How to prevent mail fraud by buyer

[GreenJabron]

Greetings,

After dealing with eBay and Paypal for the past week, i have finally stressed myself out - just because a dishonest buyer was trying to claim an "item not as described" baseball card. Sorry for my venting, but i thought you guys would want to know this story.

I sold a dual autograph card for $142.50 to a guy named Mark. The first package I sent was a card that was serial numbered 2 out of 25. It was my irresponsible mistake to not put any delivery confirmation, insurance, or tracking whatsoever...my fault. Of course this buyer files a "item never received" dispute with PayPal. He claims he tried contacting me and i never responded.... which is a lie- he never contacted me. And on eBay his account is "no longer registered". That kind of threw me off for a bit.

So, after cutting my losses short, I had another card of the same dual autograph/players/brand/year and was serialed 16 of 25, rushed it to the post office and put tracking and delivery confirmation on it. I was already OUT $150 on that "lost" package. Of course... this buyer changes the dispute to "item not as described" and demands a full refund. He is claiming that I sent a 10 cent card... which I have all the reason to believe he "planted" the card in after opening the package and removing the REAL card. Now, as of this moment, I am OUT $300 on TWO cards, and this thief probably has the 1st package and even the 2nd card. He wants these cards for free?!

After emailing him back and forth, due to my disability of being hard of hearing, and on a relay call with him for a nasty 2 minutes with him, i knew for a fact he was trying to pull a quick one. I may be deaf, but I AM NOT DUMB. There was no chance in **bleep** I was going to let him get away with this He even told me that he was a law enforcement officer, that I messed with the wrong people, he opened the package in front of an inspector...etc...blah blah.

Of course I can respect if he was a police officer, but that doesn't mean I have to take HIS word. He even told me he had a video of him opening the package. So of course, I told him, if you can provide me that video of the opening the package in its original condition, I will refund your money right away and call this my mistake in sending the wrong card. But i knew i did not send the wrong card. Here's the video link:  I hope you enjoy the video because that is my evidence that he opened the package already and was attempting to extort me out of money by that video. You can see how the envelope was already opened, but if any of you disagree with me, I'll respect that.

I sent that link to Paypal and eBay, in hopes of them finally seeing evidence that he was committing fraud himself. I agree with the title he put on youtube "Mail Fraud", since he did commit it right there in front of our eyes! He's got pretty good sleight of hand...no?

For those of you, watch out for this eBayer: whitesoxbaseball15. He's no longer registered... but he can be posing under another name.

He's also very vulgar in his threats over email... calling me a deaf handicapped f***er. All of the conversations have been recorded and sent to his local police, PayPal, and eBay.

My question is, how can I prevent other buyers pulling this kind of scam on me if I sell other baseball cards? I thought about videotaping my packaging and sealing of the card in the bubble mailer, but the buyer can make up anything they wish, to get a free card. Also this Mark Pierce told me he had a lot of friends that would buy my auctions and make my selling experience a big headache. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

GJ

[surplusdealdude]

First of all, I agree that the video shows that the package was already opened and he would have noted that unless HE was the one that opened it.  I agree this is mail fraud.

1. Call the postal inspectors AFTER you download that video - there are apps on the web to do that.  If he thinks he's been discovered, that video's going to get pulled, so preserve the evidence.

2. You have the guy's name - call the police department to see if he IS a cop(doubtful, IMO).  If not, it's a crime to identify yourself as one.  If he IS, it's  abuse of power.  Report him.

3. Post the link to the video in your dispute.

4. Mark Pierce told me he had a lot of friends that would buy my auctions and make my selling experience a big headache.

That's a threat - report him to ebay and Paypal for it and also file a charge with the local police department.  The ebay report will pave the way for future corrections, should they have to be made.

There's no way to protect yourself from a determined crook.  You could use a 'sellers mark' - a design made in black light ink somewhere on the card, but I think you'd ruin the card doing it.  I'd certainly be using DC and NOT rushing to send a PITA another card.