topic Theft in Member To Member Support

Theft

stefra8480 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:19:19 GMT

Hi,

I’m new to actively using eBay but have had an account for years. Thought I’d sell some old computer games and I’ve been the victim of a pretty brazen theft.

Buyer purchased a game off me for 25 pound, I didn’t send it tracked (live and learn), buyer raised an item not received case.

ebay gave me 3 days to respond. In good faith I refunded the item and immediately the case was closed the buyer messaged me directly to tell me the game had arrived several days earlier. I asked for a return of the refund and he messaged me to tell me he had already spent the money.

i can’t talk to anyone on eBay directly, none of the AI help tools give me a relevant option to raise anything against, and the case was closed once I refunded the item so I can’t request help from eBay using that.

At the very least this user account should be deleted surely…he has great buyer feedback yet I have evidence of fraud that has been openly communicated in eBay’s own message system.

Is my only course of action to file a police report and pursue through small claims court?

And what do I need to do to verify the account name? As a criminal offence will eBay release the bank account name so I can verify the name for court action?

I expect several “let it go” responses but it’s a criminal offence that I have proof of directly from the criminal himself - so why should he not be challenged in the courts and have his account removed at the very least.

Re: Theft

**peaseblossom** — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:36:24 GMT

You have Simple Delivery tracking on your listings, it's a shame you didn't use it. eBay only ever go by postal tracking. Their thinking is buyers can muddle different sellers and different transactions so won't necessarily take messages or feedback into account.

You can try contacting eBay in the morning to see what they say. You can request a callback on here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5190

If you want to involve the police you'd have to do that to get any more info out of eBay.

Re: Theft

stefra8480 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:44:44 GMT

Thank you. I’ll request a call back in the morning.

Re: Theft

red_magpie — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:37:34 GMT

I’ll request a call back in the morning.

From past questions on this subject I'm afraid you will probably be wasting your time. eBay is likely to suggest is that you report the buyer for abuse of the money back guarantee. Or that you sue the buyer.

The police may tell you that payment disputes are a matter for the civil law. But take advice before using the Online Money Claims Service for £25.

IMO you would do better to spend the time learning about eBay's simple delivery and money back guarantee procedures. If you had followed these correctly tracking would have been automatic and eBay would have been responsible for any refund claim related to the delivery.

Re: Theft

*guinevere* — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:36:01 GMT

If you used Simple Delivery all your buyer had to do was open a not received case and ebay would have refunded. Sadly I don't think they can help now you have refunded.

Re: Theft

stefra8480 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:28:21 GMT

Thanks for your feedback - my thinking was that in any event of a buyer claiming non receipt I could claim back against the post office up to £20. Never in a million years did I expect a buyer to confirm receipt to me after already claiming to eBay it was lost to get a refund.

I've got the time and the money to pursue him through the courts without any concern for the outcome so I'll continue down that route. If they have to jump through a few hoops of my making then at least I'll feel like I'm getting my moneys worth :-), ..... might stop them doing it to someone else as well.

Re: Theft

stefra8480 — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:38:16 GMT

For anyone interested in how this turned out, I sent the gentleman in question a "Letter before action" and he sent me my money within 5 days as cash in an envelope which also covered my demand for the cost of sending the letter (by registered signed for 1st class post) so all his shenanigans cost him the original eBay price and an additional £3.60.

Online sources say a Letter before Action resolves 86% of all disputes before court action when someone's pulling a fast one.....believe it !

Thanks again for all the responses.

Re: Theft

*vyolla* — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 20:29:08 GMT

Wow, that's amazing. Well done for pursuing this.