If you are searching for scams against online buyers on Google, you will see results related to eBay dominate the search results. It is not by chance that most of those links lead to articles on how to avoid getting scammed by eBay.
Honestly I loved shopping on eBay because everything is cheaper than other online retailers like Amazon, Walmart or Target. However, this is a hub for scammers and you are taking a big risk buying merchandise here. I’ve encountered a lot of scammers in the last 3 years and I managed to get my money back all the time. Unfortunately, this time I lost $370 and here is the story.
How I Lost Money to an eBay Seller?
I bought a $370 pair of headphones from an eBay seller with more than 99% positive feedback from 2,000 buyers. I was quite confident at that time because this seems to be a legit seller and as the item was priced $60 less than the same one on Amazon, I thought this is a good deal. Everything went smoothly and I was not aware of the scam at all. The seller sent me a tracking number 2 days later and the package arrived after a week. I left the box in a corner for 10 days and when I unboxed it, I couldn’t be more surprised as this was the first time I received only the packaging of the product with no content inside. I contacted the seller named as9342 immediately and as I expected, he wouldn’t take any responsibility. Here is his response:
In between me and you, there were many people who handled it. UPS, and every employee that handled it during transit. Probably dozens. Next, the guy (presumably your employee) who received the item. Also, perhaps other people in your organization who had access to the package, while it was in storage for over two weeks. Any of these people could have taken the item out. My point is, that there were a lot of people involved in the chain of custody of the item. And yet, you single out one person – the shipper. The ultimate responsibility lies with you, to make a timely complaint and report if something is not right. And that report should have been made upon receipt to UPS, within their time frame. You received the item, you or your agent received it and did not report anything amiss to UPS, and you alone are responsible.
I contacted eBay and was told to open a case for items not as described. Notice that if you open a case for items not received, you will lose the case immediately when the seller provides tracking number. I asked eBay to step in and expected they could help get my money back because their eBay Money Back Guarantee program save me some times in the past.
A day later, I received a message from eBay that the case is placed on hold and I need to provide them some more documents, here are the details:
“I’m sorry to hear there was a problem with the item. I understand that the package arrived but it was empty. When a package arrives empty or with an entirely different item, it can be the result of theft, a shipping issue, or an oversight. We need your help to resolve this case. Please file an incident report with your local law enforcement agency (police department). Filing an incident report is generally free of charge and is easy to do. The report documents that there’s been a problem.
Here are the details that must be included in the report:
— Description of the item received
— Name of the officer filing the report
— Officer’s badge number
— Station location (city and state)
— Station phone number
We’ve placed this case on hold for 10 days to allow you to get an incident report.
Please fax the incident report to (303) 395-2829. Please include your user ID (techwalls) and case number (5….) and send the fax to the attention of eBay Money Back Guarantee Dept – Case ID: 5…..
After we receive and confirm the incident report, we’ll close the case in your favor. We’ll ask the seller to send you a refund in the amount of $365.90 that will be credited to your original payment account. You should receive the refund within 3-5 days of faxing the incident report.
If we don’t hear from you within 10 days, we’ll close the case and you won’t be able to get a refund. If you need more time, just let us know by replying to this message.”
I followed their instructions and brought the eBay email and proof of transaction to the police department. Unfortunately, the police officer told me that they couldn’t file an incident report in this case because I actually received the package. Therefore, they only kept a record that I reported an unusual case and of course, they didn’t provide the officer name or badge number. I sent the record to eBay and they had all the reasons to reject it. And after just a few hours, the case was closed in the seller’s favor.
Update: I felt hopeless and almost forgot about the case until I remember that the payment used my bank account as a funding source because I had no money in my Paypal account at that time. Therefore, I went ahead and filed a chargeback with my bank, I just needed to fill in a form to explain my situation. After just a couple of days, I received the refund directly my bank account and the payment in my Paypal account was also corrected. Unfortunately, my Paypal account was permanently limited.
How to Avoid the Empty Box Scam
What a shame that both eBay and Paypal couldn’t protect their users. After the incident, I’ve learned a few lessons that I want to share with you guys:
1. Try to ask for signature confirmation for your packages.
2. Don’t accept a package if it is significantly smaller or lighter than the product dimensions and shipping weight which could be found on Amazon. A luggage scale can be helpful when you pick up or receive the package.
3. Never leave too much money in your PayPal account, make sure to transfer all to your bank as soon as you receive any payment.
4. Avoid buying expensive items on eBay and if you have to buy something, make sure the seller has more than 10,000 feedback and the rating should be close to 100%. Now, Paypal and eBay are separated so you can pay with your debit/credit card; If anything happens, you will be able to file a dispute with your bank and get money back.
5. Buy products from more reliable retailers like Target, Amazon or Walmart. The price could be a little more expensive but they have much better customer service. You can save some money on eBay for a few items but you will lose a lot more time and money if just one of them is a fraud.
Have you ever received an empty package when buying online? We’d love to know how you dealt with it.
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MyGuy says
ebay sucks. Mostly fraud and rip offs. Everybody knows that.
I just buy from Best Buy, Target, and Amazon as last resort.
Very glad to hear you got your money back. Who cares about lost paypal services. That’s an ebay company. Rather use Google services, or direct via cc etc.
Manny castro says
Easiest way lie, open a case and say item came broken or doesnt work. Better than saying i got an empty box. Saying item broken, not work, came defective wont raise much alarms as an empty box. Wait time frame and get money back, if buyer gets smart and wants pictures find pictures in google from broken item, get smart as well
Olga says
Yeah. I am a victim of Chinese scam seller. They charged me with 50$ instead of 5$ and they refused to refund and they said that they already shipped my order (total lie), and now I got a notice that I’ve received something with 30 grams weight. I’ve tried to report on them, but no success.
Larry says
Hello, I have been a seller on eBay for over a year. I am more than honest and dependable. Matter of fact there are many scammers but they are buyers. My ( alike thousands of others) work endless hours listing, shipping, taking pictures, paying taxes. It’s so unfair to write eBay sellers off like a bunch of cheap scammers. It is a site to get quality at the best price and sometimes I make 50 cents. Put your blame where it belongs with Chinese sellers! They sell fake goods and don’t pay taxes. Also one first class item costs a US seller minimum $2.60 to ship that same item is .30 for China. Thank you
Davina says
Well said. I also sell on Ebay. I work super hard to keep my customers happy. We also get customers scamming us. Not all sellers are bad nor all buyers are bad. Communication is key.
simon says
I am more miserable than you. In March, I spent $120 on eBay to buy a refrigerator, but I checked the tracking number. The ups website showed that the goods had been signed. I asked my family and the family said that they did not see the goods. I emailed the UPS staff, and the staff asked me to provide a picture of the eBay shopping, which has been eBay’s realistic shipping address. After the UPS staff told me that the tracking number was correct, but the destination of the goods was not the address I provided, but UPS could not tell me more details. I saw the tracking number showing that the goods were only one pound, but I bought a refrigerator that weighed more than a pound. I contacted eBay and eBay asked me to contact PayPal for a refund. PayPal asked me to provide evidence, and I provided feedback on the fact that four people were cheated by the seller. Provided my conversation with UPS. It also provides a picture showing only one pound of weight on the tracking number. But PayPal has been delaying the time. By yesterday they sent me an email telling me that they didn’t support my appeal because the seller provided evidence and I asked to see the consignee’s signature, but PayPal ignored me. Now I have deducted $120 from my PayPal credit and asked me to pay interest. I want to ignore the bill here, but I am afraid that it will affect my credit. I will not use PayPal and eBay in my life. This is a very shameless one. Company, I feel sick about their behavior
Crazymolases says
I got scammed by a seller named 24 hour deals. I received an empty box for a PS Vita that I ordered. I hope to get my money back but I doubt amazon will even help. Please help me if you can. I’m so mad. I hope these scammers get whats coming to them.
Tuan Do says
Sorry for your loss.
Amazon support is very helpful, I believe you will receive a refund for the purchase. In case they can’t resolve your issue, you still can file a chargeback with your bank to get your money back.
Andrew Hoggan says
I got scammed today by a uk seller in London called onyel_2015, I bought a bike saddle but received an empty acetone bottle, seller got abusive so I got eBay to block her!
Paypal refunded me my £10 2 days earlier as Hermes initially claimed they had lost it!
This is a fraudulrnt, unethical trader who gets very abusive when questioned, I hope eBay suspend her indefinitely!!!
Charles says
there are quite a good number of online sellers scam buyers for quick money. Now all my payments, though they are through Paypal, but charged to my credit card. If these kind of scam happened, I can always call up my credit card company to get my money back. But we must do that fast. Good luck.
Kevin says
I received an empty iPhone box from a seller in the UK and currently I am struggling getting my money back. When buying the phone, the seller seemed reputable as apparently is a company registered in the UK and has already has sold more than hundred <550 $ items and all happy customers. I opened a case with Paypal as soon as I received, opened and realized that it is an empty box. Interestingly in the very same day somebody else left a negative feedback for the seller for a similar issue. After some conversation with the seller they escalated the Paypal dispute for a claim (why sellers can do that if buyer opened the dispute!!??), however, they insisted that it's the eBay GSP that has stolen the item. I contacted Paypal and asked them to also give me a chance as the buyer to provide my support documents. I don't know what is going to happen now but I will follow this case until the end to get my money back by any means being through police reports, court, Paypal, eBay, credit card and any other option available.
Jim Frazier says
Bought a pallet of Audio equipment from new-audio video online. It was 6 speakers and came with the boxes wrapped in clear plastic on the pallet. I signed for the pallet after insuring that the boxes on the pallet were correct. When I opened the plastic two of the boxes were empty($840.00 including shipping). I called Visa and filed a dispute for the missing items. Visa credited my account.
P.T says
Seller is scottb553
Paid $245 for a pair of sunglass and got an empty package. Contacted Ebay and open up a dispute. Now the seller claimed that I am lying. Been a member since 1999 and this is the first time this happened to me. I hope Ebay take serious action against these scammers. This scammer had 155 feedback 100% 1 negative feedback being over 90 days old.
Dawn says
Received an empty box from Yoox that was supposed to have a $150 necklace in it. The package was not tampered with. They are “opening an investigation”, but I have little hope! There’s no way to prove it was empty, and they know that! So frustrating. Highly recommend sticking to reputable sellers or using a credit card that offers immediate chargebacks!
bob` says
shouldve sent the empty box back :D
whats good for the Goose is good for the Ganda!
Craig Volpe says
Unfortunately, sellers sending an empty box and buyers claiming that they received an empty box are both scams on eBay and Amazon that have become more popular in recent years. Mail tampering is also a problem.
While it’s possible the seller did in fact send you an empty box, I would give them the benefit of the doubt considering their excellent seller history.
I would also try to look at this from the seller’s perspective. Even though you know the box was empty when you opened it, the buyer doesn’t know that for sure and from their perspective it sounds suspicious that you didn’t contact UPS within the time frame. Despite you not being a scammer in this case, it’s the kind of thing a scammer would do.
Considering both of your cases, I suspect it was neither of you and actually mail tampering. In cases of mail tampering, it’s important to report the problem as soon as possible to the shipping provider. Since you didn’t do that (even if unintentional), that kind of falls on you. If I were the seller, I would also be frustrated that you were blaming me even though you exceeded UPS timeframe for reporting a problem.
Doug says
Mine is a case of terrible packaging and the USPS. 6 lawn mower blades that weighed 18 pounds in a priority mail box left on my front porch in the rain. Of course it was an empty box, wet and torn open. Seller didi not respond. Ebay opened a case. Then an email saying the seller would accept a return for a refund. Ebay says to send the empty box back. Hope it works.
Ya dummy says
9/10 times its the courier that steals..
LB says
What do you do if the courier steals? I returned a laptop weighing over 6lbs weighed by canada post. When box arrived, seller says it was returned empty and only weighed a pound and a half. They refuse to give me a refund even though they sent me the return shipping label and they didn’t insure it. Now I’m out nearly $400
Deborah says
My nephew ran into this problem as a Seller. I told him to let the Buyer know he would report the matter to the US Postal Service as tampering with the mail is a felony but the Buyer should double check before the authorities were involved. My nephew never heard back from the Buyer.
Common sense says
Lmao Please, either you’re a total moron or you’re lying. Ebay has policies for buyers to protect them from these situations. Im a ebay seller so I KNOW Them very well.
Amy says
Ebay Seller BESTDEAL04
I purchased 2 seperate orders for Modere Supplements.
Received the 1st order a d it was open bottle, seal broken, missing 3 of the 90 supplements. (Listed as brand new FACTORY SEALED)
Two.days later received 2nd order and it was a sealed envelope completely empty!!!
Contacted ebay. They told me to wait to.see if the seller resolves it. If not call back after 3 business days and they will refund the money.
This scares me cause im worried i will lose my money
Mark Rich says
You know how I deal with people like that . I send them exactly what I received in a return .I use the system as much as they do.
Brad says
I personally have bought thousands of items on Ebay and have never received an empty box. However, my dad bought one thing, a thousand dollar bike on Ebay from someone with zero feedback. The bike never arrived. However, the seller used a complicated fraud scheme and Ebay/Paypal rejected my dad’s case. I will not specify the details of the scheme for fear it would be repeated. Fortunately, my dad paid with a credit card and was able to dispute it. Never pay for expensive items with a bank account or balance!
Fast Forward to today:
I just got scammed. I have just received an empty box from an order I placed on a website. (I have never received an empty box before!) The website looked legit and was even a known brand name. But looking online, I now see that there are many complaints about that website. I paid with something called “Afterpay” which is also probably a scam. I am only out one fourth of the total price, but since I will refuse to pay anything more, Afterpay will probably come after me with collection notices or something. I can promise you they won’t steal another dime from me, but they might hurt my credit rating for the next 8 years.
Peterson says
Why did you leave it there for 10 days without opening it? A few days of leaving it there unopened is understandable, but 10 days? If you’ve done online shopping (or tbh any kind of shopping) before, it is so important to immediately check if all your items are present. Do you buy something from any store and then later only check if all the contents you bought are present after 10 days? Don’t think so.
As for scammers, there are indeed many everywhere; it sounds very presumptuous to just assume scammers only exist on websites like eBay. Unfortunately, if you want cheaper, discounted items that is a risk you’re gonna have to take.
As for Chinese scammers, yes there are indeed many, so do check the origin and try to go for locally-based companies. There’s still a risk with tampering, but ordering anything online involves that risk. Moral of the story? Google good headphones to get, invest in one that will last you a long time with great quality and durability. Places like Reddit can advise you on good things to get and what’s really worth your money.
Common Sense says
I think you’re a scammer or a total moron.You waited ten days to dispute the claim.An honest buyer would never wait 10 days and would check on their package immediately to file a dispute of an “empty box”.I side with the seller on this case.There should be a two day return policy like what offer up has because the scamming buyers out number the sellers by a ratio of 100:1.
Jason says
Ebay’s Policies and customer service is just ridiculous to even deal with. They have sellers that don’t even have the products they are even selling sometimes. I ordered a product that was never sent with no tracking number, but the seller didn’t mind keeping my money. I wrote the scam seller to give me my money back. They gave me all my money back except a shipping fee for something they never shipped to begin with. I managed to get this credited back. Another instance of having an issue with eBay is buying a beanbag during the weekend that almost every company or shipping company does not even ship on weekends, but my order seemed to ship anyway after I cancelled in within ten minutes of ordering it. I had to pay a hundred bucks for ebay’s return shipping which was complete bullshit. Then I asked for it to be credited back since I cancelled my order and shouldn’t have to pay for something I didn’t want in the first place. They kept on telling me to deal with the seller even though the charge was through eBay. I had a backend billing agent call me back to tell me that eBay was going to credit the return fee despite their policies and processing of this cancelled order. That never happened. And everyone in ebay’s customer service has no clue of other departments calling you in their system. So you have to explain everything each time you talk to the over seas people over there that end up telling you that you’re screwed and have to just deal with it as they wait for the next sucker to call. Ebay made the news in my area of people buying things for Christmas as products not as described and forcing the customer to still have to pay for it. There was one where a person ordered a inflatable dinosaur for a kid that showed the kid in the picture riding it. When the customer received it, it was just a small toy dinosaur that was just a figurine that would fit in your hand. But eBay is forcing this person to pay for this crap as they did me. Ebay is turning into craigslist and needs to be boycotted. I have cancelled my eBay account and filled an unauthorized charge with my bank and will shop at amazon in the future.
Honest Ebay buyer says
I bought two purses from a seller (fernmar7517) on Ebay that turned out to be a counterfeit item. I got the two purses authenticated by professionals and through Entrupy. I immediately requested a to return the item and get a refund for the two purses and the seller gave me a hard time. I had escalated this issue to Ebay and they were able to give me my refund. After that, I have received abusive and threatening messages from the seller (fernmar7517). I reached out to Ebay and they didn’t do anything. I wrote a review the product I purchased warning other buyers of this counterfeit item she is selling and she threatened me to remove my feedback but I didn’t. She reached out to Ebay and Ebay suspended my account. This is unfair as I am victim of fraud. Nothing happened to seller who continues to sell the counterfeit items on her page. My whole account got suspended and I am not able to use it anymore and Ebay took the side of a fraudulent seller (fernmar7517). I just cannot believe this!
Steph says
Can somebody explain what the scam or how this one works. I ordered a purse and wallet through mercari. When I recieved package from usps box was empty. I noticed but didn’t pay to much mind that the senders address from the seller was not from Arizona as this is where purse was shipping from. Didn’t pay anymore mind to that. I opened claim with mercar. Seller denies shipping empty box. Mercari refunded my money and paid seller gave seller an automatic 5 star rating. Case resolved. Bout a week goes by and what pops up in my P.O. Box but a package (the purse and wallet). Oddly I look at shipping label and see the label now says it was sent from Arizona. I don’t understand what exactly happened or why. Let me just say the first empty box I received had shipping address from Utah inside the box was a hand made card stamped saying “thank you steph” seller apparently took time to stamp me a thank u card with my name on it. My question is how and why. Any insight?