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Keltoi
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« on: March 26, 2009, 07:29:29 PM » |
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Hello,
How do I report a buyer to ebay that has blackmailed and threatened us? He has also threatened that as soon as he leaves his 6 negative feedback, he would bring in his friends and have them buy up our auctions and leave negatives as well.
Buyer and boss had originally agreed that shipping would be $10.00 from us to him in Canada however that was when boss thought he was buying single cards and the buyer went and bought a set along with 5 single cards. Buyer tried to get boss to lower shipping from $10.00 to $5.00 and threatened us with negatives and also "suing" us if we didn't comply with giving shipping to him for $5.00. We said we couldn't do that since he'd bought a set and shipping first class would have been more than $5.00 through USPS. This buyer has been nothing but trouble since day one, complaining about shipping then has nerve to say we aren't following ebay rules when he is clearly in violation of ebay rules by forcing seller to change their shipping terms after he won auctions by blackmail and threats.
Advice on how to deal with this problem would be appreciated.
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« Last Edit: March 26, 2009, 07:32:30 PM by Keltoi »
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Keltoi
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« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2009, 08:53:58 PM » |
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Hi kbmum, thanks! Do I include all emails or just the email where he threatens to bring in his friends? That last email threat was sent through ebay by him so how do I include that header? I also just now noticed that he has also threatened to create another user id... I kind of wish my boss hadn't been nice enough to try to do the mutually agreed withdrawal at the beginning of the sale instead of clicking the button that says buyer was forcing unreasonable demands on the seller since buyer cancelled all those transactions on the mutual agreed withdrawal and paid for it and now we can't get our fees back from ebay.  |
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« Last Edit: March 26, 2009, 09:07:54 PM by Keltoi »
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kbmum
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« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2009, 12:17:30 AM » |
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I'm not sure, since I've never had to file this particular complaint. If the form allows for only one e-mail, use the most threatening one you received. There is no header if it was sent through eBay, but those messages are usually sent to the e-mail address that's listed with the seller account, so you'd be able to find the header in that e-mail.
I'm a bit confused, though. If the buyer has paid for all of the transactions, wouldn't he have had to pay the shipping charge? I'd assume that the set listing had the correct shipping charge, plus there would have been additional charges for the other cards.
Just the fact that the first shipping quote was $10 and the buyer tried to get you to reduce that to $5 would warrant action from eBay. I also wouldn't worry too much about a Canadian buyer suing a US seller over $10 shipping charge. Any lawyer he called would laugh, then hang up on him.
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« Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 12:21:46 AM by kbmum »
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Keltoi
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« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2009, 04:13:14 AM » |
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Hey-
Well my boss said no to $5.00 but then my boss was kind enough to lower it from $10.00 to $8.00 after the auctions were won which is what the buyer agreed to pay with after a bit of grumbling and paid about a week to two weeks after it was agreed by paypal and right after he paid with paypal, he sent another email still threatening to leave negative feedback even if we were to ship the item. my boss did not feel comfortable with dealing with this buyer after that and decided he wasn't going to ship the cards and do a paypal refund.
And all this trouble from a buyer that won the auctions of 5 cards and 1 set for a total close to $10.00 and won back in January so it's taking a lot longer than our normal sales for this particular auctions to go through. my boss isn't really worried about the suing threats as he found it kind of funny and it gave him a laugh as this buyer is now hopping mad and also threatens to sue ebay and paypal. uh good luck with that buyer...
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kbmum
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« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2009, 07:58:41 AM » |
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I think you did the right thing refunding the money. He probably would have claimed that he never received the items and with First Class shipping, you'd have no proof of delivery. Sue eBay and PayPal, please.  |
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Keltoi
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« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2009, 03:18:20 PM » |
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I think you did the right thing refunding the money. He probably would have claimed that he never received the items and with First Class shipping, you'd have no proof of delivery. Sue eBay and PayPal, please. lol isn't that funny like anyone can sue ebay and paypal... I am sure ebay probably has a lawyer on their speed dial somewhere.. if anything I think with the buyer's stupidity on messaging us through the ebay message system with his threats and blackmail are what's going to be his downfall towards ebay kicking him off and not us like he hopes. poor thing( note that was a bit of sacarsm coming throug) that is what my boss is thinking as this buyer's reaction to this whole thing is really extreme over $10.00 to say the least.. perhaps this buyer really was planning on cheating us out of not only cards but money as well somehow that is why he is hopping mad as we probably foiled his little game. Buyer still ranting even through the disputes saying how ti was a legal and binding ebay transaction and that we MUST ship the cards. eh no as bossman told the buyer, we don't appreciate threats and blackmail and he told the buyer that buyer was the one that started this whole mess but buyer is not claiming responsibility for it. |
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« Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 03:19:45 PM by Keltoi »
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allender
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« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2009, 08:48:51 PM » |
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Just in case you haven't heard the last from this seller, and if you have a bit of spare time, it can't hurt to "register" your problems with local law enforcement or even the postal authorities (there might be an establish-able connection to either outside-eBay extortion or some detail about mail fraud).
Of course this isn't going to be the start of legal action. It's never going to be worth the time and money, and might not even be possible across borders. But if the jerk and/or his buddies were to go forward with feedback retaliation, eBay might immediately side with you, cancel the negs, and start watching him carefully.
It should be enough to tell the guy you were on to him and quote the eBay rules, but in a single case they may side with the buyer because it's not seen to be "life or death". If they don't yet have a pattern of abuse for that buyer, you will have difficulty getting through the first phase of form letters.
Then again it should be enough for eBay to cancel negs just from the evidence of the emails. But if it isn't, the damage to _your_ seller reputation is important enough to give them more ammunition, by proving that you're serious enough to do something more that will get their attention. This is the sort of thing that I would be stubborn about and not take "no" as an ultimate answer, and would keep raising the stakes by steps until somebody at eBay will listen or grows tired of me.
Still I doubt that you're the only one the buyer has tried this trick with, so the odds are he's already on a watch list, gathering demerits.
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Keltoi
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« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2009, 07:40:50 PM » |
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thanks guys...
My boss told the buyer to have a wonderful life after the buyer was refunded the money. Buyer is still coming back with threats to create other ebay ids so he can leave negatives and still wanting us to ship cards out even though he has been refunded. I personally think we should ignore the buyer but since buyer has opened up his own "dispute" on ebay in order to try to get us kicked off, buyer has made the threats through the dispute so I don't think we will have to worry about our being kicked off.. If anything I think the buyer will be the one being kicked off eventually... However I have a bad feeling that ignoring him is not going to work and it will just piss him off even further.
He has been blocked from bidding on our auctions in the future but with his threats to create ids, we might have to temporarily block canadian buyers but we don't want to do that as about 40% of our sales are from canadian buyers and most with the exception of this guy have been wonderful customers.. any advice other than going to law enforcement? Bossman doesn't want the hassle of having to deal with the post office and law enforcement as it is only a $10.00 order and not really worth the time or effort.
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Keltoi
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« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2009, 09:47:18 PM » |
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thanks.. buyer has been reported to ebay but we haven't gotten a reply back.. I think my boss is waiting to see if the buyer will actually go through with his threats before contacting his power seller rep about this issue. He'd like to have actual facts to show the rep other than just emails.  |
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Keltoi
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« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2009, 07:39:54 PM » |
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Update- I know my boss is going to be a little angry with me that I went ahead and reported this buyer to ebay after his telling me not to, but I don't think this buyer should be allowed to go scot free after the negative and malicious buying threats he's been threatening us with as well as his abuse of the ebay messaging system by sending threats through there as well.. I sent another email to ebay and this time got a response.. too bad I'm not at my work computer to give them all the information they need quickly. will do that on monday.. Kind of wish they could go through their messaging system to find those but we need to do the work for them.. *LOL* oh well don't mind if it gets this buyer off ebay and saves the other sellers a hassle. Weird thing is buyer's feedback shows 100% positive.. I wonder if the other sellers caved into his reduced shipping blackmail and decided to go ahead and do it to get him off their backs? |
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« Last Edit: April 10, 2009, 07:40:55 PM by Keltoi »
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kbmum
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« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2009, 08:35:38 PM » |
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A rep at eBay told me he didn't have access to the messaging system and couldn't read members' e-mails. I'm sure that employees higher up the food chain have some sort of access, though.
Buyer feedback stopped having a lot of meaning the day eBay stopped allowing sellers to leave negatives for buyers. You can read all sorts of horror stories on the eBay message boards about problems with buyers since the new policy was instituted.
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