eBay seller: problem with return request

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Got to love some buyers.

neverlikedpeas

I think I will have been scammed for the first tme
I sold an item at 5pm on Christmas Eve, the item arrives earlier this week and the buyer wants to return, stated some garbage that the item was as described but needed  for a Xmas present.
The buyer returns the item with tracked delivery which shows the item as delivered but it wasn't delivered to me.
I live in the North East the buyer lives in London. On the Royal Mail tracking the day the return was delivered, the tracking says "Item Received by the local London DO, Due to be delivered today by the local London DO" and it was later delivered by them
The buyer has obviously posted the item to themselves or a mate in their home town and is now claiming a refund saying the item has been delivered.
Is ebay so in favour of the buyer that i will lose the money here..In terms of the price i paid for the item, what it sold for and postage i would be around £150 down

soolin

@neverlikedpeas I’ve asked the team to move your post to a new thread as it will get lost tagged on to a different thread. In the first instance though phone eBay, explain the item has not been returned to you and insist they see proof of postage showing the address it was sent to. Also, see if the user custardy can advise as to whether any further tracking details are available to The general public and even trying contacting RM to see if they can show a postcode at least of the address it went to.

neverlikedpeas

Thanks for that, i'm working today and can't phone ebay  but will do Sunday or Monday.
I've realised since posting that I won't be as much as £150 down, the buyer paid and i would  be refunding so that wouldn't be a loss but I will be around £50 down on the price I paid for the item and postage

GadgetGuru

neverlikedpeas said:

I think I will have been scammed for the first tme
I sold an item at 5pm on Christmas Eve, the item arrives earlier this week and the buyer wants to return, stated some garbage that the item was as described but needed  for a Xmas present.
The buyer returns the item with tracked delivery which shows the item as delivered but it wasn't delivered to me.
I live in the North East the buyer lives in London. On the Royal Mail tracking the day the return was delivered, the tracking says "Item Received by the local London DO, Due to be delivered today by the local London DO" and it was later delivered by them
The buyer has obviously posted the item to themselves or a mate in their home town and is now claiming a refund saying the item has been delivered.
Is ebay so in favour of the buyer that i will lose the money here..In terms of the price i paid for the item, what it sold for and postage i would be around £150 down

Deffo seems like a scam.
Call eBay and point out that the item was not delivered to you, but to somewhere else close to the buyer. Tracking usually has co-ordinates etc too - check to see if you have that, or a signature.
Either way, the fact it was dispatched by a completely different delivery office is enough to show it wasn’t delivered to you. Hopefully eBay will find in your favour. 

Jerry_Cornelius

soolin said:

... even trying contacting RM to see if they can show a postcode at least of the address it went to.

One aspect of this type of scam is that carriers rarely will divulge an address, as I discovered when I had something similar happen to me a while back, however, I ended up supplying my address to the courier and simply asking them to confirm the address they had sent it to WAS NOT the same as the address I had given, which they did (I advised them I thought I was part of a scam in my message) - so even though i didnt know where it had been delivered, I did know the address didn't match mine, which was enough to help me in my case.

neverlikedpeas

The outcome is that I have spoken to ebay and have been told I won't have to refund because the item was delivered so far away from my address.

GadgetGuru

Finally eBay sides with the seller for a change!
Glad it all worked out!

Buster_Danog

An interesting scam. I wonder if he used his own label or altered an ebay one.