Return fraud from buyer

[freshgear4less]

Today we have received a fraudulent return (meaning the item we received was not the item that we sent) from a buyer.

We plan to call eBay CSR tomorrow as soon as possible, before we think about processing a refund for this buyer.  

Does anyone else have expirence on dealing with return fraud? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[*coins]

It's sad this happens, but there is not really a way to prevent it or do anything about it.
You should refund the buyer as soon as possible. If not, eBay may take the money right out of your account and refund the buyer themselves. Then, make sure you report the buyer and add them to your blocked buyer list.

[this*old*attic]

People need to stop giving out this pessimistic misinformation.

Go to your sold listings and report the buyer through the link provided in the sold item. The form allows you to explain the problem and upload a picture.

Wait about an hour, then call EBay and explain what is going on. Refer them to your report and they can look it up.

The most common scenario is that they give you back any money sequestered by PayPal, and refund the buyer too. You might get a vague email that they keep track of this kind of activity, which really means they are watching you both (even with pictures they can’t tell who is right, but they can track histories).

[dtexley3]

Document what you received vs what you sent and then before you call eBay you need to do the steps below.  You will likely have to refund the buyer before you have time for everything, but just calling will do nothing but frustrate you.

1. File mail fraud with USPS.  

2. File fraud complaint with ic3.gov

3. File with your local PD.  Insist on them taking a full report, and forwarding a copy to the buyer's PD.  With some departments you have to be insistent, remind them that mail fraud is a felony, not a civil matter.  Tell them a police report is required to make a claim with eBay.

4. Collect copies and records of all the above.

5 Call eBay, you can try to ask for Trust & Safety (some posters have stated that they were told that there is no such department).  Present your evidence, if you already refunded then you open an appeal, and upload all the evidence.

If you do all of the above eBay may refund you.  Of course they don't penalize the buyer, but at least you might get your funds back. There's no guarantee, but it's been reported that the police report is required in order for eBay to take action.

This also gets the buyer on the radar with the authorities and if they get reported a few times they will receive some unannounced visitors.

[mam98031]

You are on the right track.  The info from Redrose was very good too.

Here is some added observations from another situation recently very similar to yours. It's a long read, but may be worth your time.  Paying special attention to the posts done by the OP throughout the thread as they will tell you how their claim ended up.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Buyer-returned-a-used-muffin-pan-and-told-me-to-go-bleep-mysel...

Best of luck to you.

[castlemagicmemories]

5 Call eBay, you can try to ask for Trust & Safety (some posters have stated that they were told that there is no such department).  Present your evidence, if you already refunded then you open an appeal, and upload all the evidence.

I didn't know some were told there is no such department.  I called recently and asked to speak with Trust and Safety, and they transferred me to Trust and Safety, no problems.