I had an international buyer from a Latin country pay about $80 US for an item including postage. Over a month later they contact me and tell me INR, and tracking shows that to be the case as it never updated past leaving Chicago. Told him to wait a while longer but it's been two months since purchase so I went ahead and declared it lost and refunded him the full amount through eBay.
He contacts me a little while later and says he didn't receive the full refund. He shows me screenshot evidence of this that he only got about $75. He also showed a screenshot showing how much he originally paid in his native currency.
I do not think he doctored anything and believe his story.
I advised him to ask his bank about this issue and he said he already did that, so he thinks it must be a problem on my end. Thought my bank was charging commission or something, but my bank has no ties to this transaction at all. I showed him a screenshot of the paypal refund indicating it was for the full amount.
I went back and looked at the amount he paid, even taking into account the exchange rate at the time, and it appears he paid a little over $5 US extra than what I was charging. And then the amount he showed he was refunded was approximately $5 less than what I sent. This pretty much adds up to the $10 US he says he's missing. The exchange rate on the date of purchase and the time of refund are near the same btw.
He confirmed that he bought direct on eBay through phone app, and communication is direct through eBay's messaging center so I don't think he was connected through some other website.
Can someone please offer some explanation as to what occurred here? Why did he get charged extra, and why did my refund come up short? Maybe some exchange rate fee or cross-border fee charged to the buyer I'm not aware of?
Again, I don't think he's trying to scam me or anything.
