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How to Beat Ebay Scammers
Like it or not, Ebay has become the largest marketplace for CAC coins. To follow are precautions that our firm has been taking there for years, whether buying or selling.
1. Write "DO NOT FORWARD" by the sender's AND addressee's addresses. Otherwise, the package could be forwarded and if the buyer or seller files a dispute with Ebay, Ebay will make YOU prove that you did not file the forwarding order, as insanely unfair as that seems.
2. Use the fastest shipping method possible. If the buyer does not receive his order by Ebay's ETA and files an inquiry or case, Ebay will force you to refund his purchase price. He will then get a free coin courtesy of you. You could file a Package Intercept if you used USPS but they do not always work and are time consuming to fill out. You could also sue the buyer but that would rarely be cost-effective or otherwise practical.
3. If you ship via USPS, their insurance will NOT cover Ebay Managed Payments purchases. As such, you will need to either self-insure or buy insurance from a private company.
4. Use Signature Confirmation. It is EASILY worth the extra $3 to avoid the potential aggravation, suspicions, and hard feelings involved with lost or stolen packages.
5. Make a video recording to verify contents whenever a package is opened or sealed -- and have witnesses present whenever possible, particularly for valuable items. Ebay may not always accept it as evidence but the sender's county detectives and U.S. postal inspectors certainly will.
6. Be certain to send the buyer EXACTLY what he ordered. Otherwise, he can legally keep it AND receive a full refund, thanks to an obscure federal law that some sophisticated scammers know how to abuse. For example, if a buyer ordered a 1909-S VDB MS64RD CAC cent but you mistakenly sent him a 1909-S MS67RD CAC cent, he legally gets to keep the latter AND get his money back.
7. If you are buying on Ebay, ALWAYS pay with a credit card through PayPal because you will then have the protections of all three companies.
8. Before you even reply to a message from another Ebayer, check his "Feedback left for others". If he has left several "negs" for reputable sellers, block him lest you become his next victim, whether or not he intended to scam you per se. Your Ebay reputation is worth far more than the small profit that you MIGHT have garnered from this bully. Of course, you should also check feedback that others have left for him.
INSERT OTHER PRECAUTIONS BELOW:
1. Write "DO NOT FORWARD" by the sender's AND addressee's addresses. Otherwise, the package could be forwarded and if the buyer or seller files a dispute with Ebay, Ebay will make YOU prove that you did not file the forwarding order, as insanely unfair as that seems.
2. Use the fastest shipping method possible. If the buyer does not receive his order by Ebay's ETA and files an inquiry or case, Ebay will force you to refund his purchase price. He will then get a free coin courtesy of you. You could file a Package Intercept if you used USPS but they do not always work and are time consuming to fill out. You could also sue the buyer but that would rarely be cost-effective or otherwise practical.
3. If you ship via USPS, their insurance will NOT cover Ebay Managed Payments purchases. As such, you will need to either self-insure or buy insurance from a private company.
4. Use Signature Confirmation. It is EASILY worth the extra $3 to avoid the potential aggravation, suspicions, and hard feelings involved with lost or stolen packages.
5. Make a video recording to verify contents whenever a package is opened or sealed -- and have witnesses present whenever possible, particularly for valuable items. Ebay may not always accept it as evidence but the sender's county detectives and U.S. postal inspectors certainly will.
6. Be certain to send the buyer EXACTLY what he ordered. Otherwise, he can legally keep it AND receive a full refund, thanks to an obscure federal law that some sophisticated scammers know how to abuse. For example, if a buyer ordered a 1909-S VDB MS64RD CAC cent but you mistakenly sent him a 1909-S MS67RD CAC cent, he legally gets to keep the latter AND get his money back.
7. If you are buying on Ebay, ALWAYS pay with a credit card through PayPal because you will then have the protections of all three companies.
8. Before you even reply to a message from another Ebayer, check his "Feedback left for others". If he has left several "negs" for reputable sellers, block him lest you become his next victim, whether or not he intended to scam you per se. Your Ebay reputation is worth far more than the small profit that you MIGHT have garnered from this bully. Of course, you should also check feedback that others have left for him.
INSERT OTHER PRECAUTIONS BELOW:
Tagged:
Comments
Added Industry tag and moved to Industry category. I think a lot of folks will appreciate this thread, thanks a lot for putting this together!
But personally, I would return any item mistakenly sent to me.
I know of an Ebay seller who sent a 1909-S VDB cent to a buyer only to have him falsely claim that a 1955/55 cent was in the package, which the seller could not disprove. The buyer kept the coin and received a refund. This would not have happened had #5 on my original post been followed.
Also, what are the "better avenues"? Is there another site like Ebay?
“Unordered Merchandise
Whether or not the Rule is involved, in any approval or other sale you must obtain the customer’s prior express agreement to receive the merchandise. Otherwise the merchandise may be treated as unordered merchandise. It is unlawful to:
Merchants who ship unordered merchandise with knowledge that it is unlawful to do so can be subject to civil penalties of up to $42,530 per violation. Moreover, customers who receive unordered merchandise are legally entitled to treat the merchandise as a gift. Using the U.S. mails to ship unordered merchandise also violates the Postal laws.”
Source: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/business-guide-ftcs-mail-internet-or-telephone-order
@CACfan - if this scam does occur, what are your suggestions for dealing with it? It would seem hard to circumvent. I would imagine that a lawsuit would get dismissed given this rule.
Next.
Federal law technically supersedes all state laws but if you file a lawsuit in small claims court, I can almost guarantee that you would win. Such judges tend to be very fair in my experience.
You could also try a court TV show like Judge Judy or Judge Mathis, whereon you would have an even better chance of prevailing because they are de facto binding arbitration forums and thus have far more leeway to interpret the law or at least be reasonable about it.
But, of course, the very best way to deal with this issue is not to encounter it by using extreme care when shipping valuable coins. Our firm TRIPLE checks every aspect of our shipping procedures, so we have never been nailed by this gray-area scam.