Warning about this coin buyer

A month or two ago I sold three coins to a buyer on eBay. I sell cheaper foreign coins and tracking isn't practical for these items since shipping would cost 3 times what the item costs. I almost never have problems and everyone's happy at saving some money. Well, after about a week this guy opens an item not received case. I asked him to wait a little since it was so soon, but eventually I gave him a refund.

So fast forward to last week, when the same person buys a coin from another account I have. I recognized the name, so I've been keeping a close eye on it. It was shipped July 27, and today, Aug. 3 he opened an item not received case. I also looked at his feedback and a few sellers noted that he claimed items not received from them. He could be doing this to a lot of people because you can't leave negative feedback for a buyer and most sellers would just write it off as bad luck and not realize they're being scammed.

I'm really annoyed and I want to do something, but I don't know what. If you don't have tracking eBay will automatically rule in favor of the buyer in any dispute. I wanted to spread his name so you all can add him to your block list - jeffrejone-89 - but is there anything else I can do?

 

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There isn't much you can do. When there is no tracking, there is no proof either way, so ebay just sides with the buyer.

You can try to fight the case, just to see what happens. And maybe try calling ebay and explaining that this person (same address as before) has a history of opening cases. Maybe a live person can look into the account and suspend the user if they have opened too many cases.

Spreading the buyer's ID and just canceling any future sales from that same address (if they order from another account) is usually the most you can do.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I will block. I have had a few people do the same.
coingabe
svetbgd
and others

We need to share our blocked buyers list to build our defenses against this type of abuse. If there isn't one already we should start a thread on ebay buyers to block.

 

Blocked. Thanks.

 

It would help if his EBay profile indicated how many people had blocked him.

 

Creep........excrement.

 

I also posted a thread on the eBay discussion boards and someone told me to report him, which I wasn't aware of and took some digging to find, but I found it eventually. I don't know that anything will come of it but it can't hurt.

 

you must have tracking to cover the sellers butt.

 

This person is buying plenty of stuff from other sellers, who don't generally sell cheapies, without issues, but filing claims for stuff that isn't even worth sending with tracking (which is about $2 and change US domestic)?
Something else is going on here. Don't be so quick to block people.

 

Twice he has opened a case after a single week went by. Other sellers mentioned it in their feedback for him. I don't know how else you can explain it. He's in Michigan and I'm in Illinois. He should have gotten his coin in a few days. Shoot, I've had coins to Europe arrive in ten days. But no other communication, just a quick opened case. And I knew he was going to do this before I even sent the coin. If I can ship hundreds of coins with no problems, but yet two separate shipments to someone both "get lost," that seems pretty weird, don't you think?

 

Would you buy a coin for $1.25 with $3.25 for shipping (what I'd have to charge to cover shipping and fees)? Especially if other people are selling for less? If 20 people are selling the same basic coin, you need to compete with low prices if you want to sell something. I'd never sell anything if I charged for tracking on all my low priced coins.

 

Completely reasonable; all of it. However, and as much as I HATE to say this, you're experiencing the cost of doing business under eBay rules. It's not right, it's not okay, and certainly isn't an insult to you, but when one decides to essentially "self insure" as you have, part of it is to accept the fact that buyers know it's an open invitation to a freebie, weigh the pros/cons, and take what few precautions possible because of it.

Being as I don't know the whole story as to what happened here, this is also in no way meant as an insult to the buyer, but is meant only in the most general sense.

 

The buyer might be selectively filing cases. If it's something they have no chance of winning they don't file otherwise they do file.

While it may seem odd to file a case over such small amounts, quite a few people do act irrationally. So anything is possible.

It's even possible that the mail carrier put the items in someone else's mailbox both times or another person in the household got to the mail first and didn't notify the original buyer.

@Hiddendragon has been on these forums for a while and I'm sure would not be making this post without good reason.

 

Fortunately the vast majority of people are good. While I've had a few lost shipments overseas recently, I think besides this guy I've only had one other lost shipment in quite awhile, possibly a year or so. That's why it's worth doing it. If a lot of people were opening cases then I'd have to rethink it.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I assume it's like you said. If he buys from someone with tracking he just lets it proceed but if there's no tracking he games the system.

 

It would certainly be a statistical anomaly for both to be misplaced/lost/stolen. If this is really a matter of shady buyer practices, it's by far the lowest form of petty I have ever seen

 

@Hiddendragon you have heard the saying karmas a" ". Well you get it. What comes around goes around.

 

I'm not doubting his sincerity in the least. However, without ample incontrovertible evidence, and unless both parties present, I simply refuse to condemn someone I do not know and have no personal experience with.

There simply have been too many instances on this very forum where a member (not the OP) outed or attacked a buyer/seller, with half the membership jumping on board condemning them, and in the end it turned out that the member was the one in the wrong. For this reason, in threads where usernames are identified and searchable, I simply feel it best to tread lightly.

 

I agree that we should not jump to condemn the buyer. Like I mentioned, it is possible that something went wrong. I'm just saying that I trust that Hiddendragon didn't make up the fact that the buyer has opened multiple cases.

I would recommend people to research the buyer (if one sells on ebay) and make their own decision. It was mentioned that if a seller uses tracking, they should be fine. However, if a seller has many lower priced items without tracking, then there may be issues (and it might be safer to lose a buyer than make a sale; or it might be better to keep a buyer and lose a small amount; it's up to each seller to decide).

 

On a related note, does anyone know if you can buy tracking as an add on to your regular letter for a nominal fee like you used to be able to do? I feel like it was an extra 40 cents or something like that. Or does anything with tracking automatically get charged the package rate ($2.67)?