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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,566 |
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
I recently won an auction on ebay, purportedly for a silver proof Delaware quarter. I paid the bid, and a few days later received an envelope from the seller. What was in the envelope, however, was a 2006-D clad business strike Nebraska quarter - not even uncirculated, it had bag marks and dirt on it  Obviously (in my opinion), this seller tried to scam me. I got into an e-mail discussion with him and asked for my money back. He says he will give me a full refund if I return the coin. Not thrilled about spending the postage to return a coin worth no more than face value, but in order to protect myself I will do it. I want to send back the coin and get tracking information uploaded so that there will be proof that I sent it back and it was received by the seller. My problem is that I am not sure how to do this. I have looked through ebay for information, but their information regarding tracking information is all seemingly geared towards sellers and not unhappy buyers like me. I've never sold anything on ebay so I am uncertain how to proceed. I know that there are folks on this site that have returned items before and I would like to ask for some advice as to how to proceed. I don't trust this seller to do the right thing and I am anxious to protect myself. I should add that the original transaction was done entirely through ebay's system and I used Paypal to make my original payment. Any info will be much appreciated - thanks! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
You need USPS Delivery Confirmation, that will be your proof of return. Unfortunately, you can only use DC for parcels so it will cost you $1.71(1oz parcel rate) plus 80 cents for DC. For a seller screw-up like that, a good seller would reimburse you for return shipping at the very least.
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Valued Member
United States
265 Posts |
it was his mistake he should not only refund you the cost of the original coin but also your cost of shipping back to him. He may argue the cost of delivery confirmation, but this is what we have to deal with when we use marketplaces like ebay and rely on a picture and an unknown reputation of a seller. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I doubt if it is a scam - the seller probably just made a mistake. He may in fact be worried that you actually received the correct coin and will send him back an old quarter as a buyer scam. I am not saying that you would do this, but people do.
You could ask the seller to re-imburse return shipping given the major mistake he made - the worst he could say is no.
Also, depending on the original purchase price of the coin, it might be worth just sending it back as a non-machinable letter (69 cents I think). I wouldn't spend $2.50 to send back a $5 purchase for example.
If you go the parcel route, make sure it is at least 1 inch thick or they won't let you add Delivery Confirmation at the post office without upgrading to Priority Mail.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Quote:
He says he will give me a full refund if I return the coin. What he sent you is worth no more than a quarter--it's really not worth the expense returning.  If he's that skeptical of your complaint, send him a photo of what you received, maybe it will jog his memory--and ask him to ship the coin you paid for. Edited by DVCollector
09/22/2011 1:34 pm
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Valued Member
United States
404 Posts |
SCAM!
He tells you to return the coin, you send it back without delivery confirmation, you can't prove that you sent it back, paypal will side with him.
He looks for people returning it like KenKat, people just throw it in a cheap envelope with a stamp, and paypal won't refund your money, because you can't prove you returned it.
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Locked
822 Posts |
Gotta link to the listing?
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Valued Member
 United States
406 Posts |
Here's a link to the listing I pulled of my "My ebay" page: http://www.ebay.com/itm/30059823457....m1439.l2649He says now that he doesn't know when he will be able to refund me, as Paypal has frozen his account. Quote:
You need USPS Delivery Confirmation, that will be your proof of return. Unfortunately, you can only use DC for parcels so it will cost you $1.71(1oz parcel rate) plus 80 cents for DC. For a seller screw-up like that, a good seller would reimburse you for return shipping at the very least. I can mail him back the quarter in the morning (I'm at a conference in San Antonio this week but I bought the coin with me) and I'll use USPS delivery confirmation. Do I need to upload the tracking number to ebay, and if so, how do I do that? Sorry for the newbie question but ebay hasn't been too helpful to me in this regard since I'm a returner and not a seller in this case. Thanks! Edited by ljenkins990
09/22/2011 6:32 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
Quote:
SCAM!
He tells you to return the coin, you send it back without delivery confirmation, you can't prove that you sent it back, paypal will side with him.
He looks for people returning it like KenKat, people just throw it in a cheap envelope with a stamp, and paypal won't refund your money, because you can't prove you returned it.
Well, he's got 100% feedback and 61 transactions over the past six months so it seems like a lot of work to run a $25 scam. I've dealt a lot on ebay and have found that most people are actually honest and reasonable. Reasonable requests get reasonable responses. Assuming someone is scamming you and going in full bore just makes them defensive. At $24.50, I would return it first class parcel with delivery confirmation. If it were $5, I probably wouldn't - that's all I was saying. Edited by KenKat
09/22/2011 8:13 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5862 Posts |
I'm not sure how much I would trust this seller. The auction itself looks a bit shady. The title says "1999 Silver Delaware Proof State Quarter" but the description says "today I will be selling my uncirculated delaware quarter." Hmmmmm... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
Looking at the listing itself, I would not have bid on this coin. No picture of the obverse and it honestly doesn't look like a proof - no cameo effect at all. If you look at completed listings, there are much better examples from Top Rated Sellers for less money.
Still think it is more of a case of a seller not knowing what they are doing than an intentional scam.
Send it back with DC and chalk up the $2.50 you are out as a learning experience.
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
If anyone's interested in an update on this... I'm in the process of going through the dispute resolution process with Paypal on this guy. I did return the original coin to him with tracking/delivery confirmation. I've explained my side of it and his response so far has been to accuse me of lying even though I have e-mails from him to back up what I've said. For example, he says he never asked me to leave positive feedback before he would release my refund, even though I've got an e-mail from him that says exactly that. I feel fairly confident of getting my money back on this. Looking back on it now, I agree that it was a mistake on my part to bid on the auction in the first place. I'm usually more careful, but I suppose no one is immune from the occasional mistake. Most of the ebay sellers I've dealt with have been totally professional and honest, but I guess this was bound to happen eventually. For me, at this point, I care less about recovering the full amount I spent than about making sure this dishonest seller doesn't make a profit off me. |
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Rest in Peace
 United States
1380 Posts |
From his most recent feedback, it looks like he sent your coin to someone else, and does not know what a proof or silver coin actually is.
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
Well, I just got an e-mail that I received a full refund - checked my Paypal account and it's there, so all's well that ends well  He said in his response that he thought I was someone else when he said I was lying. I suppose I will never know for sure whether that is true or not, but from recent feedback he's received, I tend to agree with jgfindring. Oh well... Lesson learned. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
All water under the bridge at this point! Glad it worked out and thanks for the update.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,566 |
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Posted 09/21/2011 11:48 pm
