Obviously fake police report submitted to ebay, ebay using it to deny my claim. Any recourse?

[wowsource]

Pretty much at wits end here. Here's what happened:

1) Sold a Garmin Fenix watch on Ebay for $690 to a buyer with an account opened end of September 2020 with no feedback. I'm a top rated seller with perfect 900+ feedback, 10+ year old account.

2) Buyer claims the box was empty on receipt

3) I contact buyer twice for more information, he does not respond.

4) eBay rules in buyers favor, takes $690 from my account. Found out later that he is also using an address that has been reported multiple times. I appeal but eBay say's buyer filed a "police report" so they have to rule in their favor.

5) Managed to get a copy of the police report from eBay. It is obviously fake. The police department doesn't exist, the address is of an empty residential building on zillow, and the phone leads to a voicemail that says "You have dialed police department" in Eastern European accent.

6) Tried to file an appeal and get denied again, they claim that they determined the "police report" was legitimate.

I tried to contact them via twitter, tried multiple times through the phone, and via email. Anyone have any idea what I can do? Does anyone have an experience with small claims or arbitration against ebay?

TL:DR : Buyer submits obviously fake police report to eBay, eBay claims it is legitimate and uses it to steal $690 from me.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

1st I would take that copy down to YOUR police dept and show them, filing a false police report is a criminal offense. They can tell you if it's indeed false or legit. Remember, the buyer has something to gain here...your watch.

[wowsource]

I will definitely report it to authorities. Not sure what they can do because the buyer didn't file anything officially, they just generated a fake, 1 page sheet, in MS Word and presented it as proof to ebay and ebay accepted it.

[mtgraves7984]

Freight forwarder location... where was your buyer located?

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@wowsource   I agree with @silverstatetreasureboxes 

Take the report to your police dept and ask them to help provide evidence that this is a fake police report.  Since creating a false report is a crime they should be willing to help you.  

Then armed with this evidence confront eBay again. 

[wowsource]

I'm not sure if I can post the exact address on these forums. It is XXX Meco Drive, Wilmington Delaware 19804. But a quick google search shows that it has been used multiple times for ebay fraud.

[wowsource]

Thank you for the suggestion. I will definitely try that tomorrow and see how it goes. eBay has said that multiple times that it isn't open to more appeals so I don't have my hopes up. 

I've attached the police report and it's so obviously fake I can't believe I'm having to go through this. 

[soh.maryl]

If I am correct, that address is a freight forwarder.  

[wowsource]

Yes, I could see a buyer using a freight forwarder to hide their real address. 

[pjcdn2005]

If you look at his feedback page is he registered in another country? It sounds like he had you ship to a freight forwarder so technically that should have  voided the money back guarantee. The problem is that ebay may require you to prove that he did use a reshipper and now  that he has already been refunded, ebay would have to pay you out of their own pocket so that could make it more difficult to convince them to rule in your favor.

[whiteysallforeign]

Open a police report on ebay for aiding and bedding internet theft, see what they say, as long as you can prove it is a fake police report. 

[wowsource]

He is definitely registered in the United States. It was his listed address, there were no red flags that indicated that this wasn't a regular transaction (other than zero feedback). His page says:

"Based in United States, XXXX has been an eBay member since Sep 24, 2020"

[wowsource]

Interesting idea. I'll see what options I have when talking to the police. I doubt they will do anything, but there sounds like there may be many other cases like mine. Hopefully, if enough people come forward, eBay will be fined or forced to change their practices.

If you see the actual police report attached, I think you'll agree that there's no problem proving that it is fake. It might as well have been written in crayon.

[ogaugeminiaturefigures]

Block buyers with zero feedback or cancel high dollar sales with new accounts and zero feedback. Place a disclaimer in the body of your high dollar sale items.

[wowsource]

Yeah, should have thought of that before. There's no way to do that automatically, right? I can only block buyers with negative feedback. There's always the issue of paying the 3% paypal fee for refunded transactions.