Thread: Bait and switch

If you are selling something remotely mechanical on eBay I recommend you insist on postal insurance. That way you can avoid the scam where someone orders an expensive camera then claims it is broken on arrival and threatens your reputation. Their ace card is they already purchased an identical model real cheap as it was in poor condition.

Thanks for the tip but I'm not sure exactly how this works. Do you mean someone has an old or damaged product that they then seek out on an Internet sales site and order it. The switch being when they claim the new product is broken? I agree 100% with the postal insurance. It should be a no brainer for fragile or expensive items.

I keep pictures of things before I send them, and when I post something at the Post Office they usually ask me how much it is worth. If it is regarded as expensive it must be sent with postal insurance. I am not sure however what postal insurance would do to prevent there "ace" card as they could say that you sent it to them in that condition?

Originally Posted by Scout

Thanks for the tip but I'm not sure exactly how this works. Do you mean someone has an old or damaged product that they then seek out on an Internet sales site and order it. The switch being when they claim the new product is broken? I agree 100% with the postal insurance. It should be a no brainer for fragile or expensive items.

From what I have read the scammers do indeed pick up something in poor condition and then order a new model from some unsuspecting seller.

Originally Posted by Charged

I keep pictures of things before I send them, and when I post something at the Post Office they usually ask me how much it is worth. If it is regarded as expensive it must be sent with postal insurance. I am not sure however what postal insurance would do to prevent there "ace" card as they could say that you sent it to them in that condition?

As far as I understand it the insurance would reinburse you for the cost of the 'broken' product. This may help avoid a chargeback, though of course technically it could have been broken for real when you posted it.