Dear eBay Queen:
I’ve been selling for around 3 years. In early November I had a customer with around 54 feedback send me a message and tell me that the handmade boot warmers/leg warmers I made arrived with a stain and were not as described. This is the first time I have had this issue, and I just refunded her money because I didn’t want negative feedback.
My husband thought it smelled fishy, so he contacted the last 10 sellers that she had bought from and they had left positive feedback. Out of those 10 sellers, eight said that she had told those sellers the same thing, that the item was damaged. This made me super suspicious, but I had no idea what to do. The sellers and I exchanged information, and we agreed to keep in touch. One of the sellers contacted me today to let me know that she was selling some cream hand knit leg warmers, and could they be mine? I went and looked at the items she has for sale, and sure enough, she was selling my hand made item she said was stained, and three other items that I later confirmed were from these other sellers that she ripped off.
I had a conference call with several of those sellers, and they think we should turn her in. What is the best way to do that?
Kate J
Dear Kate:
Holy Camoly! This is one for the record books! Congratulations on catching this scam artist. I believe the best, and most efficient way of reporting this buyer is contact eBay via their phone system. It probably wouldn’t hurt to have each seller that was a victim of this buyer to also do the same thing. I cannot say what eBay will do. They may just smack her hands, or they may remove her altogether from eBay. (I’m hoping they remove her)
Just for good measure, I would also report her through the “report the buyer” flow. Congratulations on bagging a big one!
Dear eBay Queen:
I’ve been trying to diversify a bit from my eBay store in preparation for my family’s move to Oklahoma. I've been trying to get rid of my inventory before our March 2015 move. I’ve been using eBay, Amazon, and Facebook groups and had a very interesting experience trying to sell some of my new items. The items I’ve been trying to sell are: new with tags Victoria’s Secret Bras that I purchased this summer during their big sale, some Lego sets and those very popular Limited Edition Disney Store Frozen dolls that look like Barbies. I listed all of these items on about 10 different sites/groups. What happened to me is, in my opinion, crazy!
I sold several Victoria Secret bras for 45.00 each, and the Frozen dolls I was asking $1200.00 for the pair. I know that the dolls are sold out, and that my price is considerably higher than it was at the store, SO why did I have these people screaming at me on these Facebook groups. These women were calling me a Grinch, capitalist pig, and some other names that I am sure you would not be able to print. I was kicked off one board, and a couple of the others the moderators told the ladies to back off, but most ignored it.
I had a couple of sets of these dolls that I had to fight tooth and nail for at the Disney Store. Why am I looked upon as being bad simply because I am selling these? The ladies that contacted me regarding the bra sales were a bit rude, but I said these were HTF (hard to find) and that’s why I listed them that way.
I did end up selling the dolls on eBay, for my asking price. I kind of feel embarrassed over the name calling and the things these women said. Should I have handled this better?
Alicia
Dear Alicia:
I am a member of a few of our local Facebook groups, but I have found it better for buying than selling. Just like you described, I have seen the same thing happen on the groups I belong to. I have always found it to be better to not answer the critical people and move on. I’m glad you sold the Frozen dolls for the price you wanted on eBay.
Strange eBay item of the Week: 261616100551. Frozen dolls are a HOT item this year. I found these on eBay: Disney Store Frozen Limited Edition Anna Elsa 17” Dolls SOLD: $2999.00.