scam buyer /Ebay has DONE NOTHING!!!!!

[finksbazaar]

My wife recently sold an Occulus headset on eBay UK. 

The headset was only used a handful of times and in perfect working condition, sold in its original box.

The buyer claimed there was a tracking issue with one of the joysticks and asked for a partial refund. My wife advised him that she would provide a partial refund if he could provide evidence of the fault by taking it to a technician. He refused this and asked for a partial refund again; she said no but would be happy to refund the item if it's returned. A few days later he says that the joystick is now broken in half and requested a full refund. It wasn't broken when she sent it! eBay accepts the return as a part of the buyer guarantee despite the fact that there was evidence to show that the joystick sent out was not damaged and also that the broken joystick pictured in the image he sent was not the same as the original - the logos are substantially different. 
My wife and I were due to travel to Asia for a month and my wife told eBay nobody would be at our address to receive the parcel and that she would not be able to provide a postage label until we arrived at our destination but was also concerned about the item being unsuccessfully delivered with nobody there at home to take it in.

After we returned from overseas, eBay advised that she reach out to the buyer to ask him to request a return label as eBay are unable to step in. He is not replying to messages and now has a full refund and still has the item!!! eBay says the case is closed and are not doing anything to help, despite the fact that by email 3 days ago, eBay said the case was still open. eBay is a disgrace. They have enabled theft and are doing nothing to protect the lifeblood of the site: sellers! Be warned! If this happens to you, they will do nothing to help you!

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

If buyer opened a dispute you only had 3 working days to supply a prepaid returns label and refund in full upon return.

Ebay don't "bend" on that at all hence Ebay stepped in and refunded the buyer.Ebay see it as no response from you so found in buyers favour with no need to return.

If you still want item back you would have to sort out some way of sending payment to buyer to cover return cost but they are not obliged to do anything at all.

[johnwash1]

Sad to read this, but the lesson is that if you know you're going to be away from home in the next 30 days, don't list items for sale.

[finksbazaar]

It is not "no response" from us. Messages to the buyer go unanswered. He clearly has no intention to return it, so 1/he gets to keep a 100 GBP item for free, and 2/gets refunded 100 GBP by eBay. Not a bad deal for a scammer. Guess he's free to sell our Occulus headset now too and make whatever he wants and we are left without anything. You people don't realise how prevalent these scams are. There are people on here just trying it on to see what they can scam. We have communicated with eBay regarding the buyer's refusal to answer messages or return the item.  Our personal circumstances - not being in the country - were explained to eBay. So now we have a situation where this miscreant scumbag gets to keep a working Occulus headset for nothing because he chooses not to respond. That's disgusting. They are "obliged" to act in the same good faith that all of us here on eBay should to make it a trusted marketplace. It doesn't do that or anything close to it. 

[finksbazaar]

No, the lesson is that there are scammers operating on eBay and eBay protects them. They do sweet FA for sellers. They have zero care for personal circumstances of sellers. This person basically attempted to extort money from us for a phantom issue that didn't exist. When that didn't work they sent a picture claiming what we sent was broken, and sent a picture of a different joystick. My wife is incredibly distressed by eBay's failure to protect her from this scammer and their complete dereliction of customer care. 

[finksbazaar]

And if anyone wants photographic proof, here's the original pic in the ad showing the joystick. Intact. And here's the different joystick, split, that the scammer claimed was sent to him and broken. Clearly different joysticks. And the split joystick wasn't even mentioned the first time he attempted to get a "partial refund" for the phantom tracking issue (ie, there was no issue, but who cares about sellers, we'll try it on and see what we can extort out of them) but still wanted to keep it. When that scam didn't work, he sent the split joystick pic. 

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

---

@finksbazaar wrote:

The buyer claimed there was a tracking issue with one of the joysticks and asked for a partial refund. 

---

"Oh it's THAT sort of Tracking Error"

^ READERS VOICE ^

---

@finksbazaar wrote:

You people don't realise how prevalent these scams are. There are people on here just trying it on to see what they can scam.

---

Oh, if only you could see what we have seen...

Genuinely sorry for your experience but you should never sell anything but the cheapest throwaway item before you go away for a prolonged period. And act quickly when returns are asked for. Whether they are legitimate or not. Just read nearly every other thread here.

[myriad*seller]

eBay do not and cannot take into account personal circumstances, as most of the time they can't verify the story is true and they don't have the  staff to review your personal circumstances to check. There is generally internet access available "on holiday". 

eBay treat everyone the same, equally, but all things that happen on eBay happen in line with the terms and conditions only. 

There is no leeway, no personal circumstances to consider.

Just the terms and conditions. If you don't supply the return label within the time allowed, the buyer gets their refund, in line with Buyer Protection. 

[*vyolla*]

You handled this incorrectly, I'm afraid. 

The returns process is largely automated, so you should have accepted the return and issued a returns label. Sellers have 3 business days before a buyer can escalate the return and ask eBay to step in. There is no leeway for personal circumstances here, same as there isn't on any other online selling platform.

If the buyer returned a different item you could've reported them to Actionfraud, got a reference number to give to eBay and then perhaps not ended up with the buyer getting a refund and the item. 

[rjwilmsi]

Imagine you bought something on eBay, there was a fault, you needed to return it. Seller tells you "sorry I'm on holiday for a month you'll have to wait". Would you be happy? I certainly wouldn't. Under eBay's seller terms you can't force the buyer to wait for a return because you are on holiday.

While private sellers have fewer responsibilities than business sellers, when it comes to returns effectively all sellers are required under eBay's rules (and UK law) to provide a prompt, professional service to handle the return. If you don't do that / ignore the process then the buyer gets a refund at your cost and buyer keeps item.

You should have accepted the return, provided return label via case, forced the buyer's hand. If you think they were "fishing" for a refund that would have forced them to return item or go away. You would have needed to arrange with a friend or neighbour to collect the return item for you - your responsibility.

Had the buyer returned a different item you would have had a case to claim for fraud against eBay. Not now.

Of course very frustrating if you think it's fraud, but you haven't handled it as you needed to. Best idea in future would be don't sell anything of significant value in the weeks before a long holiday.

If the buyer isn't responding then in theory you can take them to court to get the item back. You're probably going to have to write it off.

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

However... just to be contrary, and turning that on its head a little.

(whilst bearing in mind I agree the OP should have acted completed differently in how they dealt with this)

It is conversely very, very unfair that 3Bay actually provides those terms that in many ways are better than statute to what is and should have been kept as an 'online car boot sale' w.r.t. private sellers. However, the distance nature of sales and inability to see or inspect was always going to be an issue exploited by both sides, and despite my apparent account dates I've been around long enough to remember the days when sly sellers could run rings around buyers and really did have the upper hand - and to be clear, that was a BAD THING.

However... the rules are fairly clear and as a result there are things I simply wouldn't sell on here.