Forum

I feel bad for her...
 

My friend's girlfriend listed this (genuine) designer handbag on ebay. She and he rarely use ebay, and they don't know about my ebay expertise, so they're not so wise to the tricks and they've only just told me about this. Well, bidding closed at 600 - a good deal as it's 1200 new. She told the guy she'd send it registered mail and he said just to send it regular so she did (I know, I held my head in my hands when she said that too, but that's not the end of it).

They came back from holiday just yesterday and she checked her account to find this email from the guy claiming that he'd taken the handbag to an authorised retailer and it was a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ and he wants a refund FIRST then he'll return the item (yeah right). She was still on holiday at this time didn't get this till he'd already filed a claim with paypal who are currently investigating.

Now I explained her first grave mistake was not to get tracking and she's lucky he hasn't pulled that one. She has a certificate that proves the handbag was genuine and I've told her to give that to paypal as proof of authenticity. I gave her a quick tutorial in scams 101, in this case is that the guy either has a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ and bought hers with the intention of swapping them round claiming she sent him the ⊗⊗⊗⊗, or more likely he's claiming it's a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ to get the money back and keep the item, and I've had to break it gently to her that paypal is not too concerned about justice for it's sellers and this is going to take some doing.

The plot thickens as she's looked into this guy's ebay feedback and discovered another seller who he's done exactly the same thing to. There was this review by this other girl who was probably more naive than her about the ebay scammers. She sent him the handbag, he shouted up that it was a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ and she immediately refunded his paypal account and then said send it back. Needless to say he didn't, and it dawned on her the possibility that he was pulling something and she reported it to the cops and that was where the story ended.

So my friend's girlfriend tried getting in contact with this other victim but unfortunately the email address is no longer valid. If this guy had a history of pulling this kind of thing in the paypal disputes that they could see a pattern then this might go strongly in her favour, but the problem is this previous victim refunded the money straight away before any dispute was raised (silly her) so he may have no history of it on paypal - only by pointing to the other victim might she be able to show a pattern.

So she has the proof of authenticity to give to paypal and try and prove this guy's done this before. Is there anything else she can do and any ideas for how paypal will deal with this? With my knowledge of how paypal treats sellers in disputes, often without any interest in having the buyer return, I feel bad for her already.

Oh heck, i dont have any words of wisdom for your friend, but i totally feel for her. What a scumbag of a buyer!!

Wow... This is a really unfortunate situation!

I wish I had some magic advice, but I don't.

I would send PayPal copies of the receipt, etc. but I wouldn't hold my breath. eBay is overrun with ⊗⊗⊗⊗. So almost anytime a buyer complains the item is ⊗⊗⊗⊗, eBay/Paypal thinks the seller is trying to pull a fast one.

In her favor, however, is the fact that she does not have a history of selling more than one of the item. Also tell PayPal that the buyer was demanding a refund BEFORE sending the item back - I think that looks suspicious. That plus the receipt, plus pointing out the other seller this person had a problem with JUST MAY DO IT. But again, this is PAYPAL we are talking about. Logic and reason don't always prevail.

My heart goes out to this woman. I certainly wish her the best of luck.

I thought that eBay only allows a refund if the seller sends the item back first with proof of tracking? Someone tried to pull this on me asking to refund before they shipped the item back. I refused, if the guy opened up a case of "item not as described" from what I remember there are only a few options that the buyer and seller can agree upon. One of them is "Buyer returns item in exchange for a full refund". The refund though is only given after you receive the item back. He returned and I refunded. Though I wonder how seller's are protected if the buyer sends out a ⊗⊗⊗⊗.

no it has to be a return first and refund after, thats paypal policy

all I say is she could get a witness to check return isnt a brick or a substitute bag. Check all distinguishing marks on real bag first, and make sure witness is primed with this info. However, honesty, is her word against buyers, and sorry to say it possibly wont go in her favour if original bag isnt returned.