Seller asking me to commit fraud - what would you do?

So I purchased a $400 electronic item from an eBay seller. The seller is a Top Rated Seller selling mostly used electronics, cell phones, computers and parts. On the same day as my item was delivered, I received a request from eBay stating that the seller wished to cancel the transaction.

I sent an eBay message to the seller asking him why, and he said the details were in the package.

So I picked up the package at the Post Office today. Inside was the following note:

"Dear eBayer,

We are greatly in need of your help. eBay's seller fee has taken more than expected from the sale. We greatly ask if after you inspect your purchase and find it to be satisfactory PLEASE accept to cancel the transaction in order for us to recover the money eBay has taken. This will NOT affect your PayPal Buyer Protection. We have included a free gift for your time and understanding in this matter. If by change you're not satisfied please send it back for a full no hassle refund & keep gift [sic]."

What would you do? I have no intention of accepting cancellation.

EDIT: The free gift was a keychain.

Wow, I would decline the cancellation. If you do nothing, the seller will still get their fees back.

I'd decline the cancel request and then contact eBay to let them know about this seller.

I'd check with Paypal to see if it's true that your buyer protection remains in force if the transaction is cancelled. That seems illogical to me. Also, if this seller is asking you to do this, he or she is probably asking other buyers to do the same thing. I'm with ellone, decline, report, give neg or neutral, and don't do business with this eBayer again. If you're a seller, put them on your "not allowed to buy from me list" (I don't remember the correct terminology).

Were you the first person to do that?

JamesTKirk said:   Were you the first person to do that?

I was the first to complain about this, but there were a couple of others who complained about receiving items Postage Due. It seems the seller also defrauds the Post Office. The item he sent me was sent Media Mail (even though it was electronics) with a weight of 1 pound, even though it weighed 20 ounces.

Report this to eBay!

i'd have reported them...they know they're paying for fees upfront and are packaging it such that its not tracked via email, etc...and making people feel guilty because they're giving you a probably cheap keychain.

if they ship a ton, they must know the fees they're paying upfront...in the note it sounds like they were expecting less fees but ended up having to pay more. thats crap, because otherwise they woulda gone straight to eBay to ask for fees back. reality is that eBay is just cutting into their profit margin and if they ask, people might return it.

while i dont care for eBay and there's really no other good place to sell such kinda stuff, i'd still report them...

gyzo33 said:   Treefarn said:   I don't need to check with Paypal if my coverage is still in force, because I never considered accepting his offer. But I did leave bad feedback, that item was as described, but seller asked me to commit fraud by cancelling transaction to save fees.

You left bad feedback as in negative feedback? Did you not receive what you bought in a timely matter? A simple NO to cancel the transaction would suffice.

Yes, I left bad feedback. The seller ask me to commit fraud, in violation of the terms of service with eBay. Since I am a seller too, I know that people like this drive eBay fees up. Its no different than insurance fraud - 'it doesn't hurt anyone', but we all pay more in the long run. The feedback I left was honest - I noted item was as described, but seller asked me to commit fraud. When I did the DSR rating, he got 5 stars for item as described, 5 starts for shipping time, and 1 star for communication.

(If I wanted to be really hyperbolic, I'd say 'If your neighbor offered you $10000 to kill his wife, do you give him a simple 'no'? Or tell the cops?)

BradMajors said:   alwayslookinaround said:   i'd have reported them...
As far as I know, there is no longer any way to report sellers; there is no webform, no chat, and no email to contact support. Only thing you could do is try a telephone call. I won an auction, seller refused to ship the item, and I could not report the seller.

You would just file a 'Item Not received' case in Resolution Center. They will contact the buyer, the buyer probably won't respond, and eBay will end up giving you your money back. Not quite sure what you mean that there is no way to report a buyer.