Please help - scammed

[anicholls22]

My son recently sold a camera lens for around £700 on eBay. It was in perfect condition as I helped pack it. 
After about a week the buyer claimed it had marks on the glass, which the photos didn’t really show. My son suggested it was dust and asked them to take a picture. The buyer raised a case with eBay who found in the buyers favour and asked my son to return the lens. This email went into his spam. There was no message on the app, only a note saying the case was on hold. After a week, the refund was taken from his account and he was told he had missed the four day window to issue return postage. 
He contacted eBay support who said all he could do was reach out to the buyer and send the postage which he did, but they have not responded and it’s clear (from instagram posts) that they are not returning the lens. 
He has effectively been scammed out of £700 and eBay are doing nothing to help. An appeal upheld the decision.

Surely this isn’t right?

He’s a student and it’s a huge amount of money for him.

Any advice?

thanks

[tressygirl]

When you say student,  hopefully he's over thee age of 18,  as this is the age you need to be,  to sell on eBay,  and am not sure if it could  compromise any further action you may wish to take here.

Unfortunately,  if the window lapsed to send a return label for the item,  a buyer can escalate and eBay will step in force the refund,  and the buyer can also keep the item.  Those are the rules.

eBay are correct in advising all your son can do now,  is to offer postage for the camera's return,  but nothing eBay can do,  to enforce the buyer to do this now.

You may wish to take legal advice,  as it is a lot of money most will offer a half hour consultation for free, to see what steps you can take now,  or turn to Citizens Advice.

@anicholls22 

[anicholls22]

Thank you - yes, he is over 18.
This seems a deeply unfair rule when he didn’t get the email and there was no message in the app, which he was checking every day.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Morning anicholls

Take tressygirl's excellent advice and take legal advice.  Two other things you could do is to write to the CEO and throw yourself on her mercy or contact a national newspaper who will not only pay for newsworthy stories but publicise the whole thing, which may lead to you getting either the lens or your money back, although I can't guarantee that..  

[bizzy-lizzy99]

Is the message visible in 'messages' at the moment ? If not I would challenge eBay again and press home the fact that  he never received the message. On very rare occasion they find as a 'no fault' and the buyer keeps the item, the seller keeps the money.

[tressygirl]

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@anicholls22 wrote:
Thank you - yes, he is over 18.
This seems a deeply unfair rule when he didn’t get the email and there was no message in the app, which he was checking every day.

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There must have been a message, I've never heard of this happening before,  but has your son set up their selling account correctly,  that is registered fully for eBay's Managed Payments?

See here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/help/selling/getting-paid/introducing-managed-payments-ebay?id=4795

@anicholls22 

[anicholls22]

Yes, he is registered and has 100% positive feedback. Never had an issue before whereas the buyer has negative feedback as a buyer.
He just had an email that went to spam but no message in the app. I checked.

[anicholls22]

Thanks - I’ll have a look.

[bizzy-lizzy99]

I would never reply to an email anyway in case it's phishing, only message within the eBay system. It's the 'message' that carries weight. 

[vinylscot]

Hopefully it won't be the same buyer, but you should perhaps check these forums, as there have been a number of reports recently about one particular "buyer" who regularly scams sellers of cameras and the like. Was the buyer in Walthamstow, E17?

See this thread, although there have been others -

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Very-possible-fraudulent-Buyer/m-p/7913840 

Although that may not help in this case, as your son missed the email, it does give you some ammo to approach eBay with. eBay is well aware of this buyer and his activities, but, for some reason, have not taken any action.

[anicholls22]

Thanks - no, different buyer in this case, but sounds like a similar situation.