The Reverse Bait And Switch eBay Scam

I just made that title up. Can you tell? But is describes a phenomenon that’s all too real. I want to tell you about it.

This one happens when you’re SELLING your Rolex – on eBay or via another mail order vehicle, not when you’re buying it.

You sell your watch, get your money, and ship the watch off to its new owner. A few days later, the buyer wants to return the watch – for whatever reason. Buyer’s remorse, just lost their job, anything.

You’re disappointed, but you agree to take the return. But when you get your watch back, it’s not the watch you sold! They send back a fake or another lesser piece. Or they’ve dived under the hood and replaced the movement with something cheap.

Now at the very least, you’re in for a battle. PayPal favors the buyer, not the seller. And proving that such a thing even happened is going to be tough. And all these difficulties are made worse by the fact that you’re operating at a distance.

The lesson here?

It’s to do your due diligence as a seller as much as you do it when you’re the buyer. Know who you’re selling to. Know their reputation. Learn what they’ve done and how they’ve behaved in other prior transactions. And document everything!

Or avoid the whole risk by selling to Beckertime when the time comes to move that watch to its next owner.