Buyer Returned Different Item and Quanity.

[nifty-tech-llc]

I have a buyer who has purchased 2 of the same items and said both were bad. They were acting all emotional in the original message so I had a bad feeling on this one. Sure enough, today we receive the return and there is only one and the one that was returned is not even our product. I tried to call ebay for assistance but with Covid-19 going on ebay is not doing phone support. When I tried email support it kept putting me in a endless loop. I have no idea what I am suppose to do here. I know once this shows returned to me the buyer will open a cause and it will close and refund him since its delivered. Any suggestions?

[cream_couture · Accepted solution]

1. Contact the buyer and state that you did not receive your items back, instead you received another product (send photos) and that they need to send your item back. If they respond denying they sent the wrong thing (plus one missing item), state that you will have filed fraud, theft and internet crime reports, so the Post Office, FBI and police might be reaching out to them.

2. File a police report for theft either online or with your local police station or by calling your local police. eBay has let me use a police report as evidence before.

3. File a mail fraud report with USPS.

4. File an internet crime complaint - https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

5. Once you have copies of filed complaints and reports with associated numbers, contact eBay via phone/email to appeal.

[bivy]

First, if a case has not been opened but the buyer returned the item anyway, he/she better have the tracking proof that the item was returned.  Either way, it might be difficult for the buyer to effect a return/refund without having gone through a case at the outset.

So now you are left with what to do. You could do nothing and see if eBay makes you refund the buyer after the fact. eBay doesn't really care about the buyer sending the incorrect thing. If the buyer had opened a return, eBay would make you refund in full. But the buyer didn't and would have to prove delivery after the fact so eBay may rule in your favor if the buyer now opens a case. But it's eBay so you never know...

An alternative action would be for you to message the buyer (always through eBay messages, of course) and tell them that they must have made a mistake and mixed you up with another seller they bought from as they sent you back merchandise that you didn't sell them. That would document for eBay what just happened as this progresses.

Good luck whatever you decide to do! Again, it's eBay so you never know...

[nifty-tech-llc]

They did open a return thru the return system so was returned with Ebays USPS label which is scanned

[nifty-tech-llc]

Well this went downhill quick. When the item showed return it actually had a spot for me to open a dispute. you i took a pic of what was returned and then of what we sell. I also took a pic of the box it was returned in showing it was not big enough for 2 to start with that displayed the tracking ect. 20 minutes later I get

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We reviewed this case and decided to issue the buyer a full refund.

We understand that you received your item in a different condition than when you shipped it, but unfortunately we couldn't determine that this was caused by the buyer, or that this was something in the buyer's control.

A refund of US $xxx.xx was issued on Mar 27, 2020 to the buyer. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping.
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It says I can appeal but when i go to the appeals page there is no appeal link. One big ole circle. I got lost 200 bucks, not happy.

[edwedw8383]

You should have forwarded the police report and case number as Caldwell had suggesed, and any other case numbers to your buyer. That lets them know you're not taking this switcheroo lightly, and might have saved you a refund.

Why ask for advice if you won't take it?

[cream_couture]

Read my post again.

[nifty-tech-llc]

It would have automatically refunded, the tracking showed scanned.

[1tuna]

police reports are sent thru email to the link that ebay will supply when you want to dispute something,it takes about 7 days to get a copy of a poice report,this is then sent in the email to the claim,you shoud have no problems getting ebay to kick in $200.1st you will need to open a claim on the phone,then they send the email link,follow the instructions with the link and you are good to go.I have had to do this twice and it worked both times

[nifty-tech-llc]

Being phone support is down for the situattion with covid 19 I was able to get into contact with ebay thru their Twitter account. They have since opened a case asking for the info that you and Cream_Couture stated.

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To allow us to proceed, we need you to file an incident report with your local police or law enforcement agency to confirm that there is a problem. Filing an incident report is generally free of charge and easy to do.

The report should contain the following:

Description of the item
Name of the officer filing the report
Badge number of the officer filing the report
Incident report number
Station location (city and state)
Station phone number

Once you receive the incident report, please scan it or take a clear digital photograph of it.
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Thank you guys again for the advise! Some buyers make selling on ebay a absolute pain.