I sold someone a Halloween outfit. She told me she received it after Halloween. I found her Facebook profile and there she was wearing it on Halloween

Several years ago, I sold an iphone 5s on ebay. It was in great condition and in full working order. I packed it well, in it's original box plus bubblewrap and outer packaging. I think I sold it for £80.00. A while later, the buyer sent me some pictures of an iphone 5s, saying it was the one I sold them but it had arrived 'water-damaged'. I knew there was no way that my phone could have been water damaged the way I had packed it. However, ebay took the word of this lying buyer and took the funds back from my account and obviously refunded them. I tried to dispute this with ebay but have you ever tried this with them? You cannot communicate with them. Impossible, certainly from the UK! They took my money, so I was left without my goods or my money. I have never sold or bought on ebay since. They are crooks.

EBAY is horrible when it comes to scammers. We sold an expensive radio for several hundred dollars. The scammer made it a habit of buying radio items then claim "not as described." I went in and contacted everyone under his account. This was typical of him. He would get a refund, seller wouldn't get their money back and he literally would send back a box of bricks, a different radio, etc. Ebay continually allows this to happen with this guy. He would then sell the item on Ebay. It's pathetic!

On the plus side. Im glad this guy bought a new food processor he obviously needed a new one.

The most annoying thing about this situation is if he got eBay involved they would - 100% without a shadow of a doubt - take his side!!

eBay sellers need to get together and create an online database of bad buyers so we can add them to our blocked buyer lists. This list would obviously need to be available only to verified sellers (maybe with a certain feedback) to stop people from being added randomly from people with a grudge.

Hi Nic, you need to take note of the serial number of every product you sell, then use the invisible marker pen on the item, with the code of your choice, to identify it was your sale. The UK Police did give these pens out for free to mark all your possessions in your home, the writing can be seen with ultra violet light. Hope this helps.

It’s a shame ebay does not allow naming and shaming of rogue buyers and sellers

This buyer should be named and shamed so the rest of us can ban them from buying from us. Also it's a shame that more can not be done about the Attempted Fraud they are carrying out, which is clearly an actual Crime.

Ebay's policy to automatically take the buyer's side is exactly why I stopped selling on eBay. Glad you were successful in calling that scammer out!

I admire how you maintained your composer and replied so professionally (like a business letter), without letting it sound personal.

You handled that situation well. Without accusing the buyer of anything, you offered to abide by all the options that eBay offers a buyer who is not satisfied. In an honest and tactful way, you "called his bluff" and it worked. Well done.

Had this so many times now. I take so many photos, plus additional photos at time of shipping, including the serial number. Glad you sorted this Nic.

LOL! I love how he ends his first message with "What can you do about this?" I'm guessing 'Not take any of your crap and make a KZfaq video about you' wasn't on his list of probable replies.

It's clear that this scammer isn't doing this for the first time ! He deserves you knocking on his door and asking to see the item again !

Ebay is absolutely dire now. It's hard to believe how many unscrupulous buyers there are now and the treatment sellers get from support is absolutely shocking.Been selling for a long long time but it's not worth it now. In the early years we had very few issues but now an absolute nightmare.

Ebay are happy to take your subs and your fees but never side with you when the scammers make their moves. It's a disgrace. You are their customer, too, and should get equal consideration.

If any of the items you sell have serial numbers always log them into the listing for evidence. Use void stickers over access seams to the internals of the equipment. I sell higher end equipment and do this. People will buy full price items, pull out the parts they can no longer get or are too expensive from the manufacture then replace with the defunct parts.

Yip. Sold an electrical tester to someone. Buyer claimed he was an electrician who carried out electrical testing works and it didn’t work. Little did he know i am fully qualified Niceic approved inspector. Item was returned, fully operational. eBay sided with the buyer, got bad feedback and eBay wouldn’t remove bad feedback. Quick google search of the name revealed the buyer has a conviction for fraud. Poor from eBay, offered no help to myself. Not sure why I bother paying eBay fees.

That's one of the reasons I stopped selling on eBay. Too many scammers and their seller fees have gotten way too high. Oh and NEVER sell to anyone in a foreign country.

He is definitely pulling a fast one the cheeky git

Surprised. If he'd continued to push the claim eBay would have sided with him.

This has put me off selling on eBay for years. I used to sell make up and perfume. I kid you not people would empty out the product and say I sent an empty one, pretend not to receive or send me pics of their old products in different shades..It ran me off the site. Back at it again with my own stuff after a house move so we’ll see how it goes.. x

I went through this with a customer over a high-ticket item >$300.00 and eBay ended up refunding the customer and taking the money from me. I no longer sell on eBay. This customer clearly had an old beat up version of what he bought from me new and ended up essentially swapping his old, beat-up, non-functioning item for my brand new one. eBay told me in a dispute that they support the buyer and that for me it was "the cost of doing business".

I’ve had a similar case this week Nic and although it would be easier to just refund as was only £30 we need to stand firm against these scammers. I hate being blatantly ripped off it boils my blood. Standing firm is the way to go.

I found this while I’m dealing with a scamming buyer at the moment as well. These people INFURIATE me! And I agree to no partial refunds.

I sold a genuine masterpiece transformers action figure. The buyer claimed I'd sent him a fake/knockoff. He returned the item and sure enough he put a knockoff figure in the box instead of the one I sold him. I fought tooth and nail but ebay, as they always seem to do, sided with him. I lost a couple of hundred quid and lost a figure. I will never sell anything of value on there again

Had exactly the same experience with a pair of boots,sent in excellent condition,received back damaged , eBay was no help at all, been left with damaged boots that I couldn’t sell , eBay sided with buyers even though I have proof of what they was like before sending, opened complaint but heard nothing

People are disgusting sometimes and well done for essentially telling him no

Hey! I'm not sure you'll see this , but I want to say a massive thank you. At the beginning of the first lock down I was a self employed painter and decorator. I'm starting 2021 and I no longer have a dining room. It's now a fully fledged stock room. It's going well but I just wanted to thank you for the knowledge and inspiration. The 4 channels were you, George Ross, brum reseller and flipping sloth (plus years of bargain hunt and cash in the attic), so I think I've got all bases covered. Wishing you both a happy and prosperous 2021

As a self employed plumbing and heating engineer i got so fed up with customers that were trying to rip me off i eventualy packed it in ! .... In my experience aprox 20% of the public are simply criminals ! This is why conmen find them so easy to rip off

Everytime they fish for a refund because it is "defective," I tell them to open a return. They never message back or open a return.

What a jerk!. Scammers on eBay are the absolute Pitts. So very happy to hear that you are an intelligent person who did not fall for this scam.👍🔔

I wish ALL SELLERS would stick to their guns and NEVER give partial refunds if they get even the smallest hint of a scam.

Well done! I love how you handled this! I hope you REPORTED the buyer too! Online reselling is hard enough, without would-be (LOL) scammers! Keep doidng what you do, and continue with the informative vids. Cheers from Australia!

After being harassed over this sort of thing, I never list anything as New. Only Used As Is. That way any complaints can be dismissed out of hand.

Unfortunately mate there isn't much protection for the sellers on eBay. However back on now doing well.

This is why I keep track of serial numbers and batch codes when selling, but you still have to fight with ebay to prove your right.

Great job, thanks for posting. Worst part about those characters is when they get away with posting unwarranted negative feedback.

That’s what I call a cool calm & collected person.

Buyer "what can you do about it" Nick "I will make a KZfaq video about it". Great video Nick giving me confidence in knowing how to deal with things like this if and when they come up. As no doubt they will.

I’m so sorry you had this scammer! I’ve always had nothing but the greatest respect from EBay sellers and their goods.

We got scammed once about 13 or 14 years ago - same thing, but at the time, we had never known that buyers would do something like that. Unfortunately, because it never occurred to us that someone would do it, we wound up giving a partial refund. No more. Especially when, like you said, it was 100% clear that you sent a pristine item. I like how you handled this. Nice work on that one.

Professional and courteous reply from you to the buyer who was clearly trying it on, a lot of it on eBay now

It’s so frustrating dealing with tricky customers. As you said, most are friendly and I enjoy doing business with them. It’s a small number of people that are not honest. Good luck out there!

Can you inform eBay about this person so they don’t try it on someone else

These sorts of videos are invaluable. There's a rampant phenomenon amongst us humans called 'unreliable narrator' and I keep my eye open for that and take every anecdote or version of events with a grain of salt (people meeting celebrities and reporting back how horrible they were-- there's a prime case of unreliable narrator more often than not, ha!). But these scams are so common that Nic, I'm listening carefully to everything you're saying. I know they can go both ways when it comes to online selling too. Thank you very much for posting, even if all your cautionary tales ultimately serve to keep me away from Ebay as a seller. Thank you and I wish you well. :)

WOW Nic! You just showed me how to deal with those kind of trash. I used to have 1 - 2 out of 5 sales asking for a partial refund, to shut them up I used to grant a partial refund out of fear they leave a negative feedback. Now I know how to put an end to this problem. I wrote every word in your reply to that trash so I can use them. Well Done Nic and thanks for sharing this video with us.

Great example of how to deal with scammers. I’m fuming on your behalf. Stay safe.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me with a similar item. At the last minute before packaging the BRAND NEW item I marked the serial number label with a UV pen. Long story short the buyer returns a faulty used DIFFERENT item. I am told by eBay I have to refund as it’s been returned. I complain to buyer and eBay. eBay refunds the buyer AND me in full to make it go away. What does that teach the buyer? You will get away with scamming sellers.

Thank you for the information on how to handle buyers on Ebay. I have never done any selling so it is nice to know the ropes on how to handle customers should I ever decide to sell something. take care.

*Sorry for your loss. Excellent educational ensemble. Very useful information. Thank you for your video contributions and support.*

I've had loads of these dip-shits on ebay. Good work nic

That’s why I stop selling on eBay too many scammers

Had someone do this to me once. I ended up marking items with a UV reactive pen for quite some time afterwards so I could tell the items were mine, were they ever returned

We as sellers need to develop a blacklist system. Has anyone come up with this option? I blocked a couple people already but they're free to move on and scam someone else...🤦‍♀️

You handled it perfectly. Brilliant. Thanks for showing us how to handle this kind of situation.

Nic I feel your frustration ,I was livid for you.Good for you standing your ground I hope you hear nothing else an obvious scam

I've been an eBay seller for 20 years. Only this year have I begun to have a few (2) problems with buyers. The good news is that when I called eBay they were quick to support me, so I think eBay is trying disallow scams like the switch-a-roo. Thanks for your content!

I sold on ebay for five years; smalls, collectibles, antiques, to mid century I totally agree with you and feel your pain.. it didn't happen often,, but often enough to keep me on my toes.. AsA buyer and seller, I loved my business. Over the years, I kept 100% satisfaction, which I was very proud of. Keep enjoying your business !

TBH i stopped selling on ebay because of the dodge characters and *high fee's*

Nic, hello from sunny Australia! I have bought items on eBay over the years, without problems. I am not a seller, but side fully with you. You handled this little scam in a professional and cordial manner. This "customer" probably got away with similar purchases before. Surprised to hear, that eBay over in the UK doesn't care evenly with both parties, especially in such blatant case of fraud. Greetings!

I've had several of my items targeted by scammer scum and the one that pisses me off the most is when they "buy" an item through the offer option and then they want you to add in stuff or ship it to a different address. I've had to cancel and relist several of my high end pieces cause of this. Or they make a buyer profile and do this using text now phone number and 2 day old new profile I've reported like a dozen of them already

I've been selling on Ebay for 27 years. I think you handled this perfectly. I always try to imply with the words I use that I know EXACTLY what I sent, and that's why I make sure to include proper photos, when possible, of all the things that they might try to lie about, so if the listing photo shows a perfect, clean item but the buyer says they got a rusty, dirty one, the pictures will tell most of the story.

I bought and sold on eBay for over 15 years. I have experienced both sides of the scammer coin from buyers AND sellers. I got sick of the constant drama, anxiety and extortionate fees in the end, so packed it in.

I would like to see a system where when someone purchases an item form you, you can then see their percentage (as a number of their total purchases) of INR's and INADs and on that basis have the right to cancel the transaction, without penalty, if it is above a certain percentage. At least give the seller back some power and try to discourage dishonest buyers.

You got really lucky here. There is no way on Earth that eBay would have sided with you, had he chosen to return his old rusty one to you via a return case. He would have had his money back + his free item + free disposal of his old item. I'm actually surprised he didn't follow through! 😂

The best part about all this is the buyer already gave you a contact address and their butt will be twitching if they see this video😂👌

Ask for the serial number saying you want to see if it match's your records. ;)

Happy New Year Nic & Andrea! Hope this year will be good for you both!

Nic ... have had this before myself .. Always good to photo Serial numbers and make notes of them.

Wow! I think that's probably the buyers old food processor that he/she is replacing!

It doesn't just happen when selling online. I'm a store manager for a nationwide builders merchants. You'd be surprised how many people try to return things with a few fixtures and fittings missing from the box etc or one taken out of a pack of 25 because really they didn't need the whole thing and just wanted one bit. I've also had people put old dirty and broken items into the new box and come back asking for refunds. It's terrible that some people have this mindset in life.

I love your reply to him. I recently sold a very high end Purse. So I recorded myself packing it up showing the tag with its creed # in FEAR of the buyer trying to do the old Switcheroo!

Ebay is full of cheap scabs who think they are entitled to free items 🤷🏽‍♂️

Well done for standing your ground Nic. I had a misunderstanding with an ebay seller recently. I cancelled an order as I forgot to change the delivery address. I then placed another order which I never received. When I politely asked the seller if they had sent my order, they said they hadn't sent me anything and claimed they had refunded both my orders which they hadn't. Ebay resolved it for me in the end and I got my money back :-)

Hi Nic, I had a similar issue when I sold my old smeg kettle. It was heavily used and broken and sold for parts only - the fact that it was broken was stated all over the listing with every fault and flaw included. The buyer said the lid was snapped off. It wasn’t and couldn’t possibly have happened during transit as the kettle was extremely well packaged (he said it wasn’t!) and it would have taken extreme brute force to snap the lid off the kettle, not something that could possibly happen unless the postie unwrapped the parcel, snapped the kettle lid himself and wrapped it up again and delivered it! Despite it being clear in my photos that the lid was intact when sold, eBay still came down on his side and I ended up accepting his proposal of a partial refund just to put the whole thing to rest even though he was clearly on the scam. I’m guessing he brought it hoping he could use the element or something, decided he couldn’t and wanted his money back. I was in negative profit by the end of it, I would have been better off putting it in the bin. I’m avoiding selling electricals on eBay again. It’s a piss take.

Great video Nic, classic example of someone deliberately trying to swap over an item.

As often as this happens, the postal service or shipping stores should offer verification services. For a nominal fee the could compare the item in the box with the pictures on the listing and the address on the package with the address of the buyer and then seal it themselves and accept it for shipment.

Thank you for trying to keep eBay safe for sellers. I personally keep a list of buyers who try to scam and steal and I will not sell to them in the future. Thieves get caught because they get away with it until they eventually get caught.

I used to have this exact model,use it for five minutes then clean it for twenty minutes.

Please share this buyers eBay name so we can add them to our block list!

I engrave a small hidden R on the items i sell, that way when i asked them to find my initial hidden on there item, case closed.

Lovely to see this vid , watching it i was thinking about the car head light you sold a guy. That he must of broke before retuning it to you . I could not remember how it ended will look at that one thanks. Keep up the good work.

I had one ask for a refund as neighbour wouldn't give them the parcel I sent. I filled a online police report as if the story was true it's theft, which only took a few mins. Sent them a screenshot. 5 mins later they recieved the parcel, coincidence?

i always tell them in my listings that i have the serial number and items are security marked. Well done nic. mind you some of the sellers out there aren't the best. Twice now in a week the seller has offered a parital refund when they have sent the wrong item!!! happy new year to you both stay safe! cheers Paul

I really enjoy your channel very much and applause you for being so patient you are great and really enjoy watching the way you resolve issues and sell all the best be safe and careful with the virus keep the great work and looking forward to more great videos

when sending stuff, couple things to note... if an item is unboxxed, on the underside, under a label or a foot or battery compartment or even if its in an obvious location but not openly visible, scratch (not pen or texta) a recognisable marker ON the device, such as 3 small holes in a triangle shape or in a line. Use a sewing needle or a compass point.. Then take a picture of the unit as well as the markers. and video packaging it. If you can unscrew and access inside, like a laptop or printer or anything modular, id suggest do that on the inside, or on the inside location on evey part. This way you have a thorough record. Once u have all these, if u think the buyer is tryin to pull a swapsie, tell them to get on skype (while youre recording your feed) and direct them to wherever you have the markers. If those markers ARE NOT THERE, then u know theyre tryin to scam you. If they are there, you pull out your video/pics of the items before sending and cross check any key sections. Its not hard to safeguard yourself from scammers. As a buyer, youre more likely to be scammed in recieving damaged goods. so if an item is expensive, always ask foa video demo or imagines /video of the item before sending. This way, you know that what you get is what was pictured. Often, people will buy a duplicate copy of an item, photo the new item and sell off the old one using the new item's images. Other times, theyll sell you goods and not deliver. Then balk time so bad, that by the time it comes to leaving feedback, you cant as the time has expired, so DO NOT BE KIND to late deliveries. Ive had deliveries take over 3 months, its ridiculous... Even the crappiest of phones has a basic camera, so theres no excuse. If u wish to protect yourself, use paypal. Ive bought camera lenses sold as s/h working fine or 'hardly used' only for them to be on their way out, full of fungus, or simply defective. Other times, electrical devices have failed under warranty and In Aus we have 12months coverage for new goods, or one month return on s/h goods, or one week returns for dead on arrival. ALL warranty is at the expense of the seller On ebay, if the buyer claims a defect, and seller refuses a return, and the buyer sends the item back, they automatically get their money back the moment ebay systems pick up a delivered status. On the flipside, theres the paypal resolution, where no items are returned, BUT depending on prev correspondence you can either claim the repair cost, portion for a part refund, or if the seller is tryin to scam and cant be contacted, they'll jsut gve you a clean straight refund. However to do the paypal thing, u have to show proof that youve attempted to address the problem In your case, if you have pictures, or video or have marked the item, great. This lets u identify it as prev described.. If youre item was new, you tell them before shipping that you will open the box to check all items are there (and u take pics and send those pics to the buyer) before u send the item. U also mark the new device if they consent. If they dont want you to open the packaging, open it anyway unless its heat sealed. If its only some tape on a box, ALWAYS use MROE tape to cover up where you cut the tape. THEN you take pics AFTER youve retaped it. Its not hard to protect yourself Cover you backside.. always...

I would be very careful with trusting the “If he sends the incorrect one back”. eBay like to side with the buyer 99% of the time. Had an issue with an iPad, buyer claimed not as described. Sent back an entirely different device in about 5 pieces. eBay couldn’t care less and kept to the original decent. Repeatedly claiming the buyer sent it back so I have no choice. Honestly just watch out for eBay.

I don’t do partial refunds either most people back down when you tell them this.

Hey there Nic this is Vic!... Bro for future reference please remember that companies which make kitchen items don't rust that come in contact with food ,that's why it's called Stainless Steel! Kudos to you for not giving in to scamming idiots!

This is part of the reason I quit selling on ebay 10yrs ago. ebay is dead, no more paypal you have to pay through your bank account. Me ok!

They think ebay will help them fleece you of ya cash! I’ve dealt with 3 idiots like this in past, they always get a knock on the door. Distance no object. It’s principals that I care about. And seeing em crap there selves😊

Ive given up selling on ebay. Their system sides with the buyer, whatever the problem.

You thawed out,you did your due dilligence,glad you have a positive attitude about this!!

i sold a pair of new in box running shoe. buy sends me message about a week later of receiving . are there any issues with the shoes? i can only wear them about 3 hours they are not comfortable.

As an Ebay seller we also get this type of thing and even with a small item we only sell new and a lot of it is damaged , not like pics or bit missing etc (all the usual) , we'll ask for it to be returned for a full refund . Very little ever gets returned , we block them . The ones that do get returned are the honest ones so we'll send a replacement. Keep honest customers happy

I assume the 6 Thumbs down are the Buyer, His Wife their 3 Kids and the Dog next door !

I got back into selling records on Ebay again and quit because of the outrageous scamming. Much worse now than it used to be. These people are hopeless.

I had that with brand new shoes in the box. The customer said they had fell to bits after one wear and requested a return. The shoes she sent back were her old ones that were exactly the same shoe, same size and colour. eBay insisted I refund her and never supported me after numerous calls to them!! Livid is an understatement!!!