One of Walt's readers, who prefers to remain anonymous [but we know who you are! Ed.] has a complaint about eBay's one-sided, anti-seller "buyer protection". According to this disgruntled seller, it's far too easy for overseas scammers to use eBay's bias for buyers to screw sellers and get free stuff. Here's how the scam works.
The seller lists an item on eBay and offers to ship worldwide. An overseas buyer -- in India, let's say -- wins the item and pays for it, plus shipping and handling. If the buyer refuses to pay extra for registration and proof of delivery, the item is shipped by unregistered small packet airmail, for which there's no tracking number.
The buyer/scammer waits a couple of weeks, then lodges a claim with eBay's so-called Resolution Center, stating he did not receive the item and wants his money back. Of course he has no proof one way or the other, nor does the seller. You can't prove something did not happen. So it's up to eBay to decide who it believes.
eBay asks the seller to provide a tracking number. Here's the Catch-22. On shipments overseas -- let's say to India -- proof of delivery can't be obtained even if there is a tracking number, because of the vagaries of foreign postal systems. Not to mention theft by postal workers which is all too common in the third world.
In any case, all you can do with the tracking number is show that the item was entered in the mail in the USA or Canada. eBay will never receive a tracking confirmation from the destination post office, and thus will never get proof of delivery even if the item has arrived.
So... eBay's Resolution Center closes the case in favour of the buyer -- always in favour of the buyer -- because a tracking number cannot be supplied or proof of delivery obtained. eBay's response to the unhappy seller? "That's tough. You should have got a tracking number"... even if the cost of registering the item is more than the value of the item and the buyer won't pay for it.
Not only does eBay give the poor innocent buyer his money back, he gets the shipping and handling charge refunded too! The seller is cheated out of his item, plus the out-of-pocket S&H.
Walt has Googled "eBay buyer protection abuse" and found numberous complaints of this nature against eBay, its buyer protection policy and its Resolution Center. A real problem with the Resolution Center seems to be getting a real person to respond to e-mails.
The only way to speak to a real person seems to be by telephone -- yes, a toll-free number is provided -- but the standard response seems to be to stand on the buyer protection policy which is totally biased against sellers. No proof of delivery = seller loses.
This has been going on for years (judging by dates of complaints published on the Net) yet eBay still takes the buyer's side every time, even though it knows the system is being scammed.
Worse yet, since eBay and PayPal have common ownership, eBay can and does take the "refund" out of the seller's PayPal account before a case is decided, sometimes even before the seller is notified of a complaint.
And still worse, if eBay's charging the seller's PayPal account throws the account into the red, the seller can't close either his eBay account or his PayPal account until the situation is "resolved". There is no appeal, no recourse, nothing for an aggrieved seller to do but grit his teeth and pay up, just to get off the eBay/PayPal books!
Footnote: eBay has announced, just this month, that it is changing its policy to be a little more fair to sellers, and a little more sceptical about "didn't-get-my-stuff" claims from overseas buyers. Wonder if they'll make the new policy retroactive! Chances of that happening? Slim and none! Lifetime pct .986.
Postscript: Walt wonders why Agent 3 or some other lawyer isn't advertising for claimants for a class action lawsuit against eBay. Sue the bastards, I say!
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