Defrauded by a buyer

[gileso123]

Late last year I sold an item on Ebay. The person complained about the item and demanded a refund claiming it was not as described; he also gave me negative feedback.  He was refunded but did not return the items. Within a short time, items identical to the ones I had sold him were being advertised by him on ebay. He claimed one item was damaged and sent a photo of the alleged damage. I did not sell him an item damaged in that way. 

He is a rechromer and has admitted that to me. I think he has rechromed my items, which are my property, and is now selling  them on ebay. I made a complaint to ebay and ebay did nothing at all about it. I am unable to contact ebay despite my belief that he has committed a criminal offence, that of theft.

I am disgusted at the way both he and ebay have behaved over this. I have a negtive rating and do not have my goods back. 

[snowylilliput-2]

Well I had one where a buyer returned a item without opening a case . Ebay instructed me not to refund him his money . He then went on to leave a negative feedback which ebay kindly agreed to remove . Then suddenly he then opened a return 3 days after the parcel arrived back with me . On opening it I discovered he had cut a hole in a brand new box and was still expecting to receive a full refund.  This meant the item did not get back to how it was sent out , he failed to understand why he did not get a full refund 

[4_bathrooms]

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@cobwebcottage wrote:

The buyer has not acted dishonestly or taken advantage of the seller.

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I took the following posted by the OP to mean an identical, undamaged item was listed for sale by the buyer shortly after receiving their refund:

"The person complained about the item and demanded a refund claiming it was not as described; he also gave me negative feedback.  He was refunded but did not return the items. Within a short time, items identical to the ones I had sold him were being advertised by him on ebay. He claimed one item was damaged and sent a photo of the alleged damage. I did not sell him an item damaged in that way."

@gileso123- Can you please clarify the above? Were the items advertised by the buyer undamaged and in exactly the same condition you sent your items in?

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@cobwebcottage wrote:

BS registered as a PS. Well that's a different scenario.

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Traders cannot misrepresent themselves as consumers when buying or selling. The OP's buyer is clearly in the reconditioning business and most likely bought the items with the intention of reconditioning (i.e. re-chroming them) before selling them on. However, for obvious reasons we can't see their buyer's eBay account status. 

[gileso123]

The person who demanded and received a refund and who did not return the items is in the rechroming business. He admitted as much to me. Shortly after demanding a refund, receiving a refund from Ebay and failing to return my items, he was advertising what were identical items to the ones he received from me which had visibly been rechromed.

[gileso123]

Interesting situation. In my case the person claimed the goods were not as described, produced a picture of a damaged item showing damage very recently done with a saw or grinder and which was not on the items I supplied him with. I informed Ebay and him of this, refused a refund and Ebay gave him a refund anyway. Shortly after this, identical items to the ones he purchased from me appeared on his sales page, rechromed (he is in the rechroming business).

As these items were secondhand classic car parts, so reasonably rare, my suspicions were aroused that these were in fact my items, whiuch thanks to the refund were once again my property, which he had rechromed and was now trying to pass off as his own.

[gileso123]

There is actually a lot I can do about it. He has my property which he has failed to return, and he is selling items identical to the ones I sold him on Ebay. These items have been rechromed (he is in the rechroming business) and they are rare classic car parts so I have reasonable grounds to believe that they are the items he had from me. By reselling them despite their not being his property, he is committing the crime of theft.

[johnnjohn2011]

This happened to me before. I sold a Chanel dress on eBay.com so item was bought by someone in USA. They asked me to send as gift so they don’t pay taxes. Once received they said item is fake. It was bought from Chanel Japan and had Japanese in the size tag hence the claim😞. They complained and eBay asked them to return. EBay was unable to let me print a shipping label as it was eBay.com and not .co.uk and buyer wanted me to pay her to send the dress back plus she said she will ship it as export so that I would end up paying tax for my own item!! EBay didn’t help me, refunded the buyer and let them keep item. 

[gileso123]

Another one who thinks that selling someome else's property without their consent is Ok 'because Ebay says it is'.

Selling someone else's property without their consent is theft under the law. Ebay does not make the law, the government does.

[gileso123]

Ebay refunded them, despite my stating that the buyer's claim and photo were untrue, and then took the money out of my Ebay funds.

[gileso123]

That's sickening. It demonstrates that Ebay staff are not up to the jobs they are paid to do.

[jonatjonatjonat]

So ebay side of things. eBay don’t know what the item looked like when you sent it out. unfortunately- item not as described, you pretty much HAVE to accept the return. once you’ve got the item back you can deal with partial refund or whatever.

you might not like this. But that is the eBay process.

BUT if you have evidence they have your goods - have you reported the theft to the police? 

[papso22]

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@gileso123 wrote:
Another one who thinks that selling someome else's property without their consent is Ok 'because Ebay says it is'.

Selling someone else's property without their consent is theft under the law. Ebay does not make the law, the government does.

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You are deliberately misinterpreting what is being posted.   

What was posted referred to the user agreement under which you agreed certain things would happen, such as the buyer being allowed to keep an item after a refund, in certain circumstances.  

Your legal argument will need to be over whether the UA means you gave up your rights to the item and it therefore became the buyer's item to do with as they wished.  

My view, but I am not a lawyer, is that you would have a hard time convincing a court it's yours when you agreed to the UA terms.

[*vyolla*]

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@gileso123 wrote:
Another one who thinks that selling someome else's property without their consent is Ok 'because Ebay says it is'.

Selling someone else's property without their consent is theft under the law. Ebay does not make the law, the government does.

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I don't think that you're reading my posts slowly enough, or perhaps misunderstanding them if you are.

I've simply explained how the eBay returns process works, it was a bad move on your part to not accept the return, and the buyer ending up with a free item is the result. eBay doesn't make the law, you're right there, but it does have a User Agreement (the one that signed to say that you read and agreed to it).

Had you accepted it (and I feel that you would have got a different item back, not the one you sent) and then  reported the buyer you would not have lost out. 

If you feel that the law can help you here, then best way forward is to take some legal advice.  You will, of course, require absolute proof that the item that's being sold is yours. I'm assuming that there are serial numbers or some kind of concrete proof?

[gileso123]

I was never offered a return. I refused a refund as I believed, and still believe, that the buyer had intentionally damaged one of the items he had purchased, and Ebay refunded him. I told Ebay I wanted the goods back but never received them. Ebay also failed to deal with my compaint.

[gileso123]

I gave up absolutely no rights. I demanded the return of the items but this was refused. Those items remain my property.

[gileso123]

I wanted the items back but they were never sent and Ebay never offered me a return despite refunding the buyer from my account despite my objections.

[jonatjonatjonat]

This is all because you didn't follow the ebay process which is here

This is the important bit...

I don't accept returns, why am I getting a request from the buyer?

Buyers can always submit a return request, even if your returns policy says you don't accept returns. Whether you need to accept the return depends on their reason for opening the return.

If the buyer is asking to return the item because it's damaged, faulty, or didn't match your listing description, then you need to accept the return. If they've opened the return for another reason, for instance if they ordered the wrong item or changed their mind, then you aren't required to accept the return – however, where possible we always suggest providing a great customer experience.

Because you rejected a return (even if you believed there was basis to do so) ebay refunded them and there is no requirement for them to return the item.

Your only course of action now is via other means. Only you can decide if this is worth your time.

[gileso123]

I wish you had read the entire thread before replying.

I was never offered a return. I wanted the goods back but this was not actioned.
'Because you rejected a return (even if you believed there was basis to do so) ebay refunded them and there is no requirement for them to return the item.'

[*vyolla*]

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@gileso123 wrote:
I was never offered a return. I refused a refund as I believed, and still believe, that the buyer had intentionally damaged one of the items he had purchased, and Ebay refunded him. I told Ebay I wanted the goods back but never received them. Ebay also failed to deal with my compaint.

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As previously mentioned, a seller can't refuse to accept a return or to refund if the buyer claims not as described. 

eBay can't deal with your complaint because there's no substance to it. They've acted as they say they would as per their User Agreement. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

I don't understand how they were refunded then. A customer can't just ask for a refund.

They either have to open a return request, or they could claim a chargeback from their payment provider.
There isn't a 'refund request' that I'm aware of.

[papso22]

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@gileso123 wrote:
I wish you had read the entire thread before replying.

I was never offered a return. I wanted the goods back but this was not actioned.
'Because you rejected a return (even if you believed there was basis to do so) ebay refunded them and there is no requirement for them to return the item.'

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You would have been offered the choice of issuing a return label, or issuing a refund.  You did neither because you thought you were right and the buyer was wrong.  Ignoring the case, which that effectively was, results in ebay refunding for you if the buyer hits the escalate button.  

The only way you get the goods back is to issue a returns label.

Have you actually read the User Agreement and all the policies that form part of that?