As my previous replies indicate, I'm totally with you on this. I despise scammers to no end, particularly scammers of THIS kind of business. We platform sellers are not the fully autonomous owners of our businesses, nor the uninvested employees. That is, we have neither full power to make decisions, nor the carefree ease of having all decisions already dictated by policy. And this is the precise dynamic that scammers like this sticker guy is trying to exploit, rolling the dice on the seller being sufficiently scared of making the "wrong" decision, with the implication that it would then go up to the true holder of power (ebay), or maybe even their own bank (as I am currently dealing with on a sale to a payment dispute scammer).
And what I see you trying to explain in these replies (and most everyone seeming not to 'get') is that what THIS particular scam attempts is beyond despicable; it is literally felonious! It's one thing for a person to (for instance) drop and break an item like a ceramic or whatever, send you photos claiming it arrived that way, or even pretend they can't take photos and have all kinds of excuses why they can't ship something back for a refund, to just get the item for free --been there REPEATEDLY. Of course "broken" isn't a claim someone would make about a trading card, but say they claimed it arrived wet --that would be (merely) despicable. But THIS guy? Oh no, he aimed to bypass all question of whether or not HE did something to the card; he's claiming he doesn't even HAVE it, because your packaging wasn't secure enough to deliver it AT ALL. And he didn't settle for showing you the ripped envelope; he used official (or at least official-looking) evidence, to indicate that the United States Postal Service backs his claim.
THAT IS WHY THIS IS A FELONY. BECAUSE THE AUTHORITY CARRIES SO MUCH WEIGHT THAT THE WRONG HANDS COULD USE IT FOR ALL KINDS OF MISDEEDS, AND THE MORE IT GOT USED THAT WAY, THE MORE THE AUTHORITY AND TRUST WOULD BE UNDERMINED. IT IS THE EQUIVALENT OF IMPERSONATING A POLICE OFFICER. IF THIS SEEMS LIKE HYPERBOLE, IMAGINE A MUCH HIGHER DOLLAR AMOUNT, IMAGINE CLAIMS OF NON-RECEIPT OF EXTREMELY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, ETC.
AND NEVER MIND IMAGINING; JUST LOOK HOW MANY PEOPLE SAID, "JUST GIVE THE GUY HIS REFUND".
All that said, the only thing I have doubts about would be what grounds you would have for a CIVIL suit, even a small claims one. As long as you don't refund him the money (and he doesn't use ebay or his bank to force you to), you have zero damages to claim. As of right now, he paid you for an item and you sent the item, period. The only thing he might owe anyone would be answers to CRIMINAL charges, mail fraud. But, and I hate to say this, I really don't see how the USPS could prove that none of their employees put those stickers on, in any facility along the package's journey. That's really what this boils down to, and so I seriously doubt they will do anything. But it's still important that you report him to them, so he is on their radar for future crimes of this nature, and that HE KNOWS YOU REPORTED HIM. That, along with keeping your money, is a pretty decent 'win' in my book, or at least the best you're going to get.
