A Box of Rocks

Is it an urban legend?

It might be! There are two variations on this theme, here are the stories, you decide.

Variation #1

The latest scam is that they just take the contents out of the box, say you sent an empty box, PayPal will refund the money to them regardless of the fact that you sent them the receipt showing that they signed for it and the package had weight over and above that of an empty box. Of course, this is no new scam, but is a great big hole in PayPal and Ebay's TOS that A LOT of people are exploiting.

I have first hand knowledge of this as I am currently dealing with a brand new buyer who bought a one hundred dollar set of tools, received the item, USPS shows they received it, I submitted the tracking and the receipt showing that I sent a 6 lb 12 ounce package to them, and the rip off artiest simply stated to PayPal that the box was empty. PayPal issued a refund and the buyer simply sent an empty box back to me.

Variation #2

I had a buyer file a complaint saying item not as described, eBay told them to mail the product back...they did. It was a box full of rocks, they got a refund and my product (a digital camera).

Thanks to Ming the Merciless for the sellers solution to this problem, she says:

I discussed the returned box of rocks potential problem with the Expedited Mail specialist at USPS earlier this year.

She advised that all returns should be opened in the presence of an USPS counter person at the Post Office. So if the return is delivered to your home, don't open it. Take it the nearest Post Office and open it there.

Inconvenient? Of course, but it will save you money.

In the event the seller doesn't receive the exact item that was shipped or receives rocks or someone other worthless item, then the Post Office will go after the person who defrauded you for mail fraud AND you now have enough evidence to file either misdemeanor or felony fraud charges against the buyer with either your police department or the police department in the buyer's city. You could even consider filing charges against PayPal for being a criminal co-conspirator in the fraud because it's their half assed policy that creates these situations.

You can then send copies of the reports to PayPal and the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office and demand the restoration of the funds PayPal removed from your account.

There is of course another variation on the box of rocks thought stream which Randy Smythe blogs on today and that is "Dumb as a Box of Rocks" check it out.



Ming you ROCK!

Y'all come back