Buyer Fraud

[mitc_802980]

Hey people, not much done on ebay but decided to sell a laptop. Have video of it working, serial number and me packing it. Sent it off to the buyer and they reported that it didn't work.  THey also mentioned in same message that they didn;t want it as they bought another laptop.  Very concerned about this so I contacted ebay who said accept the return and if the item is not yours then you can raise an issue. Had laptop back this morning which is not the right one as the serial number is different, food over it and and a big foor print. Contacted customer services and they sid there is nothing that can be done so I'm £400 down and I don;t have my laptop. Can anyone advise?

[dancewithadingo]

Good Evening Mitc

I have sympathy for you. I suggest ringing eBay in the morning and explaining your situation (again). It's possible they may decide ,after checking, to refund you.  Keep appealing if they turn you down. 

You could send your buyer a sort message saying that he has sent the wrong laptop back and ask him to send the 'correct one' and you in turn will send him the one he mistakenly sent you.

If eBay don't play ball and it could take some time for them to reach a decision,then I am afraid that you are stuffed. In that case you could report him to Action Fraud. In the meantime put him on your 'blocked list'.

Good luck.

[instant.payment.4you]

eBay won't do anything, it's better to write to the buyer right away that you're taking it to court or something like that

[*vyolla*]

Hopefully the refund hasn't been made yet.

The usual way forward in these situations is that the seller accepts the return and gets their item back, if it isn’t their item they then immediately file a report with Actionfraud and get a reference number.

The seller then clicks the "Report a problem" link in the case, selects "Different item returned" as the reason and provides the Actionfraud reference number and report. This stops the automated returns process that would ultimately force the seller to issue a refund.

Then, someone at eBay reviews the case. As to what happens next depends on a few factors - if the buyer has done this before, if the seller is a long standing eBay member who's had no issues like this before etc.  We've seen a good few threads recently here in which the sellers have been in a similar scenario but have not lost out. 

[dancewithadingo]

A superb and detailed explanation of how to go about hopefully resolving this matter.  If you are reading this Mitc then follow the advice given by Vyolla. Absolutely first class. There is hope for you.