No action on fraud?

[zapthedingbat]

Please forgive the naivety but, I need to clarify the situation as it seems to be.
I recently bought an item for a great price, about half market value (Normally £3,000+ but I paid £1,500)
The seller then provides tracking information to say its been mailed with Royal Mail,
Tracking then shows its attempted delivery in Bexleyheath, 160 miles away from where I live (and the same approximate location as the seller mailed it from).
Tracking shows that the delivery was "refused" and returned to sender.
eBay marks the delivery as "delivered" and presumably pays the seller.
I raise a "not delivered" case, and eBay customer services tell me I now need to wait around for three days, at which point they will presumably refund.
I added negative feedback for the seller that I notice has now been removed, with no explanation as to how or why.

It seems like someone just had  £1,500 off eBay with complete impunity, for as little effort as mailing something to themself, I don't get my family's Christmas present, I have to spend a week out of pocket a week before Christmas, and we all pay extortionate 'buyer protection' tax to cover the cost of eBay giving this seller the money for a thing they didn't sell.

If this is the case, I'm considering running this operation myself,  it seems like its very low risk and effort, and beats actually trying to run a legitimate business. Hope someone can confirm. /s

[papso22]

This is nothing to do with the buyer protection fee. 

It is the seller that will be forced to refund.

Come back if the refund doesn't materialise. 

By the way  what evidence have you provided ebay with to prove it wasn't delivered to you?

[zapthedingbat]

Surly covering the cost of the refund is exactly what the buyer protection fee is doing. The seller has already extracted the money when eBay released it because the shipment was marked 'delivered'.

When you say "the seller that will be forced to refund" How could they be "forced" in this situation?

I have the Royal Mail tracking information that explicitly states that the package was 'refused' in East London and returned to the sender.

I expect to be refunded, but the cost of that will come out of our collective Buyer Protection fees, not from the seller, who will walk away with my money.

[jckl1957]

You are making several wrong assumptions.

If Ebay find in your favour, you will be refunded by the seller.  Just as you paid your money to Ebay, and not directly to the seller, the refund will come via Ebay from the seller's funds.  Ebay can deduct money from cleared funds or take a payment from the seller's bank account using the direct debit all sellers have to set up.

The Buyers Protection Fee is not for refunding in these situations - see the link below.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/buyer-protection-fee?id=5594

Don't assume you will be refunded automatically.

You should go back to the case and, after the three days they have allowed for the item to be delivered, you should be able to ask Ebay to step in.

[tobiasd4]

You may have keep on to ebay.

By refusing delivery (even it wasn't you, but tracking shows this)it invalidates ebay MBG