I got SCAMMED as a seller, PLEASE HELP!!

[1onestopshop]

So I got scammed on ebay, I'm a newbie to selling and well did not know people had such malice in their hearts. A few weeks ago I listed my mom's iPhone 7 Plus on ebay for 565$. A week later it was sold, the buyer paid right away and all was good. A few hours later I received a message saying that he had just bought the iPhone 7 and was very happy about it bla bla but that his cousin had recently gotten into a car accident and he needed to take care of him and that he was not going to be home to receive the item. So..... (stupidly, i know guys don't rub it in this was a stupid rookie mistake of mine), I ended up changing the shipping address and sending the phone. A few days later the item appeared as delivered in which I receive a message from the buyer that he had not received the item and that he thinks I sent it to the wrong address. I PANICKED and I went to go screenshot the message of his request only to realize it was an ALMOST IDENTICAL username but not the same username he had bought the phone from. I knew I was in big trouble then. I contacted the other username(scammer) to please send the phone back or I would need to contact authorities, it has been a week and the person is just giving me excuses. Long story short after HOURS of being on the phone with eBay they basically said that I'm screwed. So in my opinion it was the buyer who scammed me because how would the scammer know the exact identical username of the buyer. So now the buyer is asking for a refubnd and I just lost the phone AND the money. What should I do, is there any way of being able to at least stay with the money? I am DISTRAUGHT to say the least. Thank you all fror your help.

[gebis28]

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@1onestopshop wrote:
Karma for what ? I don't even know what he's talking about....

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You have a lot of issues buying, it seems karma decided that you needed to see the other side of it, having a bad buyer for a change.

[thatsallfolks]

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@1onestopshop wrote:
What do you mean? I haven't run into bad sellers

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Surely you must be joking.

[*madison]

Karma ?  What are you talking about ?

Yes, the op has dropped a few negs, most of the sellers are from China, oh, but they are well known for their great service and products aren't they ?  Not...

The op made some bad seller choices, that's all, never mind Karma, it doesn't apply here..

[flipper2flipper2]

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@1onestopshop wrote:
Yes I heard of that also after this happened to me, they order it to a foreclosed home. I looked up the address and it's a business building with a Suite #.

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@1onestopshop wrote:
Yes I heard of that also after this happened to me, they order it to a foreclosed home. I looked up the address and it's a business building with a Suite #.

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Suite numbers are common ways to NOT disclose that the actual location is a Post Office Box at a mail / package receiving business like The Mail Box Store, The USP Store, etc.

Google the "spoof" shipping address without the Suite Number, and see if anything interesting pops up at you in the Search Results.

Then, go to Google Maps, and get the directions from the "rea"l buyer's address to the "spoof" buyer's address ( without the Suite Number ) .... and see if they live within driving distance of each other.

If they do NOT live within driving distance of each other, that "might" mean that there is a second person involved in the scheme.

[csbbct]

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@1onestopshop wrote:
Yeah it sucks..... I contacted eBay again and this rep was much nicer but still she said there's not much they will do..

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At the VERY LEAST they need to shut down that "scammer" id!  I would not let eBay get away with doing nothing here.  I know that first level of support you get when you initially call probably doesn't have authority to do anything, but I would insist on escalation to another area that deals with fraud.  I'm sick of eBay just throwing their hands up and not doing anything to help with the situation.  They should also be noting this on the original id's account in case something else like this happens again they'll know that person has done it before!   You know if they got away with it here, they'll feel more confident that eBay just sits back on their hands and will do it again and again and again.

[things-n-oddities]

How would the scammer know the actual buyer's ID to make a similar ID? The completed listings do not display the buyer's ID.

[missjen831]

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@things-n-oddities wrote:

How would the scammer know the actual buyer's ID to make a similar ID? The completed listings do not display the buyer's ID.

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Obviously the scammer is the same person as the actual buyer OR it’s 2 scammers working together.

[savent-0]

You are screwed hard. Paypal has probably already frozen the money, but if you did not have enough in there you should immediatley report the card linked to Paypal/Ebay as lost and have it cancel. Next close any Bank accounts linked to Paypal/Ebay. And then just Ghost both your Ebay/Paypal account and open other ones in slight differnt names. Most likely they already have the money. So a hail mary option is d file a police report, do a charge back on your card linked to Paypal and hope your CC company valuses you as a customer to the point they eat it or screw Paypal over. I know for a fact Amex will go out of their way for valued customer.  Finally, rule one thit Ebay/Paypal is you are going to be constantly scammed. So you should empty your balance or keep it very low every day. This way it will only go negitive and you will have options

[twincitiespcs]

Very common scam from buyers these days.  I have had 2 attempts of this same scam recently on cheaper laptops (I no longer sell expesive ones on ebay due to buyer fraud) where I received a message from a similar name as the buyer requesting the laptop be shipped to a different address due to some sort of emergency.   I ended up cancelling the orders and reporting both accounts to ebay.    I imagine Ebay does not do anything with these reports though....