Please Protect Yourself From This EBAY SCAM Before It's Too Late
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- Are you worried about falling victim to eBay scams? You should be. They are happening every day. Drop shippers and Scammers sniff out new and old sellers alike to try and get them to refund or partial refund the item. They claim it doesn't work, didn't arrive, or isn't what they ordered. In this video I give two real life eBay customer scam situations I dealt with. Learn about how to protect yourself and know about what eBay scams to watch out for as a seller. Also learn how to spot someone dropshipping on eBay.
Flipping Junk
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That was most definitely a scam. I sold to the same buyer and the conversation was nearly verbatim. They almost had me until my antenna went up... Thanks for warning the community!
My very humble advice: Don't sell to drop shippers. It's not fair!!!
Please make more videos about scammers. When it happens to me I need to know how to react. You’re the best!
I always, ALWAYS, include at least one photo of the serial number in the ebay listing. That is verifiable documentation.
Yep, I always do the same.
Problem with eBay is they now are totally on the buyers side even if they are scamming.
They have been buyer-centric for well over a decade. I started with them in the late nineties and back then they would stand up for sellers in ways they would never consider today.
Yep, this happened to me. I offer a disc resurfacing service. Some lowlife scammer by the name of Benage said I messed up discs when I didn't. Ebay sided with him and made me give a refund. I then made a video on my channel, exposing him.
Bingo
@@jahblessin3996 About 15 years ago I actually had an Ebay CSR flat out tell me that they always side with the buyer. Ebay CSR's are like your companies Human Resources dept. Thay say they're on your side, but they're not. They both work for the company and will do what's best for them, not you.
Are they turning into amazon now?
One giveaway is they never identify the product, it's always "item"
Just had the exact same messages after sale. I knew sale was drop shipped by presale messages. Was confident item was good. Glad I watched your video and dealt with him very similarly. Messages were nearly the exact same. Was very tempted to call him out but didn’t.
I reported, but they likely don’t do anything about.
Thank you!
BTW you are one of the few RUclips thrifters I can actually watch without cringing.
Wow. The EXACT thing happened to me with the exact same profile picture and messages. But unlike you, I fell for it and did refund him! 🤦♂️ I’ve been selling for 4 years now and still got scammed. Lesson learned.
Thanks for showing me the professional way to handle this situation. I will be using this from now on. Great content!
They got me too :(. Not the same person but similar few years ago. That was last vcr ever sold.
And he will probably never buy from you again because he knows you will not play! Win-win
@@SarahtransformsVCRs are a good item to sell. Usually i pick them up fir $2.99 and sell for $40-$100
Dont feel bad man. They got me too 1 time a cpl years ago too 🤦♀️. They prey on good ppl. Theyre schemes are ever evolving, its incredibly pathetic. In the end like u said, lesson learned. ❤
Most likely
I just bought a box of rocks from Ebay.
It arrived today, but there's only a keyboard in it.
I love this video. You did an amazing job of explaining what it is and what the scammer is doing. You've probably prevented someone from getting taken advantage of.
I immediately block any buyers that send goofy ass messages
I do too! I also immediately block buyers who leave me negative feedback without first contacting me in order to give me the opportunity to remedy the issue. Always block anyone whom you even suspect may be a scammer. 👍
Me too, I just blocked one yesterday that wanted me to take pics of my feet in the sandals I listed. Ggggoonnee
@westcoastpicker167 You'd be surprised how many people are completely ignorant to the affects of feedback. The last 3 people that's left me negetive feedback without reaching out to me ended up switching it to positive. The majority are older folks, or people that don't even understand that most of the stuff you buy from ebay are from resellers. I just shot them a message sayin hey I offer free returns. Then let them know the negetive feedback actually hurts my ebay store. I've been lucky though....I've really only dealt with like 2 or 3 crazy buyers in a span of 18 years
If I get messages about potential problems BEFORE you buy the item... blocked!
Yeah, only fools get scammed on EBay, I can smell them the first stupid question.
Sold a Leica bridge camera for parts a while back to a guy who was clearly a reseller/repairman and he hit me up with an automated message about how the package was delivered, but he was out of town so it wasn't him that had gotten it. Message was clearly a template with his payment info and all that jazz. I am an international seller so he gambled on my ignorance about the USPS. Showed him tracking from USPS where it said that he had signed for it and asked him to check with neighbors and how it is a serious problem if somebody else is signing for packages in his name and that he should contact the authorities etc, after that he shut up. There are so many people like that who attempt to fish for refunds in every situation just to bait people into giving them money.
I fell for this scam once where they wanted a partial refund. Never again. I like your responses, I’m keeping them in my files because I’m sure I’ll get this again.
I got a partial refund today. They sent the wrong item. It was similar, so I said to refund the difference.
eBay allows you to report people who ask for a partial refund.
Had a VERY similar situation with an Epson printer. It was clearly a dropshipper with the specific packing instructions he gave me. Knowing how these can go, I tested it once more literally as I was packing it up to be sure everything was good to go.
Got a message minutes after it was delivered claiming it didnt print but they were willing to try to fix it themselves if I gave them a partial refund. I stood firm on them returning it and didnt hear from them again. I was a bit relieved the bluff worked since it costs a small fortune to sell those things.
Its crap like this that has made me shy away from most large electronics these days. Sometimes the profit isnt worth the headaches.
I’m the same. It’s why I won’t sell iPhones or anything like that on Ebay now too many people scamming on there. As a seller you are always the villain.
I used to work at Comp USA back in the late 90's. I worked the Customer Service Desk and on several occasions brand new PC's and Laptops were returned (still sealed) that were later discovered to have bricks or yhe like in the boxes. Resealing boxes so they look like factory seals is easier than you think. We had to start opening all items being returned, sealed or not, to verify the contents.
So if a non scamming customer returned a sealed $2000 pc with nothing wrong with it, you would break the seal and then have to sell it as used?
@@dannydaw59Probably the manufacturer gives credit back to the store and sells all the returns to wholesalers in bulk. So, yes the store opens the returns because they're just going back to the manufacturer anyway.
My friend bought a VCR in a box sealed in a parking lot. Nothing but phone books inside.
Happened at Office Max to a former school mate when she worked there. Her colleague took a brand new, still in the sealed box, tower computer that was $3000+ back. It wasn’t until long after the customer left that they determined what happened. The worst part of it all was the purchase was in cash & when the customer brought it back they got cash back. They had to eat that lose.
When I worked at Best Buy we would open all returns & inspect them. And we sold them as still new because they were technically still brand new.
Btw this is a crime that can get you jail time. It’s called fraudulent returns. And there is no excuse if they open the box and the thing inside isn’t what the box is they can call the police
Wow man it's amazing, these incidents that you tell of your real experiences are both very educational and disheartening too. About 10 years ago I purchased a Zildjian cymbal from a seller on Ebay and when it arrived at my post office locker it was a pizza box! with nothing in it except pizza sauce! Luckily the postal employee was there and I showed it to him and he vouched for me and I was quickly refunded. Stuff like this makes me despise people like that seller. I appreciate your sharing of your experiences and thanks for creating this channel. BTW, I never sell anything that is sealed unless I myself brought it from the actual store. I'd rather break the seal and check the contents and sell as open box then risk a "rocky experience" lol.
I'm actually rather surprised by how good my experience as a buyer has been. I've had the odd thing that just didn't work or wasn't as described but have had a good resolution every time, one time where I ended up getting a free SSD due to a massively incompetent courier and a seller who failed to reply when I told them the lost and refunded item had arrived months late, and one where I'm really not sure if there was bad intent but which worked out anyway.
The latter case was one where I'd bought a used supposedly working and quality (ie blue) Bosch battery drill for a *very* low price which turned up essentially unable to shift between high and low gears or even reliably get into either gear, but on dismantling the drill and having a look, it was immediately clear why that was happening - possibly some lubrication issue but seemingly more likely a poor design or (somewhat less likely) a bizarrely missing part. As it happened, I had the perfect material on hand to make a suitable shim which fully fixed the problem with minimal work, so *after* I had fixed it, I first messaged the sender describing the problem, then a few minutes later messaged them again saying that I'd sorted it out, that it was trivially easy to fix, that I was entirely happy, and thanking them profusely for the item.
There's no way it would have seemed fully working to someone properly trying it out, so if they were genuine and just hadn't checked it out before sending, they should have been happy I had fixed it.
If they had been trying to pass off something not really functional as working, I really hope that my overexuberant happiness at ending up with a very cheap and fully working item really wasn't what they had hoped for.
Though the batteries are now far from great, I'm still using it for many things 20 years later.
I bought a power tool from a Home Depot located in a shady part of town. I decided to return it because I found a better deal. The box was unopened and secured with those heavy duty straps, The worker at the return desk has been trained to cut the straps and inspect the contents before giving the refund.
...... Thanks??
I bought a vcr/DVD combo unit at a church rummage sale that appeared to be new unopened for $20. Before I listed it something told me to open it up. Inside it was filled with someone's garage sale leftovers. Thank God I didn't list it. It happens.
Sorry to hear that. I always test before buying. Good will has plugs. I will ask to open mystery box /good point. I will take your bad experience to heart.
There's a guy who runs a pawn shop and posts vids here on RUclips. Recently he had an elderly lady come into his store and try to sell a circular saw in a 'sealed' box. She claims it was purchased new by her deceased spouse. The owner of the pawn shop insisted that he open the box before he'd make an offer. The nice grandma finally relented. When the pawn shop owner opened the box it was full of newspapers...no saw to be found.
@@MrSloika wow ,
I sell clothing, and all of the measurements are in the title listing description and photos of the actual measurements. We have 30-day free returns on ALL clothing items. Pre-owned clothing more times than not will have some shrinkage, so we list this way to eliminate all discrepancies (size tag almost always irrelevant)...
I get a message saying, "I ordered a 36-inch waist, but these are a 38-inch waist... what are you going to do about this?"... Then I explain: (everything about the listing).. Somehow, they never seem to understand this very, very simple explanation backed exactly by the listing. They know they got EXACTLY what they purchased, but they want a discount and keep the item for even less than they paid.
It's absolutely ridiculous what people try to do.. WE HAVE FREE RETURNS FOR 30 F-ING DAYS! if there's something you don't like, just return the item!!! (Only had 5 returns in a year).
Tell 'em to eat more to fatten up? 🤷♂😂
I definitely DO like these short videos! The new trend is to drag the thing on for 30-40 minutes before the presenter finally gets around to the reason you clicked on the video in the first place. I waste way too much time that way.
Yep, tons of clickbait on RUclips, not just from resellers.
RUclips is annoying because if you don't get a lot of watch time they never recommend your channel to new people. They created this ecosystem where content creators have to make worse content to chase watch time. RUclips will be nothing but spammy weird clickbait stuff eventually.
My biggest beef is bogus headlines that the video never shows or mentions after you have listened to it for half an hour.
Excellent video, love the way you handled both. Couple of weeks ago I had a “disabled”buyer that had no access to a camera, computer or smartphone to send pictures of damage. SMH
Did you pose the query why how on earth did you purchase something off of eBay then?
@ lol, thought about it. Basically waited her out and never heard back.
I've definitely had this one happen...or really bad pics 😅😅😅
Then they should ask a friend for help, or don't buy online. If that is true.
Great info! A lot of scammers out of there today, it’s getting worse & worse on eBay! I’ve been with them since the beginning & it’s just awful today, but you handled this wonderfully & professionally.
Great Advice. I have been taking pics of serial numbers and putting in description for years. Sometimes I'll put a security sticker over one of the screws to prevent tampering.
I also started adding 'no partial refunds, return for free for full refund' to my description a couple of years ago. Haven't had one buyer ask for a partial
You have great instincts. You were right on with both situations. Thanks for your videos.
The rock situation is widespread. When I worked for a large retailer, they started requiring opening all boxes to confirm the product was in the box because people had figured out how to put rocks, junk, whatever into the box so it FELT like the right weight and seal it like it was new.
Computer graphic cards back years ago when the race for the fastest card started had to have the clamshell/box modified so the seral number right on the card was visable without opening the box/package as people would put their old card in the clamshell and clueless counter workers didn't have a clue as to what was what would accept the refund.
By the way, the situations were weird and complicated but you did an awesome job explaining them and I think your analysis is spot on. Thanks for sharing your strategies.
The dropping shipping don’t put an invoice in the order is usually overseas orders on my end.if it’s an overseas personal buyer company usually message or note to have the unique code written on the package to help them spot and direct the order from place to place. And thank you for breaking down each situation to give a clear picture and your opinion which shows your top customer service process.
Just sold an $800 Ham Radio on Fleabay. They said they were going to hold my payment until the buyer received it and gave the ok ??? No you're not! Cancel the order!
Apparently, that's just how it works now.
I had the same thing happen with a recent sale.
yeah, I think ebay holds the money as a middle man , thats normal
eBay did that? Yeah that's called escrow.
They hold the money to make sure you are not EVIL and selling a turd. If you sold them a radio that works in all aspects and the buyer does not dispute it, you get your money. You are on the hook that the radio will perform correctly or as per your description that constitutes a contract. Too many guys like yourself that sell radios that are deficient in some way or have some repair issue, weak tubes, or some other BS about them and do not disclose it in detail. That is why they hold the money so that they can reverse the transaction or give a partial refund to satisfy a proper resolution to the transaction... Such as taking the cost of a new set of final tubes or broken microphone out of the total sale price. If your auction has a deficiency or problem, DISCLOSE IT prominently and in bold. State all problems dents scratches and weaknesses. You must confess your sins up front which is your best defense in these cases and you will not have any problems. I had no problems selling my radios over the last few years, and I have a few more to go. Brother and Dad were silent keys and left me a MF load of equipment to sell. Give people a good deal and the will not complain. Always being that guy with a tight butt trying to buy everything for $5 and sell for a million is a sure fire recipe for disaster 😜👍
@@KlodFather Yeah, and when the buyer isn't honest or desires parts, I'm screwed ! You obviously haven't sold much on eBay !
So annoying. I had one person try to shame me to lower a price and said there was multiple other listings at a lower price (there wasn’t) then got mad at me when I suggested to buy one of those. 😁
I often get messages "please I'm a retired veteran or I'm a retired teacher on a fixed low income"
😢😢😢yes me too
Man... we are all on a'fixed' income. Makes me crazy!
@@lalapet87 man that just stinks.
I agree with you a 100 per cent.
Or those annoying people who tell you that they can get it for $XYZ somewhere else so you should sell it to them for that. I always reply, “great, buy it from that other buyer. Sounds like a great deal” then block them.
I got “I want to get my husband who’s deployed in Afghanistan an Xbox, plz send it to South Africa” and they did the whole fake PayPal pending payment thing and all.
Here in California at least a few years back that sealed box scenario was a huge scam on craigslist where people were selling Apple products (iPads,MacBooks, etc) in a sealed package only to have the buyer open it up when they got home to find rocks in them.
As an occasional eBay buyer I sometimes communicate problems in the way that your second example did. While you don't want to get scammed, it's not good to go the other direction and assume that anyone who communicates an issue is a scammer. I think you struck the right balance between the two situations.
Agreed. Some people just auto assume everyone is a scammer...
ALL items have to be returned and tested prior to any refund. I don't go into the scammers and drop shippers in explanation, I just simply say it's company policy. Also if mention of feedback is mentioned by the buyer, whether positive or negative, it can be automatically (or in eBay time) removed. A seller cannot be coerced or threatened into doing something for a buyer utilizing feedback.
But a lot of sellers try to coerce or just dont reply to emails,give the never ending runaround in bad english.
Regarding the sealed keyboard: i would list as new and sealed ,then explaon in description that it was opened to verify the contents as complete and to also match serial numbers on box with the item serial number. Most buyers are good with that and appreciate the item was as listed.
I haven't done ebay for years but i did take extra time to cover my rear with every item.
You can't list as sealed if you have opened it. Even if you state that in your description, they will be refunded by ebay if they file an INAD.
I hate when they ""hold feedback hostage." I report them just for that every time
What do you mean by "hold feedback hostage"?
@@sparkie996 "'If you pack the item in a box and don't included an invoice and ship quickly"' --- "Then I'll be sure to leave positive feedback.' This is also the classic sign of a drop shipper
@@sparkie996they mean how the buyer said "I'll give positive feedback if you do as I say"
You handled both situations perfectly imo. Good tip re the serial no. Havent been recording it.
I tried dropshipping. Saw all these videos on how easy it was and you didnt need any inventory. It was a nightmare and super stressful. You're totally dependent on a thirdparty for the shipment. End up with bad feedback and low ebay rating. Had to dig myself out of a hole. Never sell anything you dont stock imo.
Also mention to the guy that you automatically film the packing and sealing of the box. You also include some invisible ink on the box.😊
You ask what I think. I think you're hella smart. Much respect to you, Man!
When I first started selling on Amazon. Another reseller told me that goodwill has a rep for resealing items that look new. I’ve come across sealed and wrapped items, that look to have dirt or stickers that shouldn’t be on the package if new from the factory. Maybe more common in the Bay Area.
I usually find a way to peek in sealed boxes I find to make sure they contain what they’re supposed to. It does sound like the keyboard buyer was legit. Also, I like how you pointed out that you didn’t lose $200. People get so freaked out when a sale they made for big $ goes wrong. Sure it sucks but that’s why I like paying small $ in the first place. Then if there’s a problem you’re still not out much and you just move on.
I believe your Instinct is correct. Well handled.
Sounds like from comments you were scammed but I would of done the same thing but I feel way more comfortable after reading all this, thank you so much because I used to be in addiction and I saw people use shrink wrap machines to do do returns. Love your channel, I’m sober and just starting out and the possibilities of you educate yourself are endless…
Thank you! I did get a message from someone on a jacket (up for 150) saying that they were "very interested." Then they asked what I would take since I had best offer on the listing. Then they said that they were thinking of 75 and that it was a "gift" for their dad. I thought that was a ridiculous low ball, but then said I could do that. They wrote back and said they couldn't buy it right away and that they would send an offer once they had the funds. After seeing your video, I ended my listing. I wonder if they were trying to sell it and then have me drop ship it. They keep coming up with scam after scam. Wow. 😂 Thank you again!!!!
I had a similar buyer asking for a specific price on a specific day. I blocked them
"The mechanical engineer not knowing what a VCR actually does." 😂
Dude who donated to Goodwill did it for a joke. I "factory sealed" all kinds of stuff at my old job and no one could tell the difference. It's not hard to shrink wrap something.
But where is the joke?!
@@muskel-adolf8582 I didn't say he was playing with a full deck. It's Andy Kaufman-esq humor.
First one is 100% a scam. The second one is unusual and I probably would have issued a refund as well. I've learned that time an energy are valuable. Refund and move on.
Serial numbers aren’t fool proof. Buyers can and will remove internal components to repair their items then send back the item.
If they go through all that then god bless em. That's just a cost of doing business and no big deal. That is clearly an example that is FAR and few between. I'd imagine that serial numbers settles 99% of the issues.
Security seals would be broken, there used to be seals on most electronic goods from the manufacturer, the said warranty void if seal broken.
LOVE the dramatic pause. You're the best
@bobpeters2654 Right?? 😂 That dramatic pause and stare cracked me up! Wick, that person was waving so many red flags! Lol. Thanks as always, for explaining to us these various situations. We appreciate it.
I worked as a tech at an audio-video repair shop back in the 80's. It's amazing what scams people try to pull. We had a guy bring back an RCA video cassette recorder we had just repaired - for the exact same issue we had just fixed. Turned out he had two identical VCR's, both with the same very common problem, and he wanted to get them both fixed for the price of one. Fortunately, this particular model had the serial number both on the external case and on the chassis inside - he'd just swapped cases. We checked the serial number inside (and noticed old, worn out parts instead of the new ones we'd put it) and called him out on it. At another place we had someone try to get two blown-up speakers repaired for the price of one. He didn't realize that the right and left speakers had different serial numbers.
The rocks situation happened to me too. I sold a brand new sealed Milwaukee tool and buyer said he got a bag of sand in the box, I sold hundreds of this tools and this was the first time it happened, but since I didn’t have a way to prove that it was the tool inside, because the box was sealed, I refunded the buyer and took the loss. After that experience, I just open the box and take pictures, reseal it if possible or sell as open box.
I think that is why I stopped selling VCR's back in the day. I believe that is almost exactly the message I got. i think I did let them keep the item too. Had no idea it was a scam. Dang. Hindsight is 20/20.
They are also big and weigh a fair amount, and can cost $20-40 to ship cross country. If a buyer claims they don't work, a seller is out $40-80 for shipping both ways, on a common VCR that may be worth $80-120. Not worth the risk to sell common consumer VHS VCRs on eBay.
Great video. Glad to know I'm not the only one who deals with stuff like this!
I quit eBay around 6 years ago because of all the BS. Almost every sale had issues.
They add sales tax then charge you 13.25% commission on top of it. They CHARGE commission on sales tax.
@@dennydeckerful Yeah I don't know how that's not illegal somehow. I thought it was bad when they charged commission on shipping that you're not even getting as net return.
@@dennydeckerful Yeah, that is really scummy.
@@CapitalNick The problem is sellers were listing things with low prices but high shipping (much more than it really cost). We have those sellers to blame.
eBay doesn't even give your products much visibility. Page after page is spam listings from Chinese sellers.
The VCR damaged you described, happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I thought there was something off when they wanted a return just after it was reported as delivered. Sent me pics of the item with ALOT of damage, like it was dropped when it was opened, not in route by the post office. Buyer also stated he was quadriplegic. He wanted refund immediately; He said ebay usually refund right away. I'm like No, thats not the policy. I did anyway, with a scanned return label. Tried to keep it professional and know I will have to accept a return. Received the item back and was definitely not my item. This was damaged beyond a box drop during shipping. I asked him to repack it, how I shipped it. Didn't come back with the same packing. With all that, thanks for sharing. You've been very helpful so I can better handle this type of situation in the future.
I had a buyer that used a scam on me. I sold a vintage desk lamp for 125.00 and the buyer, with pictures said it arrived broken and when viewing the pictures sent, it was obviously that the lamp was dismantled and nothing was broken. I called them on it and of course they denied it and asked for a refund but I refused a refund. So they appealed to EBay and without me being informed, gave them a refund. They sent the lamp back and of course the lamp had been dismantled but I think that what they wanted was for me to say “keep the broken lamp and here’s your refund. So they could resell it and also get $125.00. This lamp was a hot item and a rare item so this was an opportunity for a quick buck. Watch out for that kind of scam. Also EBay should have validated my claim and just look at the pictures. Totally not fare.
Excellent anti scam advice. I cracked up when at 7:19 you gave an Eddie Murphy/Trading Places pork belly-bacon stare at the camera ~ 😂
This is a common scam tactic on ebay, marketplace, or even selling a car. The buyer will reach out to you complaining about stuff, try to see if you can give them some money back. I always refuse, tell them "no!"
Enjoy the content. Thanks for the tip about serial numbers for electronics. I don't normally list electronics, but the few I have sold, I didn't record serial numbers. I will now.
When I sell a new in box item, I always open it to take pictures for the listing. A pic or 2 of the sealed box and then a few visuals of the item out of the box without fully unboxing. Then I state in the description that it was factory sealed (see pics) when I got it but the box has been opened by ME to verify contents are all present and to take pictures for you the buyer. It potentially scares off scammers and verifies there are no "rocks" in the brand new sealed box.
This guy tried the same thing with me last week on a dvd vcr combo. I sold him lol. I told him I repaired all of my units
Had the exact thing happen yesterday with a Coach purse. The second I encouraged her to return, and sent a label, she closed the return 😂
I just had an international drop shipping address try to purchase a coach purse last night. Upon googling address, it had horrible reviews and forums warning sellers not to ship there so thank goodness for this RUclips channel and the valuable info people like him provide 🙌 and yes cancelled the sale and blocked
Thanks! Wick
Thanks for the support!
Every situation has steps and clues. You were right on target with both, IMO. You can tell a lot by the breadcrumbs you followed in both cases. And staying dispassionate and professional (and on message - please just return it, on the first one) always works well in these cases. And yea, the lady sounds like you both just had a weird situation.
I will always take a loss to accommodate a good customer. The scammers are easy to spot. The more ambiguous ones I just offer to run those thru eBay returns. Offers through DM I ignore... There’s an offer button, use it. Good video. Thanks!
We encountered a similar situation with a buyer before. They followed the same pattern and sent that same word for word pre-typed request for a partial refund. We stopped responding, reported the behavior as it violates eBay's terms, specifically under the ‘asking for something not offered’ category, and then blocked the buyer.
Yes, you did right by the lady. In reality you probably should have opened the box at Goodwill to see if the item was in there and call it new open box. I have heard that some resellers do that at Goodwill because of this reason. Good video though. There are a lot of scams going around right now. And Poshmark gets a lot of people like the guy you spoke about first. I just report them.
We always check the shipping address. We've had "dropshippers" buy from us, and we often get the email around a holiday about a refund expecting us to be busy and not able to respond in time. Our response: "We've spoken to NAME (the person shipped to) and they state the unit is working fine" --- Yeah, we reach out to who we shipped to. We also force a signature - costs an extra $2 but worth it.
❤❤nice
This was a perfect video I doubt unintelligent people will take note of this I love that you didn't have music playing while you were talking
Good job on that first scammer. Your responses were perfect. That second one is weird. You definitely wouldn't have felt the entire keyboard moving around in the box because those things are always sitting in a cardboard tray specifically to prevent that movement. But rocks in a sealed package is very odd. Too bad it was such an expensive item.
Goodwill is how it happened. Goodwill + an employee who knew how to use the shrinkwrap machine correctly. You see, it's generally easy to tell if something is post-retail shrinkwrapped because most of the time, the people running the post-retail machine dont actually care if it looks decent or not. When someone does care about this, and takes the time to learn how to properly shrinkwrap something, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and the retail wrap.
I've been saying in my VCR and combo unit listings that I always include an invoice with it no exceptions.
Thank you for sharing this information. I am a new seller on ebay. Although I do not sell electronics, this is a good lesson to know. Thank you again!
Great video I love your personality man
I’m subscribing
Your video just popped up. I don’t do any selling on any platform and after listening to this conversation I probably wouldn’t even try. Who knew these things went on; people buying from you then selling to another etc.
Check customer's feedback left for others. Sometimes you see they have pages full of negative feedback left for other sellers.
Definitely always check the feedback before I accept an offer 😅😅❤❤
@@onlyluvisreal6691 Check it whenever you sell electronics. VCRs especially. For some reason drop shippers, and scammers go after them.
Well put! Know what you are selling the best you can! I had a guy convince me I sent him the wrong camera lens, was a newer seller, don’t know much about the lens, just what the box I got it in said. I figured, whatever free lens, free refund. But then the cheeky guy was quite pleased with it in the review😂 I think he wanted me to know he got one over lol
I love drop shippers. They help me move inventory faster. Never had a problem with them. It's the cheap buyers that are the worst.
Drop shippers are the scammers
@@KristenZianourry2015 Sure, dafty.
@@KristenZianourry2015 And a lot of dodgy sellers too.
During the holidays I get too many email offers. I have best offer on all my listings so obviously i just ignore them.
Thanks for the info. Definitely a drop shipper. What a pain!
“Mechanical engineer” 😂
LOL! If he wanted to brag about his expertise in electronics, shouldn't he say he's and ELECTRICAL engineer?
I used to work for GEMCO which later became Target stores. There's wrapping tools you can rewrap boxes with clear wrap, seal the wrap then heat shrink wrap around the box. With wrap the package appears unopened. Thank you for the lesson.
"...for my disabled cousin"....long stare LOL
Been there done that. It's even more obvious when the person only responds at 3am
That's because they are often on the other side of the world while it's dark on our side.
@edwardencizo6020 Captain Obvious!!
Had one who I was suspicious of. Couldn’t take phone calls cause just so happened to be deaf
@@tomsnowden6201 Might have been true but it's good you were suspicious. I know it's a real disability (not knocking anyone who is), but for that situation, it sounds too convenient.
The same applies with the keyboard. I’d have taken photos of the serial numbers on the box before sending it out. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as not many people would assume the item/s as not new in the box as it’s still sealed. There are lots of dodgy people out there. It sucks, but we live and learn.
Right away I realized this has happened to me with some printer ink a while back. I've got 6 months in reselling and when he asked to ship discreetly, I just thought maybe it was a gift or something. Appreciate the tips!
I’ve been grading for 2-1/2 years and so many peeps low ball like I don’t know the hobby.
I did get that notice a couple weeks ago "don't include an invoice . . . " I never gave it a second thought until now. It has been a while ago and nothing since, so the drop=shipper anology makes perfect sense. Cheers! ~Ron
Yes, I believe he was trying to sam you. I have received a similar email as the last one you showed for the vcr. I just told them to return it and they would get a full refund. The ghosted.
You can probably compare the weight of a parcel before and after…when they return it. Not sure if it’s helpful, but…
So i have been selling for over 20 yrs and i had a conversation with eBay about drop shipping. What i was told was as long as it was official distributor or wholesalers that its not a problem. I've been doing drop shipping for decades on eBay without any problems because of that reason. I sell items from my wholesalers and they will also drop ship items that i don't want to carry due to weight etc. I don't consider using Walmart, Amazon etc as a supplier or AliExpress and all that which is a good way to get yourself into trouble. I've also been asked questions like that and then they always ask can i send them the tracking so they can track it. Lmfao. Nope i don't send tracking because its automatically loaded into eBay. Glad you talked on this
Problem with drop shippers is that most of them are jerks looking to make easy money. Some years ago I was looking to purchase a bike pannier that had been discontinued by the manufacturer. I found one on eBay. I assumed that it was old stock. As it turned out it was being offered by a drop shipper who had a photo of the old product. Apparently this drop shipper couldn't be bothered to update his listings. Needless to say, I received the new version which I did not want. When I informed the eBay seller he responded like a thug. It took me weeks to get the matter resolved.
The rocks in the keyboard box is a weird one. You can buy sealing kits to use at home so maybe what happened was someone bought it from a store, took the keyboard, weighed down the box with something, sealed it again to return it to the store showing how they hadn’t opened it. Then the store donated a load of ex stock to goodwill. You can usually smell a scammer and like you said, something shifted when packing, keyboards are packed in tight, nothing would shift. You did the right thing but shame on losing that sweet profit because some idiot in the past wanted a free keyboard. Great video 🙏🙏🙏🤣
The biggest one I've seen out there right now is random account will spam message sold lists "I put the wrong address" this has happened to me multiple times both on buying and selling
I had a legitimate order with the guy putting the wrong address. I told him to cancel and then he re-ordered to the correct address
@ yeah of course..
Oh wow that’s interesting … they just keep finding ways of screwing people out of their hard earned money. Quite remarkable
That same person, at least had same profile photo, pulled EXACT same thing with me. Word for word.
Had a similar one and they had their “wedding tape” eaten inside and were unable to return it.
Then same guy tried to do it to another seller. Nothing happened I kept the sale and money
Just an fyi as far as goodwill, lately I have been seeing that they are resealing boxes so they look like they have never been opened, I usually find that in the toy sections with games and puzzles since you cant see inside those items so you assume they are new but are not.
To give Goodwill the benefit of the doubt, they may be doing this so no one opens the box in the store and loses or swipes any of the pieces. Unless they're marking up the price and trying to pass it off as brand new, I'd say that's a legit practice.
Yes always ask them to return it. They wont because they don't have the item. They usually go away....then block them. Also sealed items I open to show the contents.
Five brand new VCR units leftover from the mid-80's Five Sold all five locally to local buyers luckily friends of mine who knew me as a man of integrity, otherwise things could have gotten ugly . You guess It, all five boxes contained Rocks and wheel weights
Crazy Eddie did stuff like that, worth a look if you've never heard of him.
Wow
What I always worry about is tech savvy buyers that can gut swap. For example open a broken laptop and switch the motherboard for the working one sent.
It’s kinda wild how many people in these comments have dealt with this exact same scammer
YES it is!!!
yes, same messages and profile pic for me. Sold a cassette recorder for $14 and just ended doing the partial refund. OOF. Thanks for sharing!
This has been going on for awhile. Thereis a married couple who have several accounts and have been pulling this scam for months now. The ebay scammer page is full of accounts of these people. Sometimes it’s the wife who says her husband can fix it. If they don’t get the refund they return it with internal parts removed
“Kindly” is a red flag for sure
Buyer purchased the item and pressured me to immediately ship the item, despite the payment being in "pending" status. Immediately block people who pm an offer.
Thanks for all this information on Scams. This is all disgusting what is going on with Ebay scammer Buyers trying to pull a fast one on legit sellers. I gave up on Ebay a long time ago. Back then it was not too bad to buy and sell, and all products I bought were from great Sellers. Now days we really don't know who to trust anymore.
On the last thing about the keyboard you got from goodwill and resold it to that lady, maybe you should of opened it up and checked it out before you sold it, and not worry about the Sealed box, which you said Seals of boxing can always be done by scammers.
Thanks again for the warnings. Happy New Year.