It's very rare that a buyer has asked for a refund. Last November there was a situation where the buyer was still waiting for his item even though I'd dispatched it on time. He was still waiting throughout Christmas and after.
I'd used eBay's postal service booking and royal mail had collected it. Problem was a month later there was no tracking update on royal mail website.
The buyer was very nice about it. I filed a missing claim with royal mail in January, and in the meantime, refunded the buyer. I checked Royal mail some weeks into January, and saw that the missing parcel had mysteriously started tracking again and had been delivered.
When I contacted the buyer, he confirmed he'd received the parcel (albeit a month+ late). He asked if he should refund my refund... I told him not to worry. It wasn't his fault and it wasn't my fault either. What royal mail should have done was contact me when they located the parcel and ask whether it should be returned to me or deliver to customer. Instead they just sent a letter after delivering it late to the customer. They informed me they'd located and delivered.
That's not why I'm posting today... Last month I refurbished a vintage Walkman recorder (Sony TC-310). I'd previously bought it as "not working" on eBay. I'd spent time repairing it, then recorded a video of it working. I sold it on eBay.
The buyer didn't seem overly friendly but weeks went by. Then one day I receive a refund claim from the buyer. Reason: "fast forward and rewind not working". The buyer wanted to return the machine. I had sold it as "working", so of course I agreed. eBay made me pay the return cost for the buyer to return it.
I began receiving messages from eBay for me to "don't delay, refund the buyer" (even before I'd received the broken machine back!).
When the machine came back to me a week after the return claim, I inspected it and confirmed the fast forward and rewind were indeed broken!
I was still getting automated nagging messages from eBay for me to hurry and refund the buyer. I did so.
After refunding him, I opened the machine up and began looking at the mechanism (I know the part of the mechanism governing fast forward and rewind). I spot something odd, the part responsible had indeed broken, but it had changed colour!
When Sony made the machine originally, the "hook spring" part was manufactured in white plastic (fragile). The machine I sold to the buyer, I'd 3d printed a new hook spring in red!
But what I saw before me was the original Sony hook spring in white! It was at this point I realised, the seller had returned the Sony TC-310, but it was not the one he'd purchased from me!
I checked the two drive belts.. I'd fitted new belts on the machine I sold him. Now I was staring at 2 old worn, rubber drive belts! None of my repairs were present on this returned machine!
So next I checked the serial number, I had a photo of the serial number on the machine I sold him, guess what? It was a completely different serial on the machine he'd sent me back!
Was this an accident? No. It was deliberate fraud. I reported it to eBay, but the customer support just blamed me for refunding too quickly. I pointed out that had it not been for the nagging emails trying to hurry me to refund, I wouldn't have felt so pressured. But in any case, I never had the slightest idea that I'd been sent a different TCS-310!
I contacted the buyer. He said I must have been confused and had several. I told him I'd only ever had one TCS 310, and it had been purchased on eBay (was still visible on my history).
The scammer is a significant seller on eBay. He sells a lot of vintage walkmans, cameras etc from the 80s and 90s.
I will never again let eBay pressure me to hurry a refund if the situation arises.
