Experience with eBay buyer scams?

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Posted By: Rick McQuillan

This "non-delivery" issue is a big one. That is why it is worthwhile to purchase insurance. The Postal Inspection Service is tracking people who file multiple insurance claims. Sometimes a carrier or clerk will work with someone to "lose" insured packages. Let's say that I send someone a parcel that is insured for $200. The mail carrier (the same things are happening with ups), has an agreement with the buyer. The package will disappear with no scans or signatures. I would have to file an insurance claim with usps to reimburse the buyer, and the carrier and the buyer would end up with a free $200 card.

The same type of scam is happening with ebay/paypal postage. I sell you a $200 card and you pay for it with PayPal. I go to the PayPal website and print a shipping label for Priority Mail with $200 insurance. Then I tear up the label and never send the package. After a while you contact me and complain that you didn't receive the card. I file an insurance claim, reimburse the buyer and end up with the $200 card. I'm out a few bucks for the postage that I spent on the shipping label, but that is all.

There are many variations on these scams, and the Postal Inspectors are overwhelmed with cases. The easiest scam of all is when I purchase a card from you, I pay for the card and you send it to me with postage, but without insurance or delivery confirmation. There is no way to track that particular package, so if I tell you that I didn't receive it you really don't have any choice other to refund my money or receive negative feedback.

The upside is that within the next couple of years the Postal Service would like to include more "transparency" with packages. Every package will be bar-coded and every package will be scanned at each step along the way. You will know when the package left the post office, when it ran through the machines at each processing plant along the way, when it arrived at your local post office, and when it was delivered. But this is still a few years away, so your best protection right now is to use one of the tracking services.

Rick