I recently listed a iphone 11 pro for $700 or best offer. My phone sold within a day and the buyer didn't make an offer. He immediately paid and sent me a message asking when I will ship. I shipped the phone within a day and the buyer received it 3 days later. I was contacted by the buyer 10 days later stating the phones face id was not operational, I responded stating that I never had an issue. His follow up email was to tell me that he wanted to return it. He then immediately filed a claim.
I provided an RGA and a return label. 2 weeks passed and the label still showed it had not been shipped. I assumed maybe the buyer was wrong and the phone actually was working. The very next day I received a email from ebay stating the case was closed and refund was made to the buyer. I went in to panic mode and tried to contact the buyer as well as ebay. I had no way to verify it had been returned.
Ebay responded with a tracking number, this number did not match the label I had provided. The tracking did show it had been delivered though. I checked my cameras to see if maybe it was taken from my porch, nothing was ever delivered to my door. I started to really get worried thinking maybe the phone was delivered to the wrong address. No luck with that either. I started digging a little deeper into the tracking and discovered the tracking number originated from Amazon! Then it dawned on me! I had received a package from amazon containing a roll of twine.
I never ordered anything from amazon and I assumed maybe my mother in law had. I retrieved the package and sure enough the tracking that was uploaded to ebay as proof of delivery matched the package that came from a seller on amazon. I contacted the seller and was informed that this item was drop shipped to my address as a gift! I immediately contacted ebay via email since you can no longer call them. I was told the case was closed! I sent 3 more emails and each time got a different customer service agent, finally I received a response from an agent that said if I get a police report They would refund my money.
I felt that the evidence should have been enough for an immediate refund, not the case obviously. I went to my local police dept and was informed I could not file a report since the crime didn't occur at my residence. I then filed a report online with a internet fraud site.
I submitted the report to ebay and the next day I was refunded. This was my experience and it left me very cautious. I feel as a seller we have no rights and are limited in anything we can do to help other sellers to avoid a bad buyer. I can tell you that the address I shipped to is a freight forwarder, the address is 8 McCullough Dr New Castle DE 19726. I did a quick google search and this address comes up in many forum posts related to scammers. I also found out my phone is being used in Ireland. I reported the IMEI and the phone is now useless to the new owner.
I will now treat every buyer as a potential scammer and research as much as possible. If I had not been diligent I would have lost my phone and the buyer would have been successful. This buyer is still active and his account is in good standing and free to scam other sellers.
