Buyer claims he received a different item

flowerofscotland

A friend of mine who doesn't have much spare cash decided to sell a smartphone on eBay. He used a tracked service and knows the item was delivered. The payment was held by PayPal "due to the nature of the transaction". The buyer has now opened a dispute and is asking for a refund because he says he received a watch not a phone ! What is anything can my friend do!

If he does the refund and the item is sent back it won't be the phone he posted And of course as he hasn't actually received the money PayPal can make the refund anyway

I know from personal experience that eBay believe the buyer if there is any type of dispute but in my case it was only a few pounds so I just put it down to experience and blocked the buyer

Tealblue

Suggest to your friend that he has the phone blocked so the new owner can't use it - won't get him his money back but will at least ensure the thief doesn't get both the cash and a working phone.

ballisticbrian

Find out if your friend has the weight of the item on the receipt from the post office. This can help your case with eBay. Check your friend wasn't also mailing out a watch at the time he was mailing out the phone and got the address labels switched.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Find out if your friend has the weight of the item on the receipt from the post office. This can help your case with eBay. Check your friend wasn't also mailing out a watch at the time he was mailing out the phone and got the address labels switched.

I'm never sure how this helps, how do you know how much packaging someone uses? I sell a certain item, depending on packaging it can weight anything from 440g to a massive 710 g ( I ran out of small boxes !)

angryparcel

Also with Royal Mail if the watch is 105g and the phone is 450g they would be in the same postage band

flowerofscotland

True but if you mail the parcel at a Post Office they put the actual weight on the receipt. Not sure if this will help or not but it could be another part of the appeal to eBay after the package is returned

My friend has now blocked the phone though this is unlikely to affect the thief who has probably already sold it on

angryparcel wrote: »

Also with Royal Mail if the watch is 105g and the phone is 450g they would be in the same postage band

theonlywayisup

flowerofscotland wrote: »

A friend of mine who doesn't have much spare cash decided to sell a smartphone on eBay. He used a tracked service and knows the item was delivered. The payment was held by PayPal "due to the nature of the transaction". The buyer has now opened a dispute and is asking for a refund because he says he received a watch not a phone ! What is anything can my friend do!

The likelihood is that eBay and Paypal will side with the buyer and ask them to return it to you friend. Your friend will have to pay the returns postage if this was an eBay sale.

flowerofscotland wrote: »

If he does the refund and the item is sent back it won't be the phone he posted And of course as he hasn't actually received the money PayPal can make the refund anyway

Do NOT refund until the item is returned. As the case is open the funds are held. Is it eBay or a Paypal case?

flowerofscotland wrote: »

I know from personal experience that eBay believe the buyer if there is any type of dispute but in my case it was only a few pounds so I just put it down to experience and blocked the buyer

Yes, where eBay cannot make a judgement on who is to blame, the easiest for them is to rule in favour of the buyer and the item is returned. However, if your friend does indeed get a watch sent back, he should (or you should) come back here for additional advice.

flowerofscotland

I agree but it's just so easy for buyers to perpetrate these scams on eBay. The buyer has photos of the phone (clearly not stock photos), proof of posting and proof of receipt and all the buyer has to do is say they received something different and bingo they have stolen a smartphone with eBay's blessing

Since this happened to my friend he's been told of countless other examples where genuine private sellers have lost out with not one instance where eBay has believed the seller instead of the buyer

And if it wasn't so widespread why else would PayPal put a hold on the money "because of the nature of the transaction"?

soolin wrote: »

I'm never sure how this helps, how do you know how much packaging someone uses? I sell a certain item, depending on packaging it can weight anything from 440g to a massive 710 g ( I ran out of small boxes !)

theonlywayisup

flowerofscotland wrote: »

I agree but it's just so easy for buyers to perpetrate these scams on eBay. The buyer has photos of the phone (clearly not stock photos), proof of posting and proof of receipt and all the buyer has to do is say they received something different and bingo they have stolen a smartphone with eBay's blessing

Since this happened to my friend he's been told of countless other examples where genuine private sellers have lost out with not one instance where eBay has believed the seller instead of the buyer

And if it wasn't so widespread why else would PayPal put a hold on the money "because of the nature of the transaction"?

Paypal put holds on sellers' accounts for all sorts of reasons and suddenly selling a phone will be one of them.

You cannot 100% prevent this type of fraud but you have to see it from Paypal's and the buyers' angles. A seller sells a high risk item for the first time and the buyer claims it is not what it should be....

flowerofscotland

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Paypal put holds on sellers' accounts for all sorts of reasons and suddenly selling a phone will be one of them.

You cannot 100% prevent this type of fraud but you have to see it from Paypal's and the buyers' angles. A seller sells a high risk item for the first time and the buyer claims it is not what it should be....

You are making a number of assumptions here. My friend has been an eBay member for more than 10 years, buying and selling on an ad hoc basis as a private individual - the way eBay started. And also the way they still market themselves The "buyer" has only been with eBay for a few weeks but as a seller you don't know this until the sale is agreed. My friends has sold a phone in the past but it's more than 12 months ago and has also sold a few other items of relatively high value. But his exemplary record built up over a decade counts for nothing

It seems to me that eBay and PayPal take the easy way out because looking into each case and taking into account the relative standing of each party would take too much resource

And the PayPal account isn't on hold, just the one transaction - he has been able to use his account because he had a balance before this "sale"

It's like being mugged in the street and then told it's your fault for taking a walk with a wallet in your pocket

Geoff1963

Can you get your friend to obtain from the buyer, photos of :
The packing, in case that also is different ; and
The watch, showing any serial numbers ; and tell them to not touch it any more or clean it ?

Then your friend goes to the police with the details, and asks if it has been reported as stolen.
( This also pre-empts the buyer substituting a stolen watch for a phone, and reporting them for theft as well as fraud )

Your friend could tell the buyer that if the watch has his fingerprints, and it is found to be stolen, he is happy to serve jail time, and pay large compensation.