eBay buyer claims lens has fungus!

[Mark Mander]

Unfortunately Shane I heard cases of ebay issuing a refund without the seller pressing a button, if they are notified of a return then this could happen. They are not really interested in the in's and outs of a case or even if you get the right camera back, the buyer could end up with your camera and of course the refund, hopefully none of this will happen but be aware,Mark

[Bill Phelps]

Unfortunately you may get HIS camera back, so it will have fungus and he will have a new camera...I hope that’s not the case....hate to sound so gloomy.

[Mark Mander]

It all sounds gloomy Bill when it comes to Ebay these days, when it goes smoothly it's a great place to buy and sell but unfortunately when it goes wrong your on your own ,Mark

[Maurice Leakey]

.....Unfortunately you may get HIS camera back, so it will have fungus and he will have a new camera..

If this does happen, then poor Shane may not be able to prove that it's not his original camera that has been sent to him.
And be out of pocket.
How terrible.




Maurice

[Bill Phelps]

Well I am 100% rooting for Shane on this one....I hope I’m wrong in my assumption about getting a junk camera back.

[Mark Mander]

I think were all with you there Bill, Mark

[Oliver Feld]

Doesn’t every camera or projector has an ID-number somewhere? Maybe, to avoid buyers who betray, it would be an idea to produce a special characteristic feature to prove that it is Your item? A feature only You know!

[Maurice Leakey]

......I do not have the serial number for the camera. It's something I never thought to do ......

Oliver
Shane has replied about the serial number of his camera.


Maurice

[Gary Sayers]

The Guardian (UK newspaper) has reported on ebay seller problems in the last couple of years. Makes for depressing reading though (well, if you're a seller that is).


https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...yer-protection


https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...snt-on-my-side


To read, click 'I'll do it later' if it blanks out the article.

[Shane C. Collins]

Yeah unfortunately I never thought to right down the serial number. All cameras, to my knowledge, have a serial number printed somewhere on the camera. I did treat the leather with leather cleaner so that should still look pretty clean and supple. I'll see how it all looks when the camera returns. I had also included a new ND filter and sun shade.

[Alan Rik]

In a worst case/best case scenario I had an item that was damaged when it was sent back to me. Ebay refunded the seller and also refunded me. They sent a call tag to pick up the item and then a few weeks later I saw it was relisted on Ebay by another seller. I contacted the seller out of curiosity and they said they were a 3rd party that was sold the item in a bulk deal via Ebay directly. They than relisted it for sale. Strange but in the end both parties were fiscally made whole. I think that Ebay does side with the buyer in most cases, I remember the old days of Ebay and the buyer usually had more to lose than the seller! At the beginning Ebay would TRY to get your money back but in some cases they said the money was already gone. I prefer Ebay's new way where you are pretty much guaranteed to get what you paid for or your money back. It's only in these situations that the seller has to go through hoops for maybe a dishonest buyer. It's bad but Ebay is much better than it was. Hopefully if your camera was 'switched' you can get some relief from Ebay in one form or another.

[Shane C. Collins]

So everyone will enjoy this! So after a month of back in forth between the buyer, and eBay customer service, the buyer sent me a message today. He states, since not hearing back from me, a lie, he has decided to cancel the claim and keep the camera. Says he can work with it the way it is. Well that's easy, there was nothing wrong with it to begin with!
I must have emailed, and spoke with 5 different eBay customer reps over a months time. I will say most of them were very helpful. The claim kept getting extended to provide me extra time to get his PayPal email address. I tried 3 times to get that from the buyer but he refused. I called customer service and they said keep trying, and using the eBay message center so we can keep track. So on December 8th I received an email from eBay saying his time to return the item, shipping on him, had run out. I basically caught him I think. He probably didn't think I would push the issue to get his PayPal email which he claims he never gives out. Hmm, how in the world does someone buy on eBay and use PayPal without using an email? Anyways I raised these issues with eBay, and when they reached out to him he got scared I believe. Can anyone say Scammer! Anyways this was one time I can say eBay was working on my behave. So if your prepared and nice to customer service you can get these bad guys! I did my homework to stop him and it worked I think. Also I noticed 3 Canon 514XL's for sale in Pocatello, ID same city as buyer, was it him? Not sure. The photos showed the same accessories I included in my listing. Different selling name than the buyer's ID, but makes we wonder if he was trying to sell the camera, and get a refund from me at the same time! So there you have it guys!

[David Baker]

Another eBay crime / scam exposed !!

[David Roberts]

Very pleased with this result Well done for not giving up on this. I suspect he may have seen the response from this forum and decided he wasnt going to get away with it.

[Adrian Winchester]

I've only discovered this thread today, but I offer my congratulations to you and all who did their best to help. How great to see that justice was done on this occasion! It must have been exasperating putting so much time into this, but you've done Forum members a favour in the sense that we may be better equipped to avoid or deal with comparable issues in future.