Best way to deal with this problem customer - Scammer most likely?

[aalexander]

I have a customer who purchased an item from me. A few days later, they claimed that it had arrived soaking wet and the contents inside damaged.

I asked the buyer to send a photo of the item and packaging, so I could make a claim with Royal Mail, and would refund him. But he replied, "Don't worry, can you just give me a 50% discount on my next order?"
I suspected he was scamming because he didn't send any photos or anything to backup his claim. The order was about £8 or so, not a huge loss. So I agreed to 50% off the next order.

Then 1 day later he sent me another message saying he would like to buy 10 x of this item and pay only £10! (Normal price is almost £80). He keeps saying he is very unhappy with the previous orders. Hinting that he would leave a negative.

At this point, I am sure he's scamming. If he was so unhappy with the previous two orders, why on earth would he order even more?!
I am planning to block this buyer and just refund both orders and let him keep the items. Only thing I am concerned about is in case he leaves negative feedback. My account is fairly new and I'm at 100% positive. Is there any way I can report this buyer to eBay, so in case he does leave a neg I am able to get it removed?

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

You can get whatever negatives easily removed especially when the buyer has sent messages like that. In your situation, I wouldn't even refund them, unless they request a return.

[agent006140]

it has to be feedback extortion,OP said he was just hinting he is unhappy with past orders,thats not feedback extortion.
I would just block him .

[Pandoras_box]

I've PM'd you a boilerplate message for the buyer. There's about 50% chance he'd disappear when he reads it.
I wish you well.

[Pandoras_box]

Originally Posted by agent006140

it has to be feedback extortion,OP said he was just hinting he is unhappy with past orders,thats not feedback extortion.

Have you seen that program CatDog? I could never figure out where it really wanted to go.

[agent006140]

Originally Posted by Pandoras_box

Have you seen that program CatDog? I could never figure out where it really wanted to go.

allhe hasto do is convince Ebay it is feedback extortion,have it your way !

[agent006140]

He keeps saying he is very unhappy with the previous orders. Hinting that he would leave a negative.
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how did he really worded the hinting??

[bigdaz]

if he mentions feedback in his messages you will get it removed, i normally offer a part refund or insist they return the item