I don’t know if it would have mattered. USPS confiscates the item and then refunds you.
I tried to get USPS to pay for slab damage (reholder) but they wanted the whole thing…slab and book…and we’re going to destroy it. So I had to eat both the shipping to and from the buyer, and reholder fees (and shipping to and from CBCS) for damage they caused in order to not throw away a a perfectly good book.
This was a few years ago.
I don’t know. I’ve never encountered these problems, as my only concerns are damaged comics. If someone doesn’t agree with the condition of a book, or claims photos didn’t represent the item, I accept returns. Not worth the aggregation.
My wife seems to encounter them constantly but she sells glass, electronics, shoes, etc…thing that break or have a high scam rate.
I mean, how do shoes break in shipment? Someone actually claimed she shipped them damaged shoes. Total scammer. eBay sided with that buyer too.
When I investigated the process it is as you described. A federal claims investigator would gather the statements and the item and the packaging and make a determination. I couldn’t find anyone that stated they would give out a partial claim, it was be a situation that is yes your approved for the amount or not you are not. You get the item back if your not but it could be literal months later and I don’t believe you get the item back if they pay out the claim.
It is not a very seller friendly environment. It didn’t seem worth it. I didn’t lose money at the end of the day but it certainly wasn’t the giant windfall it started out as.
Can you name the buyer? I want to block them too
Sure, if against the CHU policy I’ll take it down:
adrbry-2401
Nope, it was the whole reason we started these topics, fair warning to others. If an eBay ID pops up and they’re a CHU member, they can perhaps explain why they made the shit list… 
We even have an avoid list at eBay Seller/Buyer Avoid List
Do I even try to fight this or just issue a refund? Buyer says that the box had a cut in the box which damaged the comic. I package pretty well with comic in bag/board taped in between two pieces of sturdy cardboard wrapped in bubble wrap and put into a box. Cut would have to go through the box, bubble wrap, and 1 piece of cardboard to get to the comic. Ok, fine…I ask for back pictures of the comic because I know the one I sent him has some color rub on the rear bottom right corner (see my pic below):
This is the pic of the comic he sent me. No color rub. Different comic? Am I getting scammed?
Is it even worth it doing the whole return thing argue with seller/eBay for $45 that I sold the comic for?
Is the top pick what you shipped, and the bottom the buyers pic? Just want to make sure.
Also, did you ship first class? USPS will tamper with media mail (possible damaging the comic).
But assuming the first photo is the original, there are several spine ticks breaking color surrounding what I think is the color rub.
Also, in the second picture there appear to be some additional damage or wear along the top left edge.
Could be a bad pic or lighting…I’d ask for close ups of the four corners to rule it out.
I think they are 2 separate comics. The one you sent has color breaking and spike tiks on the spine. Where the one they sent pictures of has left top color rubs and an indent above the Marvel logo.
You can dispute that!
Yeah the top picture is what I sent and yes, those spine ticks mysteriously disappeared on what he claimed is the comic I sent him.
I mailed through USPS Ground Advantage. So they shouldn’t have needed to open the package. I know ground advantage includes $100 insurance so maybe that’s an option I can go through.
I’ll contact buyer and make sure he didn’t accidentally mix up the comics. But if he insists it was the same comic and damaged what is the best option? I don’t want to go through the whole eBay process if there’s no chance of me winning.
Options are:
Sorry for the long questions. This is my first eBay headache in over 20 years.
If you can prove the book you sent and the the one that’s been returned are different fight it, block the person and share their name in the block thread.
I can give you some tips later this evening. I just have a few things to take care of, but you have a few options. Don’t refund the buyer just yet though.
I would contact Ebay first and present your case to them before dealing any further with the buyer. Show them the pics and see if they agree with you and they would let you know how to proceed. They may also have information on this buyer if he/she has attempted this before. Let us know how it turns out.
If I was presented with this situation, I would do the following:
1.) Politely request higher resolution pictures of the book. Front and back, four corners. You can explain you’re looking into options how to proceed with reimbursement from USPS and you’ll need the evidence.
2.) if you believe you are being scammed you have two paths:
A) call them out and hope EBay will side with you. Get ready for further headaches which I’ll explain below.
B) Tell them you researched into USPS the process to file a claim and it’s best that since he has all the evidence he’s the one whom should submit the claim. You packaged it well enough that it should have arrived safely and it’s really between the buyer and USPS. I believe This is actually what it’s suppose to happen, even though it sucks that the buyer has to do the leg work. I think the usps website instructs this for damages received.
Basically do not accept the return if you suspect a
Scam.
With that being said, if you push for eBay to resolve the problem prepare for a battle. I’ll give you an example of how much the process sucks:
My wife sold a modem on eBay. Provided the model number so people can do their own research to determine compatibility. Well, the person who bought it claimed it wasn’t compatible with his service provider and wanted her to accept a return, full refund.
Now, if the buyer said it didn’t work, fine. But the buyer admitted they basically didn’t do their research before buying it. All on record through correspondence. So
My wife is like “why should I pay for this?” I said take it back but don’t offer shipping reimbursement.
Anyway, she rejected the return, the buyer submitted a claim and won despite all the facts being in my wife’s favor.
On top of that, they took the money from my wife’s account, full refund, without the buyer having to return the item. There was no evidence or statement that concluded the item was damaged/malfunctionng. So the buyer got his money back and got to keep the item, of which he could turn around and sell himself.
I know eBay will side with the buyer…but they should have either (A) forced completion of the return before refunding any amount, or (B) refunding the amount in total from their own funds, nothing taken from the seller (write it off as a business loss). The did neither (what a shock) which is why I had advised the wife to take it back with contingencies…knowing it likely would not end well from my experiences.
My wife is still fighting this…she’s done with eBay due to dead beat buyers and having to reimburse everything USPS breaks (she’s lost many claims there as well). Don’t ever ship anything glass/breakable…she has yet to successfully ship something without damage, much less get reimbursed by USPS regardless of how well packaged or level of insurance purchased.
Hope this helps.
You could do that as well. I think they have a “clause” that essentially says they assume no responsibility for items damaged in shipment and to have the buyer submit the claim.
So that may at least give you leverage on the position the buyer should submit the claim (as I noted above) if that’s the case. Buyer can’t be upset with you if EBay to you the buyer should submit the claim right? 
Ebay making it easier for customers to cancel orders effective today.
Hi jamescrider,
We’re reaching out to let you know that today, we’re launching an update that will simplify the order cancellation process for both sellers and buyers.
Buyers now have the option to request an order cancellation using the Cancel order button before the item is marked as shipped.
• You retain full control to either accept or decline cancellation requests
• You’re protected from neutral or negative feedback for any cancellation requests made through our updated process, regardless of whether you accept or decline
• You may notice a slight increase in cancellation requests, but should receive fewer direct messages from buyers inquiring about cancellations
• In prior tests, this change resulted in a minimal increase in cancellation requests (maintaining an overall average cancellation rate of 1%, with an increase from .9 out of 100 transactions to 1.1 out of 100 transactions), and a notable 25% improvement in buyer satisfaction, which led to a higher likelihood of repeat purchases
For a detailed overview of these changes, please visit our eBay Community page.
Thanks for being part of the eBay community.
Nothing has changed. Sellers could always approve or deny cancellation requests.
the change is giving them a button to make it easier to instigate a cancellation without messaging
I have had two sales and cancels straight away. I always grant the cancel but I don’t know. It’s crazy.
Ever? Or since the update?
