26 December 2009
The eBay SNAD Scam (How To Get Anything For Free Off eBay)
Just got burned by this, so I thought I’d let folks know.
The scam is simple and hinges on 2 key elements:
- eBay “seller protection” doesn’t protect against this (or much else, for that matter).
- eBay recently changed its policies to prevent anyone from leaving negative feedback ratings for buyers. Buyers can only be good people. Obviously.
And the scam itself goes like this (from the buyer’s/scammer’s perspective):
- Buy something from some unfortunate person on eBay.
- After it arrives, file a dispute stating the item was significantly not as described (SNAD), the seller isn’t working with you to resolve the issue, and ask Customer Support to resolve the case.
- Wait a few days for Customer Support to decide in your favor. They will always decide in your favor for a SNAD case. They are well-trained monkeys.
- You’ll get a refund and be asked to ship the item back to the seller. Send them a box of rocks instead; eBay doesn’t care much.
eBay used to be a halfway decent place to sell your stuff, but clearly those days have passed. I’m not a regular seller, and I only got burned for a small-value item (barely worth the time it took to write this post), but the next time I clean out my closet, I’ll take it elsewhere. Honestly, I wonder why anyone still sells there in this environment.
1 Comment
Tannsa25
10 June 2010
Yeah im getting burnt in a similar situation. I sold an iphone to someone in Israel. They claim customs opened the package and they sent me pictures (before i even asked for them) of a open box saying customs opened it. So I’m just realizing saying Customs opened it leave me liable because Paypal consider it still my item until he get the product. They don’t care if you sold 100 iphone without no problems they will always side with the buyer but I pay fees for selling and get treat like sh*t. A lady from paypal told me hey you choose to become a seller this type of stuff happens. No you do everything right to prevent this from happening. I was looking online about snad disputes and someone had the exact same story I had but paypal wont look at this and think maybe the buyer is getting over. My best bet right now is to call his Customs and see what happen.