Ebay scammed by buyer

selinkyble

Hello all. I sold a leather recliner and footstool on Ebay collection in person only. The buyer sent a courier to pick it up and took it some hundreds of miles away down the country. Buyer then claimed it was broken and opened a return claim. As the purchase price was only £135 and the cost of getting it back was over £70 I contacted Ebay, who wouldnt help. Just said I would have to pay to get the item back before they would look at the problem and obviously at that point they would just side with the buyer anyway. So I got buyer to return the footstool only so that at least I could recoup something, as that fit in a box for Yodel. Other than that I would have to refund and let buyer keep everything. I knew she wanted to resell them as I had noticed her selling chairs on another account (almost the same username with slightly different ending, checked name and address the same) when I was looking up how much i could get for the footstool on its own. Informed Ebay of this also and they didnt care at all.
So I refunded the buyer as no other option, after getting the footstool back. Reported buyer for misusing returns (probably does absolutely nothing at all). Anyway buyer now has the chair for sale on that other shop on Ebay as I suspected she would, for £110. She has at least 3 shops. Chair is distinctive as it has a patch of worn leather on the seat so definitely the same chair.
Can I insist she keeps the chair so that I can pick it up when I am going that way. I know you used to have to hang on to things for a certain length of time before destroying them. I would be happy to ask a charity to pick it up, which ironically her shop is claiming to be. Anything to stop her from profiting. Or is there anything else I can do about this? Many Thanks for looking.

GadgetGuru

Not sure what you can do, but thats bang out of order. I hope Karma catches up with her!

Mr.Generous

Any buyer that mentions sending a courier is a scam.

selinkyble

Mr.Generous said:

Any buyer that mentions sending a courier is a scam.

Never had a problem previously, but I guess eventually .....

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Sorry to hear, although no help now, buyer protection doesn't cover items that the buyer sends a third party to collect, always worth fighting with CS in instances where the Moneyback Guarantee doesn't apply and perhaps worth an appeal on this basis.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#section3

Scroll down a little for the exclusions.

Regarding the chair unless you've already told the buyer to keep it I would advise them they are an involuntary bailee and have an obligation to take care of the chair until you collect it or if they sell it this must be at market value and the funds, minus any selling costs, belong to you.

Do you have the buyer's address edit I see you do have this, and was the chair really broken?

arfster

Buy it off her shop and then chargeback as broken :-)


More seriously, I'd be tempted to report the buyer to their local police.

selinkyble

arfster said:

Buy it off her shop and then chargeback as broken :-)


More seriously, I'd be tempted to report the buyer to their local police.

Lol the thought DID cross my mind

selinkyble

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Sorry to hear, although no help now, buyer protection doesn't cover items that the buyer sends a third party to collect, always worth fighting with CS in instances where the Moneyback Guarantee doesn't apply and perhaps worth an appeal on this basis.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#section3

Scroll down a little for the exclusions.

Regarding the chair unless you've already told the buyer to keep it I would advise them they are an involuntary bailee and have an obligation to take care of the chair until you collect it or if they sell it this must be at market value and the funds, minus any selling costs, belong to you.

Do you have the buyer's address edit I see you do have this, and was the chair really broken?

That is great advice. Thank you so much! Looking into that now .... As to the chair being broken, that's a slightly murky one. It's one of those high quality leather recliner chairs, but it's an old chair. These sell in good condition for about £700-800. This had a saggy seat, which was apparent on the listing from the photos and i sold it for £135. When she received it, presumably because she sells these all the time and knows what to look for, she opened up the chair at the bottom using the zip on the underside and the foam inside was kind of broken up, which has happened over time and is wear rather than broken, but there was also a broken strut. As I hadnt opened the chair, I wasnt aware of any of this, just knew it was a bit saggy, so i dont know whether the strut was broken when it left here, or it was damaged enroute to her. The chair didnt feel broken when you were sitting in it, but who knows?

selinkyble

Also, by the way, technically I didnt refund the buyer. Ebay closed the case in her favour and refunded her from my funds. I have appealed and asked them to partially reimburse me for the chair which she still has, on the grounds that she was never entitled to a money back guarantee, due to the courier picking up the items. I will update ....

soolin

selinkyble said:

Also, by the way, technically I didnt refund the buyer. Ebay closed the case in her favour and refunded her from my funds. I have appealed and asked them to partially reimburse me for the chair which she still has, on the grounds that she was never entitled to a money back guarantee, due to the courier picking up the items. I will update ....

selinkyble said:

Also, by the way, technically I didnt refund the buyer. Ebay closed the case in her favour and refunded her from my funds. I have appealed and asked them to partially reimburse me for the chair which she still has, on the grounds that she was never entitled to a money back guarantee, due to the courier picking up the items. I will update ....

That’s a shame as you not only lost the funds you also lost the chance to automatically get your FVFs refunded, plus you have a seller strike. 

selinkyble

selinkyble said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Sorry to hear, although no help now, buyer protection doesn't cover items that the buyer sends a third party to collect, always worth fighting with CS in instances where the Moneyback Guarantee doesn't apply and perhaps worth an appeal on this basis.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#section3

Scroll down a little for the exclusions.

Regarding the chair unless you've already told the buyer to keep it I would advise them they are an involuntary bailee and have an obligation to take care of the chair until you collect it or if they sell it this must be at market value and the funds, minus any selling costs, belong to you.

Do you have the buyer's address edit I see you do have this, and was the chair really broken?

That is great advice. Thank you so much! Looking into that now .... As to the chair being broken, that's a slightly murky one. It's one of those high quality leather recliner chairs, but it's an old chair. These sell in good condition for about £700-800. This had a saggy seat, which was apparent on the listing from the photos and i sold it for £135. When she received it, presumably because she sells these all the time and knows what to look for, she opened up the chair at the bottom using the zip on the underside and the foam inside was kind of broken up, which has happened over time and is wear rather than broken, but there was also a broken strut. As I hadnt opened the chair, I wasnt aware of any of this, just knew it was a bit saggy, so i dont know whether the strut was broken when it left here, or it was damaged enroute to her. The chair didnt feel broken when you were sitting in it, but who knows?

I cant thank you enough for pointing me in the right direction. Ebay told me it didnt matter that the buyer had sent a courier ..... twice! That's the last time I trust anything they say. They granted my appeal and refunded me in full.