Need Help to be prepared for the worst

ShrimpyWales

Having been a member of Ebay now for over 6 years, I've come across problems but nothing like this one and I'm looking for advice on how to proceed in the worst case scenario.

In the first week in November I sold an old gold coin. The coin reached over £300 which I was happy with. The recipient' s address was in the USA so with Paypal holding and verifying the payment for 24 hours, once payment had cleared I sent the Item through a Tracked service.

8 days later the tracking online confimed that the Us postal service had delivered the Item, the very next day the buyer claims to have not received it!

He asked me to chase it with Royal Mail as he as the buyer couldnt initiate an investigation, which through 2 visits to the local branch and 3 Emails, the result was that a P58 would need to be filled to Investigate the delivery which, with International delivery investigations not being entertained until 25 working days after posting, on the 25th day I filled and posted the P58 , all Information was passed to the buyer as soon as I received Updates.

With time running out to claim through Ebay, the buyer has opened a claim through Ebay, which is still undecided. Throughout this process (now 6 weeks on!), I've been playing detective and alarm bells about this buyer are ringing, here is what I'm worried about.

- He has been a member for 3 months.
- He has bought from 3 buyers only including me, all antique gold coins
- Through contact with the other sellers (1 in Spain, 1 in USA and me in the Uk, he has a case open on all of us now!!.)
- The seller in the US sent the Item to the Uk while the addess I was given was in the Us (dont know about the spanish seller)
- I have found a person of the same name (unusual surname) on the US *** offenders register where he is registered at an address round the corner from the one provided for my item (had a look on google street maps)
- The person of the same name is on the web for attempting to fraud an auction house of rare coins a few years ago for over £34000!! , ran away to london, was caught, sent back to the US where he faced trial and pleaded guilty.

I have tried to provide as much of this information to Ebay (exept the *** offenders part as this is a bit irrelevent but for the registered address) and the Other 2 sellers have also contacted Ebay.

This has been a LONG drawn out process and I dont hold much hope In Ebay as they have told me in One commuication that items over £150 need to be tracked but receive a signature, which my servce was tracked only.

If (probable) Ebay refund the Buyer, Is there anything I can do?

TKPeters

If USPS tracking is showing delivered, then inform them that the buyer is saying its incorrect & tell the buyer this & inform them that you will contact their local Police department.

Normally with USPS & the Police threat, they'll back off unless its a genuine case.

We had a buyer last year buy a £1500 Audi Sat Nav unit with slight damage to the outer trim & we start a theft case involving the Police, their local Police officer visited the buyer & the same unit was install in his car, buyer warned, matter closed.

BertieUK

This is a very difficult issue to resolve, and I have found out that as a 'seller' it would appear that I have very little rights at all to back me up on many issues.

I believe that the old saying of the 'customer is always right' is one that can be and often is abused.

All the evidence that you have listed of his antecedents does not look to be in his favour.

clumsy_cupcake

I hope you get it sorted and with the information you have provided and from other sellers I hope you win the case. The buyer has only bought 3 things, all 3 things have not turnt up and are high value items.
Have you tried to call eBay in person.
Really hope it gets sorted for you

ShrimpyWales

Just a quick edit and update for anyone needing this for future reference.

The buyer has had 4 not 3 purchases in his first 4 months of joining Ebay.
All 4 sellers (me 1 of them) have had cases open for non delivery.
He's won every one now and had gold coins (probably) and a refund through Ebay for near on £1500

Ebay sellers dont seem to have Ebay anywhere near their side, They know all of the Evidence listed in this thread and continue to refund him in every case, Insanity!! :eek:

RFW

I'd try the new "Report buyer" feature and see if that helps. List your fears about the buyer. As it's a US buyer I'd open as many lines of communication with Ebay as I can so it gets to the right person.

Also log the tracking details in Paypal, if you haven't already done so,

The Royal Mail service isn't great for this as it doesn't provide a signature. Obviously this won't help now, but for a small, high value item, a courier would have possibly been cheaper and certainly offer a better service. DHL is available from branches of Staples and quite a few others available online.

ShrimpyWales

RFW wrote: »

I'd try the new "Report buyer" feature and see if that helps. List your fears about the buyer. As it's a US buyer I'd open as many lines of communication with Ebay as I can so it gets to the right person.

Also log the tracking details in Paypal, if you haven't already done so,

The Royal Mail service isn't great for this as it doesn't provide a signature. Obviously this won't help now, but for a small, high value item, a courier would have possibly been cheaper and certainly offer a better service. DHL is available from branches of Staples and quite a few others available online.

The report Buyer was used while the case was in process, 1 seller in spain and 1 in the USA also contacted Ebay UK whilst my and their cases were in process but Ebay still ruled for the Buyer?!?!?!

Tracking through usps shows delivery at 4.17pm on delivery date, dont know if I can claim my loss back through Paypal now, Anyone with any knowledge of this procedure?

Crowqueen

Appeal the case and provide delivery details - they won't get it back off the buyer but they will pay out back to you.

Chickabiddybex

I would get a solicitor to contact eBay if I were you. They are allowing people to carry out theft/fraud!

Obviously_the_best

I hope you provided eBay with the tracking details, if they showed a signature online you should have won. If not, I'd contact the police, as the guy has a clear history and your tracking shows that the USPS have delivered the item to him.

Pembroke

You may also see if you can contact the US customs service as the buyer must surely have paid duty on a £300 coin. Not sure if they can do anything fraud wise but they might be able to strengthen the case if they have records of any duty paid on the coin(s) and if not they may be interested in the buyers activities.