| aspartame | 01-11-2014 09:39 AM |
Wanna be scammer caught in the act- please advise
Okay so I recently sold (2) brand new & sealed T-Mobile sim card kits on ebay for $12.00.
Buyer paid me on the 30th. Because of USPS Holiday hours/closings, I wasn't able to ship it till the 2nd, which I did. I did not pay for tracking, more on that later, however.
A few days later I began receiving messages from the buyer complaining they never received the item. I told them because of the Holliday load, the post office is a little backed up and to just wait a bit longer.
Buyer emailed me again on the 9th and demanded tracking information. I said I didn't have it and she immediately filed an item never received case saying "I never received the item there is no tracking and I no longer want the item I want my money back"
I then went into my collection of receipts I pull the receipt out for this transaction and viola, there's a PID # on there that acts as a tracking number. This is something new from the post office, all packages actually have tracking now even if you don't pay for it. If you don't pay for it (which I never do) they simply just don't tell you that there's tracking...but there is.
Anyway, I type the PID # aka tracking number into the USPS website and find that the item was delivered on the 8th.
So, this buyer received the item and figured because there was no tracking information added to ebay and I told her there was no tracking, that filing a fradulent item never received case was a win/win and she was guaranteed her measly $12 refund...free sim card kit, score!
Would of worked but I had the ace up my sleeve
I immediately responded to the case via paypal. I added the tracking number (which shows the item was delivered on the 8th) as well as a scanned photo my entire postal receipt from when I sent her the package.
All this time, she's totally ignoring all of my messages i'm sending her. Both through ebay messages as well as facebook (I looked her up). She still hasn't responded to any.
Woke up this morning and saw this message sent to me from paypal:
"The buyer received this item and changed their dispute reason to Item Not As Described. Changing the reason automatically escalates the dispute to a claim, and we're looking into it to decide the outcome. Please respond with the information requested below by Jan 20, 2014."
I'm surprised paypal didn't immediately throw the case out as her con job is very obvious especially after she switched reasons like that...but they didn't, which is insanely surprising as she was pretty much caught in the act of trying to scam me.
But how should I handle this now? Clearly she was trying to scam me and saw an easy loophole for a refund when she thought there was no tracking...even though I added tracking info stating the item was delivered, she still wants that fraudulent refund...it was in her grasp! The item I sent her was the exact item she purchased also. 2 T mobile sim card kits.
My options through paypal are Issue a refund, issue a refund, buyer must return the item, offer a partial refund to close the case, provide proof a refund was already sent, or disagree with this claim, provide additional information.
Pretty crazy all this over $12.00 but it's the principle to me at this point.
Please advise me on what my next step should be. I'm not sure if I should issue refund after she returns the item or just disagree with the case. Naturally, I want to do whatever I can to keep the money she sent me for the items she now owns of mine.
Also if I take a return I run the risk of her possibly switching the new cards with old ones and/or activating the new ones so they can't be used or something along those lines. The listing for this particular auction stated no returns accepted. I've sold 10 or so of these t-mobile kits, never had a single problem except for this rent a con women type character.
Thanks! | 
