Hi all,
I think I have encountered my first scammer I have ever dealt with. I’ve read up on similar threads on here and know that eBay almost always sides with the buyers in these situations, but mine is different than any that I have seen. I sold some art prints to this buyer a couple of weeks ago. I do not offer returns on any of my listings but now this buyer has opened a return request for these prints under the "Doesn't seem authentic" reason and added comments saying, "I have recently been scammed by eBay sellers and no longer trust items on eBay to be legitimate nor eBay to protect me against scams". If the buyer feels this way, then why has he/she decided to continue buying on eBay after being supposedly scammed. It seems that the buyer has also opened a case with eBay potentially because I received a message from eBay stating that the buyer has made a return request and it gives me the next steps. In this message it says the buyer claimed that the item was not as described. Does this mean that a case was opened with eBay or is this still just at the return request level?
Here is where my story is different from the others that I have read. After receiving this return request, I checked out this buyer feedback. They have 958 ratings and 100% positive feedback, but I looked through their recent feedback as a buyer and in the past month alone there are 4 ratings that claim this buyer to be a refund scammer. I wish I had checked feedback prior to shipping but I didn't think anything of it because of their overall feedback rating. I went ahead and reached out to one of the seller's that left one of these ratings warning of refund scamming and he stated that he also sold this buyer an art piece and they claimed it wasn't authentic as well. He went on to say that another seller messaged him yesterday about the same thing that I was messaging him about. He talked to eBay over live chat, and they said they would be looking into their account and that once the refund request expires, he will get his funds back. Both the seller that I messaged and the seller that messaged the seller I was talking to reported the buyer for claiming the item wasn't authentic when it actually was.
I was wondering if this changes the possible outcome in anyway. I am hoping that with eBay supposedly looking into this account something may be done. I am planning to report the buyer as well, but I was not able to find the option to do so in the return request page. Do I have to reply to this return request before I can report this buyer? The seller I talked to said he responded to the return request with a partial refund for $1 so I was thinking I would have to respond before I could report the buyer.
Should I contact eBay too to express my concerns in hopes that they will realize there are a few people that are dealing with the same thing and that this buyer is a scammer or possibly reach out to them and open a case since my situation is different from the others that I have seen?
One thing that I am not entirely sure about after researching is whose responsibility is it to prove that the item is authentic or fake if this were to escalate? The buyer or the seller?
I was thinking about responding to the return request with a message to the buyer saying something along the lines of what steps have you taken to verify that this product is not authentic as you claim? I am not entirely sure what the best route to take here and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
