Sold an item but buyer said it was stolen

[cloventoken]

Hi guys, I sold a phone worth $800 and I sent to the buyer's address without a signature (my mistake I didn't put signature for delivery) but I have a tracking number that it was delivered. The day that it was delivered the buyer sent me a message that it was stolen from his mailbox and he is requesting a refund and asked his local post office to investigate. Now he opened an eBay request. 

[everard6920]

---

@cloventoken wrote:

the buyer replied and this is what he said 😑

"To keep you updated, the thief has sold the phone and the police aernt going to confront her anytime soon. Apparently this lady is under investigation from detectives for other thefts so it's going to get complicated. What we need to do now is block the phone, I'm not sure how you would do it but you are the original owner. Once blocked, whoever bought it will hopefully report her to police and the case will go further. As for the refund it sucks to be the guy, but we are going to have to let ebay decide. If it's my responsibility, I'll take the loss and wait until the investigation completes and when/if the phone is returned you'll have to unblock the imei. If ebay says you are at fault because of no signature and refunds me the money, I'll provide all the investigation numbers and police report numbers, and eventually they will post the phone back to you. This is a real unfortunate circumstances for both of us, and beleive me when I say I wish it hadn't happened. We can only wait."

and that's my reply to him just like what you said mate and I added if he can give me at least a screenshot of the thief or the phone that was stolen in facebook marketplace. 

---

I don't believe this for a second.

I would press on under the pretense of being outraged that someone has stolen the phone. Something along these lines:

"Dear Buyer,

Thank you for the update. When someone steals from my customer, they are also stealing from me, so I have gone ahead and filed reports with Australia Post and ACORN based on the information you have provided. It's possible that one, or both, will be in contact with you about this matter.

Given that Australia Post paused Signature on Delivery some time ago due to the pandemic, I am confident that I have met all of my obligations regarding this transaction as I have both tracking showing delivery and a photo to prove it.

I will, however, go ahead and register the phone as stolen with the relevant parties, and I'd imagine that anyone who attempts to use it will be followed up by law enforcement. Please inform me immediately if you manage to get the phone back, because once the phone is registered as stolen there is nothing I can do, and in the event that you lose the eBay case but get the phone back, you will be out of pocket for both the money and in possession of a phone that is of no use. You would also not be eligible for a return in that situation.

Sincerely,

Seller"

[designers*n*more]

A report to ACORN, online fraud, much better than reporting to the police.  ACORN will actually do something about.  Lodge a report with them, they usually reply within a few days.  I filed a report once and they responded within 3 days,

[south.coffee]

Go and read the buyers feedback too, sometimes you can glean clues of previous misdemeanors. Also their feedback left for others.

We have had some real 'crazies' including several buyers who leave negative feedback for EVERY seller ! When we get 'done over' we leave negative POSITIVE feedback as a record. Imagine the buyer asking for positive feedback to be removed !

One buyer today left us three negatives with no justification. Crazy old fool who doesn't know what a ZIP lock bag is ?

[curraone]

Bad advice:   leaving false positives is against feedback policy - I'm surprised you haven't been told already.

[imastawka]

---

@curraone wrote:

Bad advice:   leaving false positives is against feedback policy - I'm surprised you haven't been told already.

---

I believe they have....more than once

[sandypebbles]

They would'nt, they would report you for breaking eBay rules

eBay would more than likely remove your comment and just leave the green positive tick

But it seems that you are more than happy to reward scammer buyers with green ticks and put your own account at risk in order to do so 

[cloventoken]

I doubt that I will win this case in eBay as they really want to see if the item I sent has a SOD on it. eBay will decide tomorrow about the case and I said the thief saw the phone's box in facebook marketplace asking me if the box has a marker written on it and I said yes, it means he saw the stolen phone or hes lying and he already got it. I asked for the screenshot of the listing in facebook but he never send me a single photo. If ever ebay decided on buyers favour can I still open a paypal case?

[digital*ghost]

Unfortunately sellers can only defend against cases opened against them, for both eBay & PayPal, they can't open cases to have funds returned.

You may be able to send a complaint to AFCA if eBay debit the funds from your PayPal account, as an unauthorised debit (some sellers have had success with this). 

[justkidzbiz]

try responding to eBay via the dispute advising Aust Post's current  policy on SOD and due to this policy the postman has taken photographic evidence of the parcel being delivered.

[rodcub]

What about in the case where a courier leaves it in the open (not in a safe location at the delivery address)?
And I have a case right now where I am sitting 8m from my front door (I have Google Maps timeline data saying I was at home at the time the courier delivered).... and they didn't even knock or ring the doorbell.

Just dumped in an insecure location.  So, courier company negligence...

The good thing is the courier company takes a photo at delivery time and has provided it to me.
Bad news for them... is that it shows it is completely in an exposed location (despite a meterbox being 1m above where they left it, and two additional spots they can securely leave it).

Couriers, eh?  Who knew they were so bad in the authority-to-leave times?

Oh, did I mention this courier has a standing notification to NOT leave, and they are to take back to depot for a failed delivery?

Sure, it's not the buyer's fault — except that the courier (if chosen by the buyer) seems liable for negligent delivery and/or handling of the item.  If eBay chose the delivery company, then eBay should be liable for the negligence of their delivery agent.