Need help with Strange Buyer return, INR/Wrong Item sent/Misdelivered all in one instance

[totoro470]

I need some tips on this one if anyone can help.

About a month ago (Feb 18th) my buyer sent me a very long winded angry message without any punctuation claiming that the item was scanned "delivered" but he did not receive it. The scan was on Feb 18th so I told him this sometimes happens and that he should check with his family or neighbors first before we contact the post office. He then sent me another long winded message that basically sounded like he was fishing for a refund (don't know if I can copy paste messages here) even though it had only been a day since it was scanned delivered. I told him we should contact the post office to see where it was delivered, I asked if he wanted me to contact his post office but he never replied- I assumed he had gotten the package within the next day or so.

So, fast forward to today, almost exactly a month later and I find out he opened a return for the item. The return reason "Wrong item sent" followed by this message "The wrong figers came in box and it was at another address they opened it up thinking it was their stuff but it's been lost inail till now and now wrong figers my son want take them highly dissatisfied."

Basically he is claiming the item was misdelivered and when he got them they were the wrong figures. So what I want to know is, is this buyer being fraudulent or did the post office actually misdeliver the package and the person who received it steal the figures?  The item was worth about $70 and was shipped first class (no insurance). What should I do next?

[backroomnoir]

Your responsibility ends when it's marked delivered for an INR case.

Since the buyer is now claiming SNAD, you will have to accept the return and refund when the item is returned.  After you receive the package back, you can appeal the case and use the messages the buyer sent as evidence that the package was tampered with.  I would call CS and speak with a rep directly.  Not sure how much good that will do.  If you were a TRS and offered returns, you could deduct a percentage of the refund for damages.  

[totoro470]

Thanks for the reply.

I want to add that I know they are the correct figures as I only had 1 of that item and I certainly don't have them in my inventory right now. The only way they would be the wrong figures is if I swapped the labels with a different item that I shipped that day, this is highly unlikely as I always write the buyer's name on the box before placing labels. I would have also likely heard back from the other buyer as there would be 2 people that received the wrong items (it has been a month so it seems unlikely). Once you tally all that up with this buyer wanting a refund and also claiming it was sent to the wrong address it comes out to being a very very unlikely scenario. 

I will take your advice though and check in with ebay to see what they want me to do. I'm thinking I may have to file a report for mail fraud as well, maybe get the postal inspector to figure out whether this buyer is lying or not.

Thanks again.