction and not have it be true though and fully expect to win the case as a buyer. That is pretty scary for a seller!

I guess you just have to hope that most people are honest and if you do get ripped off now and again, chalk it up to the cost of doing business and hope that the big hits are not where you lose. Every business has to deal with some level of loss/shrinkage/theft, so it is inevitable that an ebay seller would be no different.

You are correct and I agree with almost everything you said. The difference is, in a company you can try to control shrink/loss/theft. I worked at costco for many years and we were always able to lower numbers when needed. However with ebay, other than stopping, there isn't much you can do. And using the costco example with ebay, ebay policy would be like, allowing a thief to shop and pay with a personal check, knowing that if/when it bounces, there is nothing you can do about it.

As a seller, I just gotta hope more ebay buyers are like you, honest and not looking to hurt people.

 

[George_Calfas]

When you can get them on the phone, Topps is one of your best options to sort this out. They can confirm if the card has been redeemed and when provided to them, without them sharing other person info.......at least this did work in the past.