Buyer wants to return item 3 weeks later

[englishnorm]

I sold 2 ornaments one at £70 & one at £33, one was 19th oct & the other 21st oct. One was sent to scotland & having tracking to show delivered 2 days later & the other to coventry again tracking shows delivered 2 days later. Today i get a message from the account that bought the dearer one with a picture of the cheaper one saying i'd sent the wrong one. They're after refund.

Firstly I know the right one went to each account as they were each packed same day sold. Secondly if an item was delivered 23 oct and today's the 12 nov i'm pretty sure i'm being scammed. 

I can't decide if to just ignore it or to respond with a no. 

Anyone had anything similar?

[tobiasd4]

You can't prove you didn't get postage labels mixed up.

Both buyers need to open item not as described case, you issue returns label & refund in full on return.

Then relist items for them to buy again.

If you refuse or ignore case, ebay will force refund & buyer keeps item.

Unfortunately you can't force buyers to return better item if they want to keep it.

[jckl1957]

If it was me, even if I didn't believe the buyer, I would respond politely.

Apologise for your 'error'.

Ask them to open a return through Ebay and then you should provide a return label.

They will only be able to send the cheaper item back if they actually have it.

[englishnorm]

no there's no way to prove i didn't mix up, i know i didn't as packaged them 2 days apart. The other buyer hasn't come back with wrong item but if i'm right i can see that happening later. 

1st item went to a warehouse, one that then sends on abroad similar to ebay's global shipping scheme. The 2nd to a private address. What i didn't say before was both accounts have chinese names, i'm convinced the cheaper item was sent from the warehouse to the scotland address, if i'm right this has been done before & they're going to be better at it than me

[jckl1957]

Has the buyer opened a case to return the item or simply messaged you?

If the claim is being made by the buyer whose item went to a warehouse, they would not be covered by the Ebay Money Back Guarantee as they used a third party carrier.

If this is the case, that could also account for the delay in contacting you.

If the buyer who has messaged you is overseas, they probably won't return the item even if they do open a case as you only have to provide a paid label for return within the UK.

The other buyer might not get in touch if they realise they have a better item than the one they paid for,

So, to help advise:

Have they opened a case?

Is the complaining buyer the one whose item went to a warehouse?

[englishnorm]

no the complaining one is the private address in scotland and no not opened a case just sent a message with the photo of the wrong one. 

[englishnorm]

the complaining buyer would have known almost 3 weeks ago if wrong item sent, so should have contacted me then, this is why i'm convinced its a setup. 

IF they open an ebay case & i do have to send a returns label, would they get refunded automatically or once i get item back?

[jckl1957]

Once they open a case and you provide a label, they have 10 days to return the item.

Then you have 48 hours to return after tracking shows you have the item back.

Do not refund unless they open a case and unless/until the item is back with you.

[red_magpie]

I can't decide if to just ignore it or to respond with a no.

You can't do either. If they open a money back guarntee case eBay will take their word against yours, and require you to refund them. If you refuse eBay will enforce a refund and let them keep the item. You will also be penalised with a damaging account defect.

As has been said, don't do anything unless they open a case (time limit 30 days from delivery). If they do, you will have to accept the return and send them a prepaid label if you want the item back. If they have swapped it for a different item you can appeal (but will probably lose). You can report them for abusing eBay buyer protection; if enough sellers do the same eBay may eventually take action against them.

eBay has become a very risky place to sell things. The money back guarantee scheme is so open to abuse that it's almost a DIY toolkit for unscrupulous buyers to cheat their sellers.