Please help! What to do? Buyer trying to scam me! Claiming Received Empty Box

[leperfume]

Hello! Need your advise or recommendations on what I could do in the following situation? 

I sold an $600 item to the buyer from Brazil. Prior to deal we had very amicable and nice communication. He messaged me asking some detail about the item and so on. Then few days later he made a purchase and provided immediate payment. Month later he received the item and immediately opened the claim transferring it to case through PayPal adding just the following note "I bought the item but received an empty box". I can't understand how it was possible. And the buyer never contacted me but just opened a case through PayPal with no chance to discuss the problem. It was 0,800 kg box. He paid Customs fess. He received the box. Why he received it if it was empty? should be there any documents from the Customs if the weight is different or if it was just an empty box..Why buyer did not send me a message but decided immediately to open this case? Too many questions and I do not know what to do.  I guess its scam.. And will be there proper investigation from Paypal or they just ask buyer to return this empty box to me back for the refund, so I will lose everything..? Please help!

[mtgraves7984]

That is a horrible scenario. Now... on the one hand, he's bypassed an eBay Return for NAD and gone straight to PayPal. He can't come back to eBay. (Heck, he may have lost MBG privileges and can't file with eBay.)

I'm in MP and have been away from PayPal so long that I'm hoping you get advice from someone that has dealt with this type of Return with PayPal. Sorry this is happening to you.

[slati_2013]

Hmmm. Yes, the buyer could be pulling a scam, but you should consider another possibility; some postal worker in Brazil stole the item. In many developing and Third World countries, items are stolen by postal workers. Happens in the West as well but not as often as in certain countries that most sellers block. 

It is also possible the buyer was very upset to get an empty box and assumed you were trying to scam him and went straight to PayPal.

What kind of feedback does the buyer have?

[powell-memorabilia]

That's a tough one.  Horrible feeling to get, I'm sure.  Not that it will help you in this circumstance, but this type of case is why I really like using GSP.  Yes, it is somewhat more expensive for buyers, but I can't imagine selling anything of significant value, to an international buyer that I haven't dealt with, without the protection that GSP provides.  

[hawkwind5454]

I have no positive help I can avail you, so I'm not going to say anything on that. I will tell you this, however.... As far as transactions go, you are relatively a green seller.... you are selling a higher-priced item, and your buyer is in Brazil. You might as well be wearing a Target on your back that says *Scam Me*. You are just the type they look for. Personally, I would never sell anything of that value outside of the country, but hey, that's just me.

[marviolet]

This is truly disturbing if it is the buyer who got the item and reported they received an empty box.  I hope eBay has a solution. This is upsetting knowing it could happen to anyone of us.  I wish I had an answer.  Hopefully,  this can be resolved amicably. 

[tdumonde2014]

Brazil is the Black Hole of South America and no seller should ship there on their own. I'm not sure what sort of an investigation paypal would do. Buyer says package empty. You could call/contact paypal for advice. You need to decide if you want to pay to have an empty box shipped back to you. Good luck.

[leperfume]

But why the buyer went to PayPal immediately and also in a hurry opened the case through it. If I was in the same situation, first I would try to contact the seller. If I had some docs from Post or Customs ( I suggest there should be something proving this box was opened), I would share them with the seller too. And of course buyer receives the refund in that case with no doubt and seller should try to find out through the Post Service what really happened there...

This Buyer has 437 stars feedback but there has been no any activity for a long time there as far as I can see and I am afraid this account might be stolen or sold. I do not know if it is allowed to publish links here to other users accounts and ids but if it is proved that this guy is fraud, I will post him everywhere where I can.

[desmasreborns]

Do you have the shipping receipt that has the weight of the box and compare it to the weight when it arrived at t he buyers? 

[kathieskorner]

I had a bottle of perfume confiscated by customs as a hazardous material.  I stopped selling internationally after that.    Don't assume the buyer is scamming you.