Buyer wants a return/refund on an item, claiming that it's not as described

[benjra-1227]

A buyer won the auction on a mobile phone that I had for sale recently. The buyer had previously message me & asked about the condition of the phone which I replied that it was in good conditon; no scratches, dents, etc. (as per the listing). 

The buyer recieved the phone & left me positive feedbaack stating that it was "perfect" on the same day that it was delivered. The following day I recieved a return request & the buyer is claiming that their son hadn't examined the phone properly & that the screen is covered in scratches. They sent me photos/screenshots of the front of a phone as well as screenshots of the conversation I had with them & a similar conversation that they had with another seller for a similar phone. This is making me think that either their son has damaged the phone or that they have sent me photos of a different phone. I have looked on their account & they sell a lot of phones. When I asked for photos of all angles of the phone they replied saying  that it certainly is my phone & when I recieve it the IMEI number will match the phone shown in my listing.

I have asked ebay to step in & they are reviewing the report that I made for the buyer. 

Has anyone got any advice? Do I have any chance of ebay siding with me or will I have to refund the buyer & get a phone back that isn't in the condition that I sent it in?

[benjra-1227]

Another question- The money that I received off the buyer for the phone have been on hold in my paypal account since they paid for it. When I received the return request, the money disappeared completely. Is this normal, will I be able to use that money to issue a refund & if I win the case will the money be put back into my paypal account?

[m25jet]

If you win the case the hold on the money will be relinquished and the funds will be made available to you again. If you lose the case the buyer will be issued with a total refund. It's completely normal for the funds to be frozen when a case is opened in relation to a sold item - this is to prevent the seller from spending the money in case the matter is decided in the buyer's favour and the money needs to be refunded to the buyer.

[ruby*tuesday]

Yes I think you will unfortunately. You can Appeal if the Phone isn't Returned in the Condition you sent it in. Some Sellers have had some success when they Report such incidents to Action Fraud. Add that Reference Number to the Appeal. Accept the Return within 3 Business Days. That at least gives you a Few Credit. Also puts you in a good place if the Buyer leaves Negative Feedback. EBay would probably Remove it if you have done everything they expect you to do.

Fingers Crossed.

[tsmgmd]

Honest answer is there will only be one winner and it won't be you.

No matter what eBay may have told you they always come down on the side of the buyer..If the buyer says it's not as described then UK law is all that matters to eBay..

[rusticrye]

Feedback is not taken into account as it can be left in error (and often is, as a browse through these forums will confirm). And, unless Ebay find an unusual amount of such cases have been opened by this buyer, you escalating the case will have been a very bad idea, because:

Ebay can have no idea what you actually sent, or what condition it was in when sent or received or received back, as they were not present when sent or received, so have no choice but to accept a buyer's word for it when they claim Not As Described, as per their Money Back Guarantee.  They cannot get into disputes between you and a buyer.  Only a judge can decide if a buyer is a liar or scammer.

You agreed to comply with the MBG when you registered your account. If you dig your heels in and refuse to offer refund on return, Ebay will either force you to pay for a returns label, or they will force the refund without the need for return. You will also have a damaging defect slapped on your account for failing to comply.

This may sound unfair, but it's the fairest it can possibly be.  The MBG is a very good thing (although you may not think that at present) as it gives buyers the confidence to shop with you and every other Ebay seller.  Without it, you'd be lucky to sell anything at all.  In fact, without it, Ebay would no longer exist.

You have to refund on receipt (if it's returned), and then report the buyer to Ebay for abusing the MBG by fraudulently claiming Not As Described (via the 'report' button on your ‘leave feedback’ page) if you're 100% sure that's what they've done.  A few of those from different sellers, and their account will soon be toast.  And add their Ebay ID to your Blocked Bidders List so they can’t darken your doorway again.

You can then deal with the buyer outside of Ebay as follows, but be sure that they have actually scammed you:

Send them a PayPal invoice to cover your losses, giving them 7 days to send cleared payment or you will be taking legal action and reporting them to Action Fraud (the police's online fraud unit).

If payment is not received within that timeframe, send them a 'before action' letter by Signed For post, giving them 7 days from receipt to make full and cleared payment, or you will report them to Action Fraud, and take them to Small Claims court to recover your money and all court and other costs.

If payment is still not received (unlikely, as this is generally enough to put the fear of god into small-time fraudsters), take them to Small Claims court if you wish.  Very easy to do, and the process can be started online.

@benjra-1227 

[m25jet]

Unfortunately eBay are so heavily biased towards buyers that if the buyer escalates the case to eBay they'll just refund the money in full, the end result being that you'd end up with a defect on your account for not refunding the money voluntarily.  If the buyer leaves negative feedback after that then that would result in another defect on your account.  Therefore, the best option would be to reply to the buyer via the case and ask him to return the phone to you, stating that you will refund his money in full upon receipt of the phone.  Issue an eBay Returns Label via the case, but don't refund the money unless you get the phone back.  If you do get the phone back then refund the buyer's money and the eBay case will close automatically.  That way you can avoid eBay hitting you with a defect relating to a forced refund, although there's still a possibility that the buyer could leave you negative feedback and leave you with a defect that way.

If the buyer returns the phone and it is in exactly the same condition that it was in when you sent it to him then it's more likely to be a case of buyer's remorse and he was just trying to think of something that he thought would sound like a justifiable reason to return the phone to you, although if that is indeed the case then I don't know why he couldn't have just said "I've changed my mind - could I please return the phone for a refund?"  The only logical reason that I can think of for this is because the buyer would have had to pay the return postage for a change of mind return, whereas if he made allegations that the item was not as described you'd have no option but to pay for the return postage if you wanted the phone back again.

In the event that you end up getting a completely different phone returned to you that's in worse condition than the one you sent out, or if you receive something totally different, then report the buyer to eBay for abuse of the eBay Money Back Guarantee.  If you click on the Policies link at the bottom of this page then when the Policies page loads up scroll right down to the bottom of the page and you'll see an option there to report the buyer to eBay.  If the buyer does end up sending you something other than the phone you sent  out, or if he returns your phone in a damaged condition, then report the buyer to eBay, as that way eBay will more than likely start to watch his account more closely.  If this buyer is deliberately buying items and abusing the eBay Money Back Guarantee in order to get items for free then the more complaints against him he receives, the better the chances are that eBay will take action against him, whether that's restricting his use of the eBay Money Back Guarantee, or if he proves to be a repeat offender then eBay may even close his account down and chuck him off of the site for good.