Longtime eBay Seller Sees Uptick in Scams

by: eBlah

Since you are already taking photos of the items going into the box you packed, maybe it would be a good idea to send the photo to the buyer before shipping in order to document the contents.

That would put a buyer on notice and you would have documentation ready in the event a police report needed to be filed.

by: etectra

"I have been an eBay seller for several decades. I have seen it all."

When you assume you've seen everything then you stop learning and assume everything you are doing currently is just fine.

"I take a photo of the contents in the box before sealing the box."

"I have avoided having to refund thus far because in each case I have instructed them that I will need their cooperation when I file a police report."

100% waste of time. Proves nothing. Does not protect you from anything.

How do we know you didn't take a photo of the box taped shut in a upright position, but the underside was unsealed to allow you slip a few items from the box before sealing the underside and taking pictures of the bottom afterward? Many other scenarios here.

How do we know someone working for the carrier of one of their contractors did not remove the item. In the case of USPS we have tens of thousands of employees plus thousands of other people working for UPS (USPS's air contractor) and various ground contractors ranging from people who bid on local mail post office pickup routes to large trucking firms such as J. B. Hunt. There is also several thousand privately run postal stations in local businesses such as grocery stores.

The buyer can file a complaint with eBay as well as their bank, payment processor and credit card. These 3rd parties will decide the claim and not eBay. If they paid with a bank issued credit card through PayPal they can file four different claims and the last time I checked PayPal this could be up 180 days after the transaction. 99.9% of hese claims will be automatically approved and eBay will rubber stamp them.

Any scammer worth a five finger discount knows nothing will come from a police report. In many cases the police will laugh at you for attempting to make one since they lack the resources, manpower and jurisdiction. These scammer also know USPS Postal Inspectors will do nothing in 99.9% of cases.

"I don't accuse them, but I tell them that I packed the items myself and if an item is missing, that the package would have had to have been opened somewhere along the shipping route. I tell them that this is a felony as it is postal fraud."

Then its theft by a employee of the carrier or one of their contractors. Then you file an insurance claim - not a police report. But your insurance claim maybe be worthless unless the buyer cooperates with you such as testifying as to what occurred at their end and retaining the packaging materials and items should the carrier want them. If the carrier pays the claim then the items belong to the carrier, who may or may not choose to obtain them - in most cases they do not.

If you ship items through a freight forwarder, which many international buyers like to use to bypass any blocks on shipping to their countries, items may be stolen from your package as some repack your items.

by: etectra

"Since you are already taking photos of the items going into the box you packed, maybe it would be a good idea to send the photo to the buyer before shipping in order to document the contents.

That would put a buyer on notice and you would have documentation ready in the event a police report needed to be filed."

100% waste of time and provides no protection at all.

by: airbrake

The Post Office takes photos of all mail that goes through their system 24/365. All six sides, every package and both sides of all letters and other mail, at each Sort Center passing through their system. This data is kept on file (the Post Office refuses to state for how long), and shows the condition of the mail piece when the system receives the mail piece, along with address coming from and going to, and the condition when it leaves the final Sort Center before delivery to the destination Post Office.

With these photos, the condition of the package or letter can be determined when received and prior to release for delivery. If a photo is taken of the item before being given to the Post Office, it may be apparent in the comparison of the photos if the package or mail has been tampered with. I do not know if you can FOIA the pictures from the Post Office (Law Enforcement does all the time, a warrant is not required) which would indicate these photos are in the public domain and thus can be FOIA'ed.

I do know a Post Office Supervisor or most Post Masters have access at their computer to these photos on a moments notice.

Along with this, there are cameras in the Lobbies and in the Employee areas at most Post Offices in the U.S., although within the last year the Postal Inspectors have confessed that about half of the the cameras installed at the post Offices are not functioning.

This method is how the FBI determined that a Gentlemen they arrested for allegedly sending anthrax to President Obama years back was not the sender - it was his ex-wife who was trying to jack him up. The FBI was able to determine he was not the sender from the photos as they showed from where the mail was sent and it was nowhere near the Gentleman's address, but was near his ex-wife's. They also captured her dropping the mail piece off at the sending Post Office through the Lobby cameras.

This system of cameras replaced the previous method Law Enforcement used watching someone's mail that they thought was doing dastardly deeds. In the past, a request was given to the Post Master or delivering Carrier at the ''suspect's'' Post Office and all addresses on the mail pieces to and from the ''suspect'' were logged and the list was given over to Law Enforcement at their request. Again, a warrant was not, and still is not, required,as the Courts have never ruled a warrant was necessary.

I suspect the camera method may have been used and aided Law Enforcement in the Steiner's case.

I have been on Ebay approximately 7 months after its inception and have also seen an uptick in fraud in the last few years. I have used the photos of mail items in their system to win cases of insurance claims against the Post Office in the last two years in three cases. The Post Office stated the packages were received damaged, thus Post Office denied the claims. The photos in their system proved different and they payed the claims.

by: Rexford

etectra says "I have been an eBay seller for several decades. I have seen it all.  When you assume you've seen everything then you stop learning and assume everything you are doing currently is just fine."


This is what you took from this?  Good grief.  You really have your microscope out looking for something to moan about.  You aren't that seller.  You are not in that seller's head.  

"I have seen everything" is just expression. It isn't to be taken literally. No one can see everything or has seen everything.  I am sure that you have used that expression many times in your lifetime and I am sure that you'd be the first to admit that you don't know everything.  

For God's sake lighten up. OP is just alerting sellers that he or she has seen an uptick in this scam and to be on alert.  Why do you have to nitpick? Or you just fussy by nature?

by: salvagepanda

Golden rule on ebay these days, if you can't afford to lose it, don't list on ebay. Scams are thru the roof, ebay does not have buyers back at all to boot.  

by: my2cents

The OP is a bit dramatic.  They could not be on Ebay for "several decades" as Ebay just celebrated their 30th Anniversary, So 3 decades, not 7.

Someone that has been on the site for this long should know that the pics taken during the packaging process will not help them win any kind of a claim filed on Ebay as Ebay doesn't accept them as evidence.

But scaring the buyer into thinking they could get in trouble can be a good approach even if you can't really accomplish what you claim you can.  True that using USPS as any part of a fraud is a Federal Crime.

by: Rexford

my2cents says "The OP is a bit dramatic.  They could not be on Ebay for "several decades" as Ebay just celebrated their 30th Anniversary, So 3 decades, not 7."

This one really made me laugh.  So my2cents, you don't know the difference between "several" and "7"?   That alone makes your post not even dubious but false.

by: NYSteve

good luck using PROOF to win a case with EBAY. I had correspondence with the buyer THRU ebay messaging, where the buyer was complaining about the item he received. THEN, he made a claim thru ebay 'item not received'...AND won...he got the product and his money back!

@my 2 cents- where do you see 'seven decades'? several= "more than 2, or thereabouts, but less than many" i think 3 would qualify for that

by: my2cents

@Rexford
My bad.  I was wrong.  Thank you.

by: rfm

Goof grief people lighten up.  While photos taken for a multi item shipment may not prove anything, it helps the seller make sure they did in fact put all the items in the box to help determine, along with other things, whether buyer is a scammer.

I have used a bit lighter version of OP's bluff and it often works as stated, plus there is nothing to lose trying it.  While smart scammers may know nothing will come of it, they do know that if a police report and/or postal report is filed by multiple sellers there will be a growing record of possible fraud at their address.  

by: BillBooks

This is off-topic from the OP.  Language is funny, and everyone interprets it differently, but 7=Several is more likely than 3=Several.  In quantifying terminology, typically the progression is ''couple'' then ''few'' then ''several''.  Couple is usually 2 or an unspecified small number ~2.  Few is mostly used to indicate more than 2 but less than ''several'', so usually 2-5.  Several is more than ''a few'' but not ''many'', usually 3-7 items.  ''Many'' is usually used to indicate too many to count at a glance.

Obviously, one can see there is overlap in the number ranges.. but if someone says they picked up a couple books, a few CDs, then finally picked up several DVDs, they probably did not pick 3 items each time even though 3 would technically be a valid number for each of those terms.

The larger the data set referenced, the larger the numbers trend.  Picking up a ''couple'' of things at Costco usually results in many more items purchased than a ''couple'' of things at 7-Eleven.

In any case, scammers gonna scam.  If they are intent on defrauding the seller, that ''packing'' photo won't stop them, and they will just do a chargeback if denied a refund by eBay.

by: Rexford

m2cents, you are the rare individual here who will admit to making a mistake.  That I respect.

by: eBlah

And more respect is accorded for saying "I was wrong" as opposed to "you were right".  Kudos.