I sold an $800 digital camera here on eBay - it was in working condition when it left, I tested it out, something I bought but never used really. The buyer received the item and a few days later said the camera wasn't working, I thought it was odd because I had tested it several times the day I shipped it to make sure there were no issues. He had the camera for 4-5 days before I heard anything from him. He then told me it was working initially and then would "freeze" so he put in third party batteries and then the camera didn't turn on at all. I've sold all my items with no returns - I'm not sure how a 30 day money back guarantee works if eBay gives you the option to not accept returns?
I kept asking for proof and never got any, I wanted to know what the issue was with the camera, if it arrived broken from USPS or had some sort of issue - I got nothing, just asking for a refund or for me to pay to repair it. The buyer then opened a case for the item and said it arrived not working. Completely ignoring the 5 days they had and used the camera.
We went back and forth - he said I sold him a broken camera, I kept asking for some sort of evidence that it had issues because I did not understand what even needed to be repaired or if he had damaged the camera etc. I figured I would let eBay step in so I waited, I didn't realize eBay gave me the option to refund him or refund him - what is the point in having them look into the case if they do not read all the messages?
They gave him a refund of $814 and they told him he didn't need to ship the camera back. I messaged them and asked them to reopen the case and they concluded the exact same - each person I had a message from assured me I was a great seller and a bunch of other copy and pasted answers with one line of not being able to do anything because the case was closed and that I can reach out to him to get my item back and they had asked him per my request to ship the item for which I would reimburse for shipping.
I messaged him a few times as they asked me to keep all communication on eBay but I figured if I was going to steal from someone on eBay I probably wouldn't reply to messages they could see - so I emailed his paypal email during which I also found his social media page - I can clearly see photos of him and the camera being used during the period it was "broken and didn't work". After 2 emails to his gmail ignored he replied saying he won the case, he didn't have to reply but he was to ask me to stop trying to get my camera back. He also sent me the attached screenshot in which ebay said he did not have to send me back my item - when they told me they asked him to.
What are my options here? A police report? The buyer is in Puerto Rico. Are there any lawyers I can talk to? At this point I care more about getting my camera back than the money as this was a complete scam. eBay have done 0 to look into this case. The best I could do was having Bank of America reverse the transfer and block eBay from taking it - they also said this was essentially a scam. The only issue is now my PayPal account has a negative balance and is asking for me to put +814 in it. PayPal said they cannot help me but they have been getting hundreds of calls with similar requests.
This seems like a terrible system, I've been using eBay since 2012, I've come across a few scammers or people that never send the item but nothing like this. I did not accept the refund initially because I didn't want to have to pay to repair something someone else broke, I did not know that at any point in this he would be able to keep the item and get a refund.
