Buyer claiming he received a different item

[Phoenix Ronin]

Hello, I registered an eBay account to sell my phone.

Buyer won, paid £475.

I packaged and posted via Royal Mail special delivery.

Buyer opened item not as described case and pretended he received a phone worth £10.

Buyer has returned this £10 phone to me.

Surely it is not as simple as that for a buyer to scam a seller?

Is there absolutely anything I can do via eBay/PayPal to stop the scamming buyer from receiving a refund and me losing both the phone and the £475?

Thank you

[Karlis96]

I think there is mo point to send any letter. Just time wasting.

Generaly if we looking on this case from perspective of law - if you not described on post what exactly you are sending then you can not do anything. There should be detailed description. And buyer with his signature confirming that cos he agree with description and agre to pick up parcel.

Also there should be investigation who steal this phone. Are you 100% sure cos buyer done this ? If yes then what kind of evidence do you have ?

That is how legals will look on this case....

[Karlis96]

I dont want to make any panic, im telling truth how it is from law side.
I know well EU and especially UK law, and there is no huge difference in criminal law between EU law.

This is common questions from investigators side if you ask police to step in.

Just learn from this topic and dont write comments about what you dont know.

That is lawyer work, i didnt sort any sides at the moment. Im taking neutral position at the moment.

[Karlis96]

In this case when you sell something high value for you - when sending by post ALWAYS write actual value and detailed description what is inside in box/envelope whatever. Post officer by his signature accepting your parcel with all descriptions and post office doesnt have any concerns or any suspicion about contain.

So in that way you can proof what you sending.

In this specific case if original sender hasn't provide description or just put words " phone" "mobile or smartphone " then you cannot tell there was Iphone 11.

He ( buyer ) has sent you back phone as well. But this time he sent you phone by his understanding and meaning in word " Phone "

Even if police will come for him, he can answer - cos he already receive 10$ worth phone but expected to get Iphone, that why he return this phone. And in this case you dont have any evidence cos this is not truth.

[Karlis96]

Originally Posted by tinsoldier

Like I said, you're clueless.

Assuming OP is tell the truth which is normally how it works at this stage, any chance you want to offer them a solution?

I need to know details.

what he describes when sent parcel? Where is located buyer?

[Pathos]

You are going to lose your £475 at this stage.

As advised above, I would send a letter of action, explaining you'll be opening an Action Fraud case, Small Claims Court case and reporting to the local Police in his area. Try to find out anything you can about the person, Facebook, Twitter etc, some scammers arent intelligent enough to cover their tracks.

You are trying to 'scare' him into submission at this stage. If that fails, then yes you have to follow through, it takes half an hour to open a small claims court case on MoneyClaim, report to Actionfraud (they probably wont do anything unless this person has done it before) just hope he hasnt used a stealth account and a click and collect option. I would also go and knock on his door for confirmation of who he is. Have a chat, take a friend.

However, this is an odd forum to come to though asking advice on this. Being this is your first post makes me suspicious whether you are phishing for information on how to do this yourself.

If it happened to me, and it has , once, many years ago, I made sure I destroyed the guy who did it. He now has a suspended sentence, and a bad reputation in his village, everyone knows what he did, and his name is mud...and I got my money back.

[rsot]

Welcome to the forum - all the best as you master stealth

YouTube

YouTube

[Phoenix Ronin]

Originally Posted by rsot

Welcome to the forum - all the best as you master stealth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLcuTISVs3s

I’ve been a forum member since 2013.

I made this post after being in disbelief at the eBay process after going through a returns case and speaking via chat with an eBay representative for him basically to tell me that yes, any buyer can buy any item and then open an item not as described case and return a different item and get a full refund. Insane.

Thanks for the advice on going through small claims etc, however I was thinking there must be something I am missing on eBay as I thought surely it can’t be this easy for a buyer to scam a seller and get refunded every time. It seems it is.

Thanks

[colie72]

can you not get the phone blocked? did you write down the IMIE code? the phone companies can block the IMEI code when used on their network. all the main providers agree to this

[Phoenix Ronin]

Originally Posted by colie72

can you not get the phone blocked? did you write down the IMIE code? the phone companies can block the IMEI code when used on their network. all the main providers agree to this

Yes however I still lose the money and the phone!

[agent006140]

if he cant use the phone,he could sell it on Ebay and then you can buy it back from him ,file INAD and return his crummy phone back to him.

[ebabe]

You know in the Philippines before you send something in the mail, the person at the postage counter will look inside the box and confirm what it is, and that goes on file. I know they are very behind when it comes to postage in the Philippines, but I think they got the right idea on that one. I take photos of every product in the box with the label on it before it gets sent out, I know it doesnt really prove much, but just an idea for future ref.

[agent006140]

IT WONT WORK,as switch a roo can take place in transit.
also a bad idea ,someone saw what is inside and decide to have it free.
Someone even videotaped himself opening a package and show it is not the iphone he ordered.
Bots do not read email,watch movies or videos and love story and pictures.

[agent006140]

A Florida shop sold a $24K antique watch ,buyer returned an empty box,the shop noticed weight is less ,so they called the police and open the box,it was empty inside so they filed a police report and called Ebay.
Ebay gave them 3 days to refund and take it up with the carrier