eBay Seller Sells Ruby Ring with Cough Drop as Stone?
Brad Schepp
October 30, 2006
Some eBay buyers will try anything to rip-off a seller. Read on and see what we mean.
A PowerSeller who sells jewelry told us some incredible stories when we were interviewing for our just-published book, eBay PowerSeller Million Dollar Ideas (McGraw-Hill).
One of his buyers ordered an expensive ruby ring. He returned it however, because he was dissatisfied with it. When they got the ring back our PowerSeller friends examined the ruby because it looked unusual. Turns out the buyer had replaced it with a Luden’s cough drop!
Another of his customers bought an expensive watch, and like the cough drop guy was dissatisfied for some reason. When he examined the returned watch the seller saw signs that the watch had been opened. Sure enough, the buyer had replaced the expensive watch movement with one that was much cheaper!
We wouldn’t just tell you these stories without offering some advice for what eBay sellers can do to protect themselves against these kinds of crooks. Of course, the first thing to do is to keep a photographic record of the items you sell. Here are a couple of other ideas.
Security Mark Your Items. Some savvy sellers use ultraviolet pens to mark every item they sell before shipping it. These pens are available right on eBay. You can’t see the mark they leave until you put the item under an ultraviolet light. This could come in quite handy if you suspect someone has replaced one of your items with another one of lesser value.
Block Undesirable Bidders. Did you know you could prevent bidders with too much negative feedback (or no feedback at all for that matter) from even bidding on your auction? When you designate your selling preferences through eBay you can screen out bidders who you’d rather not do business with.
See our book eBay PowerSeller Million Dollar Ideas for more strategies. And if you’re looking for PowerSeller advice on the best way to do things--from sourcing products to shipping them--please see our previous book eBay PowerSeller Secrets.
A PowerSeller who sells jewelry told us some incredible stories when we were interviewing for our just-published book, eBay PowerSeller Million Dollar Ideas (McGraw-Hill).
One of his buyers ordered an expensive ruby ring. He returned it however, because he was dissatisfied with it. When they got the ring back our PowerSeller friends examined the ruby because it looked unusual. Turns out the buyer had replaced it with a Luden’s cough drop!
Another of his customers bought an expensive watch, and like the cough drop guy was dissatisfied for some reason. When he examined the returned watch the seller saw signs that the watch had been opened. Sure enough, the buyer had replaced the expensive watch movement with one that was much cheaper!
We wouldn’t just tell you these stories without offering some advice for what eBay sellers can do to protect themselves against these kinds of crooks. Of course, the first thing to do is to keep a photographic record of the items you sell. Here are a couple of other ideas.
Security Mark Your Items. Some savvy sellers use ultraviolet pens to mark every item they sell before shipping it. These pens are available right on eBay. You can’t see the mark they leave until you put the item under an ultraviolet light. This could come in quite handy if you suspect someone has replaced one of your items with another one of lesser value.
Block Undesirable Bidders. Did you know you could prevent bidders with too much negative feedback (or no feedback at all for that matter) from even bidding on your auction? When you designate your selling preferences through eBay you can screen out bidders who you’d rather not do business with.
See our book eBay PowerSeller Million Dollar Ideas for more strategies. And if you’re looking for PowerSeller advice on the best way to do things--from sourcing products to shipping them--please see our previous book eBay PowerSeller Secrets.
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