I think I'm dealing with another scam buyer on eBay

[s0me0nesmind1]

I learned to stop using ebay long ago. Tons of issues - all cost me tons of time and money.

If it isn't cheap enough to donate then I sell it in person on craigslist. No eBay. Just not worth the time or hassle to deal with morons.

Funny, I've had very little when it comes to morons for CL. I've had to sell a couple cars and they sold pretty quickly within 1-2 buyers.

 

[pete6032]

Anyway, I responded hours ago and accepted the return. I advised the buyer to try "return to sender" or send it back to me in the original condition. Of course, I'll have to inspect the contents of whatever comes back to me before I issue the refund.

Would like to hear if you get the original product back or not.

 

[CZroe]

The listing is clear in what's included for anyone with basic reading comprehension, but eBay reaches literally millions of buyers and the chances are the someone will misinterpret your listing and think a phone is included. Way too many eBay sellers pull shit like this hoping to snag that idiot buyer and get them to overpay for a box.

Are you technically in the right? Yes. Are you morally in the right? IMHO...no.

Responsible sellers list items so there is absolute no misunderstanding about what's for sale. If that means you add ***BOX AND ACCESSORIES ONLY, NO PHONE*** in the title of the listing then you do so. Assume some buyers will spend only about 4.5 seconds reading your listing before they bid and write your listings accordingly. Or accept that situation like this will happen and buyers will back out. And we all know who's side eBay is on in these kinds of disputes.

And even if you do absolutely everything you can to avoid misunderstandings like this it will still happen on occasion. It's the price of doing business. Factor in the cost and adjust your prices accordingly.

This seller is not trying to pull anything. He had something people want and it sold with Buy It Now for less than what it was worth. He undervalued it to give someone a deal. He did not overvalue it to trick someone.

You seem to assume that Ichinisan was trying to trick someone. If that were his intention then he would simply move on to Phase 2 and try to stick it to the buyer. He would not be asking here if he’s being scammed or what he should do next.

There is nothing immoral about selling an $80 set of accessories for $60. The buyer he was after was the one who wants a box of accessories without a phone.

It's not "inflammatory". Look, I have NO experience, INTENTIONALLY buying "just boxes" from people on ebay. My experience, is seeing high-demand items, around Christmastime, and having some mouth-breathing boot-licker (Edit: referring to the actual, bottom-feeding, ebay scammers, not you), list what seems (to a suspicious person), to only be "a box", whilst simultaneously, appearing to the naive to be the actual product in question. This is further reinforced, by the price being merely $10 cheaper than the actual new-in-box product.

Clearly, there ARE a LOT of "scammers" on ebay, some seeking to snag some unsuspecting newbie, with "a box", for sale for the price of the product, or maybe, a too-good to be true price, that gets a lot of attention.

So, maybe OP is not in those ranks, but I wonder, how much he realizes, he is treading a very fine line here, and IMHO, could have and should have, done more to make his listing unambiguous as to that fact.

Yes, in hindsight he does realize the need to be even more clear. The problem was that you guys called it scammy and sketchy to sell a box and accessories on eBay when it definitely isn’t. There is an active market of willing buyers and sellers. A while back I wanted to buy iPad box and accessory sets from sellers on Swappa because I wanted genuine Apple 12W chargers and most of the ones in stores were 10W. Counterfeits are also a huge and deadly problem. Remember what happened in China from counterfeit Apple chargers? Have you ever see one of those in-depth analyses or an Apple charger compared to counterfeits and competitors? Scary stuff.

Oh, and you are just being argumentative here. If you have "accessories included", then yes, clearly stating "box only" would be incorrect". In that case, make it "box and accessories ONLY". Way to miss the big picture here, which was... you need to place some dis-ambiguating terms in the title.

Edit: And if the accessories were the important part, why not title it "iPhone accessories and box (only)"?

Box + accessories for...
Accessories and box for...

If he were allowed four more characters then, yeah, it absolutely would have said “ONLY” in there. This was a pretty good balance given the space allowed, but I would have changed it to:
Original box + unused accessories ONLY for Jet black 256GB iPhone 7 Plus

Originally:
Original box + untouched accessories for iPhone 7 Plus jet black 256GB unlocked

He wanted to include all those model details necessary for someone who is trying to find a matching box. Yes, even “unlocked” is a different package. He wanted to say “untouched” instead of new or unused so anyone who needs or wants the original unboxing experience would know that it wasn’t simply reboxed. He was also vouching that there was no potential for mismatched or counterfeit accessories (again: huge/deadly problem).

I just want to clarify something else, if it seems, or if I did, call you outright a "scammer", then I apologize, because what I intended to convey, was, the title of the listing, was AKIN or very similar to, posts that I see from people, that I would personally consider a "scammer". And I'll admit, the only real reason that I could fathom for buying up empty retail boxes for items, was to commit scams in the future, either retail return scams, or online sale scams, aka the fake CPUs from Amazon and Ebay and Newegg. (How do you think that they got those CPU retail packages? Hmm...?)

I never would have considered, buying a new retail box-only for a product, inserting a used/refurb version of the product, and giving it to a friend/relative as a gift, "as if" it were "new". Personally, I would find that deceptive and upsetting, if it happened to me. I value their honesty with me, far more than a gift.

Thanks. I mean, I was hoping that was what you meant, especially when you admitted to knowing very little about that market. We were happy to fill you in on that but it felt an awful lot like you were doubling down on the original “scammy” premise when you said you didn’t care. Leaving it unaddressed invites other to agree, which happened when purbeast0 called it “sketchy.” When the conversation shifted to imply that it wasn’t in the description, I was compelled to nip it in the bud.

Except for, you know, not being listed in the phone section.

like wow people, this is listed in the accessories section, regardless of anything at all written in the title or description, hell even if they were blank, you would need to be a moron to assume this was a phone.

I usually use search and it’s not immediately apparent what category it’s in on some platforms/devices. I can’t assume that’s enough, which is why I put much more weight into the title and description.

 

[Rifter]

You realize how many people use eBay right? There are millions of morons on there.

I know, all you can do is do things right on your end, which OP did, you have no control over anything else.

 

[purbeast0]

I know, all you can do is do things right on your end, which OP did, you have no control over anything else.

Well you want to write listings so the dumbest of the morons can understand it, otherwise you have problems like the one this thread is about. He didn't do things as "right" as he could, as multiple people in this thread have explained over and over.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It has helped numerous times. That isn’t the only kind of scam people pull, you know? Also, much of the benefit has been for documentation where we were able to go back and get serial numbers and know that certain things worked and such. Half the time it’s for our own peace of mind when we worry that we may have left something out.

It also intimidates the scammers to know that you recorded it if they don’t know how seriously eBay will take it. Also, eBay does take certain things into consideration. You seem awfully hung up on one particular kind of scam, but there are many more where is can be useful.

Let’s say that someone intentionally damages it and provides pictures to eBay to force you to accept a return. Those pictures may show irrefutable proof that it is the same item you demonstrated working and without damage before packing it up. I’ve also made marks along the package seals that would show on video if the box had been swapped or tampered... marks such that you obviously can’t just duplicate it on another box and swap it out.

Having the video has the potential to help even if there is a particular scenario where it won’t.

ROFL!! So naive, so unable to see the big picture. So secure in faulty pseudo-logic,

Documenting seals for gods sake? 100% worthless when the package is opened. Serial numbers? Usless in a "he sent me an empty box scam".

"Let's say someone intentionally damages it...." Let's say you think it through. 1) Why would they intentionally damage it? If they wanted to intentionally damage it why wouldn't they be able to damage it in a way that looks like it was boxed up with the existing damage? If somebody wants to screw you on an expensive phone or video card or watch or other high end item YOU ARE SCREWED. The End. A video that shows a phone going into a box proves less than nothing. For gods sake a one-armed dyslexic chimp could watch a sleight of hand demonstration on YouTube, practice for 10 seconds and make it look like a perfect item is going into the box and substitute a fake/broken/counterfeit one. THAT is what the scammer will claim happened, that is ebay will take into account and that is why your pathetic video is not worth the pixels its wasting to even exist. Your peace of mind is laughable, if your mind actually functioned it would not be so easily fooled by placebos. Thinking the video will intimidate a scammer? ROFL!!! If I wanted to scam you I'd use the existence of a video as evidence on my side. "Why the fuck would this guy take the time making a video that's so easy to fake unless he intended to fake it. It proves nothing, and here's how he could fake it, so he probably did...."

But please, enlighten me. Give me a step-by-step, graphically detailed example of how your video can possibly protect you against an "empty box". "broken electronics or non-functioning item" or any other possible scam and I'll spend exactly two seconds explaining to you why it's a sad and futile gesture. If a buyer wants to scam you on ebay, you will be scammed. It's the price of doing business and your video will not protect you for a second.

 

[Rifter]

Well you want to write listings so the dumbest of the morons can understand it, otherwise you have problems like the one this thread is about. He didn't do things as "right" as he could, as multiple people in this thread have explained over and over.

It is in no way the OP's fault that ebay limits the title so short that he couldn't list it as "right" as some of you would have liked.

Doest change the fact at all the the title was factually correct as was the item description, and it was in the correct category.