Lost item and money :o(

GadgetGuru

Sold an action camera on eBay on 22nd New 2022 - total with postage was £281
Buyer paid via eBay - I posted via RM Special Delivery. 
Delivery attempted - no answer. 
Emailed buyer several times informing him item was at his delivery office - no response. 
Item returned to me after a month. 

Buyer contacts me the next day saying his eBay account was locked out, and he didn't receive a red collection card from RM so didn't know the delivery had arrived. 
Asked me to resend. 
I sent again - RM Special Delivery - this time I also provided him my mobile number and we exchanges texts. 

Item delivered today. 
Buyer opens a return request within 20 mins of receiving item saying item is faulty. I found all this very dodgy. 
I did have an option to refuse the request via eBay though. 

Before doing anything I contacted eBay and explained everything so that they could advise. 
I was advised to deny the claim, which I therefore did. 

Next thing I know - 30 mind later I get an email from eBay saying the case is escalated to eBay and decided in his favour. 
A refund had been granted in full and sent to him.
Funds have been taken from my credit card!!

So now I have no item and no money. 

Contacted eBay who say they cannot take the money back from a buyer - apparently they can from a seller with the card details on file, but not from a buyer. I was advised i should contact the buyer and ask if he would return the item. 

I have tried texting the buyer back, but seems like he is no longer checking my messages (may have blocked me?).
I tried calling the buyer - but no answer. 

Im not sure what to do now. eBay will not help any further and the buyer has both the item and the refund and will no longer respond. 

Do I file it as a theft with the Police?? Will they even bother doing anything to help?
I have the buyers name, address and telephone number, as well as evidence of the item being delivered and signed for, and details of the eBay refund from my eBay account....

Olinda99

you could consider the small claims procedure to get your money back from them.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

It’s complicated as the fact you had the option to decline suggests the buyer was out of time to claim.

However the guarantee starts from the actual delivery date if one is available which technically means they was covered.

It’s not clear why eBay have refunded without a return though, might be worth a post of their social media pages to see if you can get a reaction from eBay.

GadgetGuru

Olinda99 said:

you could consider the small claims procedure to get your money back from them.

Maybe more luck with the small claims procedure from the buyer direct, for either the funds or the item returned?

pinkshoes

IftiBashir said:

Sold an action camera on eBay on 22nd New 2022 - total with postage was £281
Buyer paid via eBay - I posted via RM Special Delivery. 
Delivery attempted - no answer. 
Emailed buyer several times informing him item was at his delivery office - no response. 
Item returned to me after a month. 

Buyer contacts me the next day saying his eBay account was locked out, and he didn't receive a red collection card from RM so didn't know the delivery had arrived. 
Asked me to resend. 
I sent again - RM Special Delivery - this time I also provided him my mobile number and we exchanges texts. 

Item delivered today. 
Buyer opens a return request within 20 mins of receiving item saying item is faulty. I found all this very dodgy. 
I did have an option to refuse the request via eBay though. 

Before doing anything I contacted eBay and explained everything so that they could advise. 
I was advised to deny the claim, which I therefore did. 

Next thing I know - 30 mind later I get an email from eBay saying the case is escalated to eBay and decided in his favour. 
A refund had been granted in full and sent to him.
Funds have been taken from my credit card!!

So now I have no item and no money. 

Contacted eBay who say they cannot take the money back from a buyer - apparently they can from a seller with the card details on file, but not from a buyer. I was advised i should contact the buyer and ask if he would return the item. 

I have tried texting the buyer back, but seems like he is no longer checking my messages (may have blocked me?).
I tried calling the buyer - but no answer. 

Im not sure what to do now. eBay will not help any further and the buyer has both the item and the refund and will no longer respond. 

Do I file it as a theft with the Police?? Will they even bother doing anything to help?
I have the buyers name, address and telephone number, as well as evidence of the item being delivered and signed for, and details of the eBay refund from my eBay account....

This sounds dodgy. Why was the account locked out? When they asked you to send it again, was this OUTSIDE of eBay? Or did you put another tracking number into eBay for the NEW delivery? If eBay are using the original tracking it would look like it was not delivered hence refunding. 

I would be PHONING eBay until you get an operator with a brain (lots don't) and explain that you re-sent the item as the buyer did not collect the first time. 

If that doesn't work, then I would send a "Letter Before Action" to the buyer (have you googled them to see if Name/Address is genuine) giving them 14 days to pay £X (initial amount plus extra postage) or returns the goods in their original condition otherwise you will take them to court.

GadgetGuru

pinkshoes said:

This sounds dodgy. Why was the account locked out? When they asked you to send it again, was this OUTSIDE of eBay? Or did you put another tracking number into eBay for the NEW delivery? If eBay are using the original tracking it would look like it was not delivered hence refunding. 

I would be PHONING eBay until you get an operator with a brain (lots don't) and explain that you re-sent the item as the buyer did not collect the first time. 

If that doesn't work, then I would send a "Letter Before Action" to the buyer (have you googled them to see if Name/Address is genuine) giving them 14 days to pay £X (initial amount plus extra postage) or returns the goods in their original condition otherwise you will take them to court.

No idea why it was 'locked out'.
I resent the item via eBay - so yes the tracking etc is through eBay.
I did speak to someone at eBay who stated that it seems the buyer opened two claims. 

The first was an item not received claim (which I didn't even know about or get any correspondence for, neither was it ever on my eBay account - so that was the first I've heard of it), although this was denied since the second tracking showed the item had been delivered.

The second claim was the item not as described claim, saying it was faulty. He obviously called and spoke to eBay since they didn't even have the buyer return the item and gave him a full refund - taking the funds from my attached credit card.

I spoke to someone from eBay on the same day, asking what was going on as the buyer now has the item and the refund, and I have nothing. The agent agreed with me but stated they can't just take the funds back from the buyers account and I would have to reach out to the buyer and ask for the item to be returned. 

The buyer obviously has me now blocked via phone. 
However, I emailed via eBay asking for it to be returned (politely) and did get a response saying he would be sending it back as soon s the refund had cleared into his account. 

I'm going to give it a couple of days (bearing in mind the bank holiday weekend) and then chase again.
If nothing, i will file a claim for theft, and then begin small claims court proceedings.

I think the scam works like this:
- Buyer purchases item, but does not accept delivery. 
- Item is returned to sender after sitting in the delivery office for a month. 
- Buyer contacts seller outside of eBay with an excuse, and then asking for a redelivery. 
- Seller redelivers item.
- Buyer claims item not received to eBay and has funds returned. 

However, luckily I purchased another label via eBay, so we clearly have proof that he has the item. Doesn't seem to have helped me too much though because he still got the item and his refund!!!
But it does give me all the evidence I need for small claims??

So I have:
Buyers name, address, phone number, email
The item description
The order details
The proof of delivery, with signature and co-ordinates
The proof of refund from eBay

If I add a police reference number (assuming he doesn't return it as promised) do I have everything I need for small claims proceedings?

MarvinDay

I would also suggest that you print out copies of the ebay messages, especially the one where your buyer states that they will return the item as soon as the funds clear.
I don't know if you can print the whole message trail of if you will have to take individual screenshots and print those out.

GadgetGuru

MarvinDay said:

I would also suggest that you print out copies of the ebay messages, especially the one where your buyer states that they will return the item as soon as the funds clear.
I don't know if you can print the whole message trail of if you will have to take individual screenshots and print those out.

Good point - thanks.
Yes you can print the entire message trail. I'l also add the WhatsApp messages to it as well!

Buster_Danog

Was this a result of the item already having been returned to you, and then being set again with a different tracking number? Usually ebay would insist on the buyer returning the item. Why didn't that happen in this case?

Perhaps the second tracking number and the item being sent to the buyer a second time meant ebay viewed the transaction as  falling outside of seller protection?

User36750

Get on to your credit card provider.
You may find they will refund the money to you - at least that's something.

GadgetGuru

Buster_Danog said:

Was this a result of the item already having been returned to you, and then being set again with a different tracking number? Usually ebay would insist on the buyer returning the item. Why didn't that happen in this case?

Perhaps the second tracking number and the item being sent to the buyer a second time meant ebay viewed the transaction as  falling outside of seller protection?

It was a case of the item being sent - buyer not collecting from the delivery office, so item was returned to me after a month. Then the buyer asking me to resend, but asked me outside of eBay. Fortunately I re-sent by printing another label through eBay, so eBay has both tracking numbers - the second showing the delivered item. Buyer then opened a faulty item case as soon as the item was actually delivered - probably because he realised I eBay ha dated tracking and he could no longer claim INR!

Usually eBay would ask the item is returned, then I can refund. In this case they just refunded on the same day - just an hour after the case was opened! I think the buyer contacted eBay via phone but I do not know what was said etc to close the case that quickly. 

Anyhow I have the email from the buyer sent via eBay saying he would return the item as soon as the refund has cleared. Im giving it until Weds, and will contact him again. If nothing by Friday I will contact again informing him I will report the item to the authorities as stolen and proceed with small claims unless he returns within 5 working days. If still nothing, I will proceed as planned as I have all evidence etc