Hey folks looking for some advice here to make sure I am not getting scammed. I haven't had a situation like this throughout the time I've purchased on ebay. - Warning could be long? I purchased a lego technic set (new/sealed) off of ebay about 2 weeks ago. The seller ended up sending me a different Lego set that was sealed as well though the box was kind of beat up. The packaging for the box was not the best, but it was still sealed. The set he set me has an MSRP of 150, the set I purchased had an MSRP of 180. My purchase price was $140. The set sent to me is one that I actually wouldnt mind having either. The seller was someone with 20 feedback and he said he was a new seller and that he sent the wrong items to the wrong customers. He attached a screenshot of the conversation he had with the other customer who received my set. I looked up the other customer's ebay profile and it was also a new ebay seller with a small feedback score. He had an email address on there he said people could contact him at so I shot him an email. This is where things got a bit weird for me and raised some concerns: I emailed the guy saying that I received his set and if he could verify which set was sent in mistake from the guy so I could be sure everything was somewhat on the level. He responded back saying he sent back a set but did not want to say any more in terms of what set it was because he felt I could be scamming him by asking. I responded saying it wasn't the case and I asked him I was set to receive a Lego Technic but asked him to verify which model within the technic line. He responded saying he wouldn't and that he got a shipping label from the seller and that its safer to just use the return label provided by ebay. Now what struck me odd was that 1) he wouldnt say what set he shipped back and 2) he never acknowledge that the set I received (though I said which one it was) was the one he was looking to purchase. I processed a return and got a shipping label and the shipping label had a different first name for the seller though the last names were the same. Its a common chinese last name and while the two names could be the same person, one being his "english" name and one being his chinese name. The return address was for the Oracle campus over in Redwood City, CA. The return shipping label though had a Cube # on it. I have a close friend who works at Oracle and he said that they are allowed to get packages at work but he doesnt ever recall needed to put a cube number on the address. Has anyone had to deal with a situation like this? The fact that the other customer was so dodgy and a new ebay seller too made me cautious that it could be his friend posing like this. Right now I am holding on the package and haven't mailed it back yet I asked him since he already is going to receive the item that I did purchase I'll send back the wrong package once I get the tracking number for my actual delivery. Ebay online says I would get a refund once he acknowledge receives the package but never had to return anything before what if he never acknowledges it or that the package shows missing? The original address on the label that was sent to me didn't have a cube number on it, but the return address did. Any experienced Ebayers here shed any additional insight on a situation like this? Thanks
Did you use PayPal to purchase? If so, setup a return through them, they seem to side with the buyers more often. And use PayPal's return shipping label. If not, then this does sound a bit off, I sell a decent amount on ebay and one time had a customer try to have me ship goods to another name/forwarding address, I had PayPal take care of it, and then setup a new auction as it was clearly a scam.
no I used ebay to make a purchase unfortunately. but I do have protection with the credit card I used. Right now just waiting on the seller to respond, I told him I would ship back the old set once I get confirmation that my actual order was shipped (not just a shipping label was created)
I think you're doing a whole lot of unnecessary things. honestly if somebody emailed me and said I received your package and wanted to make an exchange I think it was a scam to. Also if the item he sent you is one that you want then you might want to just ask the seller to give you a partial refund at some agreed-upon price. I would never contact the second the buyer and start carrying him about questions related to something that you didn't even send him.
pretty sure there is an eBay guy on here. can't remember his name but I think it was basically his job. I'd just contact ebay and ask
i'll start by saying the obvious, each situation is different. it doesn't seem too big of a deal for the return label to have a cubical # as many of the campuses out here (bay area) span multiple buildings and locating employees becomes easier with that info. as far when to actually ship it back, if you've already got the return label then you should be good to go but waiting to see if he provides a tracking number for the correct item is definitely a safe bet. a couple of questions though: did he confirm that he would send you the right box or just issue you a refund? did he say he would send the right one once he got the wrong one back? source: i work at ebay (but prob not who bandwagoner is referring to).
You're reading too much into it. Seller screwed up. Buyer B was mistrustful of random guy asking him questions. As long as the address is right, send it back as soon as you get the other item. eBay will cover you for the first 30 days. As long as you're communicating with the seller via eBay messaging eBay can look at the message history. @ryan_98 What department at eBay?
As a buyer you really have nothing to fear on eBay if you pay via Credit Card, or PayPal as you can do a charge back if you don't receive what you paid for. Also, eBay, like Amazon, errs on the side of the buyer on pretty much every single dispute. I'd trust the seller until they prove otherwise. Just document your return well, including pictures, and you should be fine. You should not be engaging with his other customers, you are only covered if you interact with the seller.
Update: I messaged the guy yesterday afternoon letting him know that I would ship the package back (i've sent him pictures as well of the item with the shipping label) once I receive confirmation that my original package has been shipped to me and not just have a shipping label created. The original shipment he created the fedex label on a wednesday but didnt ship the package until the following Monday. While the cities are close the package was picked up in a different city than what was on the shipping label and on the return label. He hasn't responded back yet to my request I am extra paranoid right now because he is a new seller and two out of my last 5 ebay purchases were actually from fraudulent sellers that one ebay cancelled for me and the other I had to go through paypal for. Both of these though were items that I was purchasing for under 20 dollars. This was a lot more than that. The other thing that just struck me as odd with Buyer B was that I told him what set I received and showed him screenshots of the conversations I had with the seller to show I wasn't making anything up and he didn't even acknowledge any of that. Didn't even mention that it was the set he wanted or asked if it was in good condition etc. Just said I should just get a shipping label. The first email said he would send me the correct item, but the last few emails said he would just issue a refund. One thing the seller said before I started processing the return which also alarmed me was that I was supposed to let him know how much the return shipping was so he could reimburse me. I told him there was no way I would be paying for shipping and that he needs to send me a shipping label instead. He hasn't responded back to my request of waiting until the tracking number has been provided (and the item actually being picked up and not just creating a label) I haven't seen the cube thing before. I have some friends who work at larger companies and all and they said they usually put the building number and floor instead of an actual cube. Even with universities it would just include what building they are in. The cube thing kind of surprised me in that regard. I have a really close friend who works for Oracle in the bay area and I asked him if he ever wrote his cube number for any packages and he said he never did just put the building number. When I told him the reason why I was asking him he actually looked up the seller's name in their company directory and said there is one person with that name working in that building but his cube number is different from what was given to me. (My buddy loves playing detective and all I didn't ask him to do this) lol I know what it seems like but I really like them a lot and they're a very therapeutic way for me to relieve stress and be creative. It would seem like it I dont think there is anything wrong with that but his ebay listings all say things will be shipped from Redwood City when it was actually shipped across the way in Fremont, but its being returned to Redwood City now.
I personally wouldn't worry about it as long as all of the communication is done through ebay. Just return the packaging with the shipping label provided. At worst, you'll just get a full refund after an eBay dispute. eBay almost always side with buyers in a dispute. I think you're overly complicating things. There is no reason why you should've communicated with the other ebay buyer. You're also asking for the seller to ship the new item before you ship the wrong one back. To an inexperienced seller, you're the one that looks shady. Having a package being shipped from/to different cities isn't a big deal. It's a 30 minute drive away. He probably lives and drops off packages in Fremont but receives packages at work in Redwood City. It's not a big deal.
this is definitely unusual but not unheard of. given all the confusion with this i would suggest to start by sending back the wrong box, take the refund, and find a different seller. either way it seems like he isn't going to send you the correct box without receiving the incorrect set back. also, limit all communications with him to the website and keep all the tracking/documents in case he doesn't make this right and you need to open a dispute. i've seen this company suspend and even close accounts that go outside the proper channels (communicating through email/text rather than ebay). i'm currently in an administrative role. know anyone working here?
Sent you a PM. I do a substantial amount of business on eBay and have gotten to know several people there.
