Believe buyer might be sending back a different item for a return. How to handle?

[sealclubberr]

I'm worried of a fradulent transaction. After doing research on the buyer his business highly sketchy and filled with complaints about getting wrong items, or overcharging customers, and refusing to give refunds. He is definitely unscrupulous. So, I think he might be sending back a broken item with different serial numbers.

I have pics of all of the serial numbers of the original items, and a paper trail from Intel on the serial numbers for that item. How can I properly get all my ducks in a row to give me the best chance of winning my case against the buyer, should it come to that?  How would I go about opening my package in front of a USPS employee who can confirm the contents (will be filming and show the inspector general proof of the original item)? 

In the worst case scenario should I report eBay to the BBB in San Diego, and try to get John Stossel on the case?

If eBay won't honor the case can I turn to PayPal to reverse the refund? The best case is the item just isn't broken, and the buyer made some error. (Highly doubt it arrived damaged)

[sam9876]

" So, I think he might be sending back a broken item with different serial numbers."

eBay doesn't care.

"I have pics of all of the serial numbers of the original items, and a paper trail from Intel on the serial numbers for that item."

They still don't care.

"If eBay won't honor the case can I turn to PayPal to reverse the refund?"

PayPal doesn't care either.

[terrycanarsky]

I can tell you from personal experience that eBay does not care if you have pictures or documentation of serial numbers.  We had a return of an item which not only was a different serial number, upon our contacting him regarding the serial number, the buyer admitted that he'd "accidentally" returned the wrong item.  eBay said that was nice, refund anyhow.  It is all about the buyer's experience and that is mutually exclusive to them with the seller's.

Next time, if at all possible, look at a buyer's feedback left for others before a sale.  If not, then all you can do is fulfill your end of the contract and hope for the best.

~M

[andremurrain-0]

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@sealclubberrwrote:

In the worst case scenario should I report eBay to the BBB in San Diego, and try to get John Stossel on

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[sealclubberr]

There have been news stories of sellers getting refunds after a publication took eBay to task. Just need to be vocal and attract attention from the right people.

[sealclubberr]

He just has positive feedback, and I don't see any feedback left from him for others. Am I even allowed to cancel on someone like this? The last guy I canceled on for having a suspicious address and PayPal account under a different name everyone was almost universally against that, and I came out fine. So, only sell to people who have received good reviews. And we can't leave negative reviews for buyer's can we?

I'm honestly thinking of switching to OpenBazaar, and hiring a third party mediator (cheaper than eBay) so I don't have to deal with eBay's return policy.

[kensgiftshop]

As far as having pictures of the item, you say you shipped, Ebay has no way of knowing if you shipped the same item.

Videos don't do much good either because they can easily be faked.

If you get a different item back, Ebay doesn't know if that was the same item the buyer sent back or not.

Hopefully you get your item back, even if you don't, the buyer will still get their money back.

[sealclubberr]

I understand it's going to be difficult for me to appeal this, I'll probably have to spend hours on the phone and get tossed between different representatives just to get my money back. I'm just trying to figure out how to document everything to put it all in my favor as much as possible.

[tina06457]

This is ebay so you will refund in full even if you get an empty box. Pictures and serial numbers mean nothing to paypal or ebay. It' a case of he said she said and the buyer is always right. I heard of some cases where the seller reported the buyer to the post office and the police and filed all kinds of complaints. They presented this to ebay or paypal and won. Not sure how well or often this works. Maybe another poster has more information. Good luck.

[sealclubberr]

Ok, so open my package with the inspector general, or whoever oversees mail fraud, and document everything. Then do it for eBay, wait a couple weeks do it again when they make a claim through PayPal, and then once again when they do it through their credit card.