Sold a laptop, buyer initiated a return on the day he received it, took parts out of it and altered

[landscape1953]

Sold a macbook, buyer initiated a return on the same day received it.

Upon further inspection, he took RAM out of it, battery and ultimately the machine was dead when I received it back. So he took parts of hardware out of it for his own purposes.

I disputed the return on ebay with the reasoning that the item I received was altered and not what I sold, eBay closed the case in the buyers favor.

So does that mean I can buy anything I want, take parts out of it and then send them back without consequences?

[simba6]

There is risk selling. Never sell an item you can't afford to lose. You can report the buyer but, don't expect too much to happen. It's a he said / she said case.

Return fraud is is a big problem in all forms of sales.

[lamber9347]

Electronics are the main item that scammers go after online, and you have only sold electronics as of late on this ID. It's up to you but if you continue to sell these items just expect more of these types of issues as time goes on. Best of luck to you....

[12345jamesstamps]

Selling laptops on eBay is taking a chance. I wouldn't sell them. But it looks like you are gooding great business. There's always one bad buyer out there that every seller gets once in a while. I wouldn't let this get to you. Did the buyer have a lot of great feedback? You are selling high end stuff. 

I had a return with a used post card in it..not my stamps he bought. I also had a dark bag with something liquid in it returned to me...I knew it wasn't stamps being returned to me. I refused to accept it. I lost that case due to there is tracking of returns. So you see, we all been there.

[landscape1953]

Thanks for all responses, he had 1300 reviews. I think they decided in his favor because of the amount of reviews he had. A couple of years ago I sold the laptop and it was returned damaged back to me, and then they decided in favor for me instead of the buyer because it was a buyer with zero reviews.

[else-bay]

I know this isn't on the same level as you, but I had a toy returned to me a few months back that was obviously a different one than the one I sent (it was actually in better physical condition, but didn't work). I think the only thing that saved me (after having eBay reverse their original decision to side with the buyer) was having photos of the differences marked and having screenshots of the message in which the buyer admitted to buying more than one of the same toy and "accidentally" returning the wrong one to me.

I doubt, you'll get someone to admit to stealing parts in a communication, but my experience has taught me to try to get/keep those receipts. Best of luck to you.

[bonjourami]

You would have been better off appealing the case after it closed in the buyers favor, rather than disputing it.