has anyone dealt with a scammer customer demanding money back while item was being posted to them?

[shipdirect2you]

I have recently dealt with a customer from USA who purchased an item, then demanded their money back while the item was still being shipped to them saying that it 'does not suit their purpose'. I of course refused as this is clearly a 'change of mind policy' not a fault/warranty issue. They continued to demand money and have opened a case saying that the item was not as described. Which is total BS because they have just send me a picture of the 'un-opened' parcel. 

I have contact ebay (which has to be taken care of from the American ebay as parcel was international) and this is the response I received:

"Thanks for contacting eBay about the case. I've checked your last communication with us via chat and verified that you do not agree with buyer's reason for asking a return.

 After reviewing the details of the transaction, I found out that the return request was just recently filed.

 Looking on the return, your buyer opened a request with a reason that requires you as seller to pay for the return postage. The best thing that I can suggest to you right now, is to ask buyer how much the return cost would be and ask for their PayPal email as well.

 That way, you can send them funds for the return. On the other hand, if buyer will not respond to your inquiry about their PayPla email or how much the return cost would be, then we will ask them to send the item back at their own expense."

In other words they don't care if the buyer began demanding their money back before opening the case, or the other threatening messages send from this buyer. They only care that this case was just opened, therefore are taking the buyers word that the item is faulty. In this case I have to pay for return postage. 

So I am stuck having to give a refund regardless of the situation as the buyer can claim that postage costs can be anything ($100-$150-$200+??) and I will be stuck having to honour that even if the item is not faulty anyway. This buyer is obviously playing the loop holes in the system, and therefore to me is a scammer and knows how to play the game gets an item, then also gets their money back by opening a dispute, of which ebay are choosing to be blind to the situation. 

I am totally p***d off with this situation but obviously there is nothing I can do appart from block this buyer from ever dealing with me again. I am wondering though what poor seller will be caught up dealing with this d**k in future. I assume I am not allowed to mention thier id here, other wise I would, just to warn others, but I guess I can't even do that!!

Heads up folks, there is a loophole and buyers are playing it!

[kopenhagen5]

How much was the original order ?

[shipdirect2you]

$70 so not worth paying return postage from USA as the buyer can say anything if I am advised to let them choose an amount. So I have filed a refund. But what jacks me if the buyer has got what they wanted and can now move onto the next seller and do the same thing.
Whatever happened to ‘proof of fault/defect of the product’ such as photo id etc? Ebay have not required this they just advised I pay for return postage by asking the buyer how much postage costs and put it into their PayPal account. Seriously! If the person is lying about product condition then don’t you think this would be an ideal opportunity to get more $$$ out of a seller by lying about shipping. Yet what say will I have here also? Absolutely zip-none.so I have no choice but issue a refund and closed the case.
Not only are ebay supporting scammers they are feeding them with more opportunities to abuse the system.
Something had to be done here because I am considering canceling my overseas shipping option and just sell within Aust

[countessalmirena]

@shipdirect2you,

Did you contact eBay US by phone? Had you not given this buyer a refund, I would have suggested that you wait until US business hours, and then see if you can have eBay call you using the Have us call you option (bottom of the page, https://www.ebay.com/help/home).

You could have explained by phone that the buyer is making a fraudulent claim under the MBG, since the messages indicate that the reason for requesting a refund was not because the item was not as described, but because the buyer changed his/her mind.

You could also have pointed out that as it was a change of mind return, the buyer would be responsible for return shipping cost under eBay's own policy.

You could further have pointed out that you don't accept change of mind returns. I checked your listings, and it appears that you've set this up correctly. Under eBay's own policy, you are not obliged to accept change of mind returns.

❝You changed your mind about an item

Here's how the seller may respond:

[...]

Decline your return request – Sellers can only decline your return request if you changed your mind about an item and they stated in the listing that they don't accept returns, or if you missed the seller's deadline to start a return.❞

Were I an eBay seller, I'd be agreeable to helping buyers who need help, or who have genuine reasons for cancelling... but I'd not allow a buyer misusing the return/refund system to gouge me. I think you may have acted too quickly, and have refunded the buyer without necessarily being obliged to do so.

You're right; the buyer can move on to the next seller and do the same thing.

[yeoldecoinco]

Before paying a refund, I wiould have sent eBay a copy of the email from the buyer wanting to make a return before the item had even arrived.

That might have been enough proof to show it is a change of mind return, in which case you may not have been liable to pay return postage, however, eBay usually does what buyers want and make sellers pay for it.

Countesssal covered it better than me in a post made just before mine which I did not see until after posting my reply to your thread.

From my experience of selling on eBay I have found that buyers overseas are MUCH more likely to scam you than people in the same country.

Overseas buyers know you are not going to turn up on their doorstep, Australian buyers can never be absolutely sure that is not going to happen.

I stopped selling outside Australia a couple of years back because o/s postage was causing too many headaches and scams.

Just not worth the blood pressure, however, some other sellers have not had many problems with o/s post.

I had a lot of problems with o/s post, it was 3% of my sales and about 99% of my problems, so stopped doing it and could not be happier.

[kopenhagen5]

Yes, unfortunately that is a pitfall of doing business online.

It pertains to anything online not just eBay as it's easy to set up an account without accountability online, then disappear.

[jellybirddesigns]

One option is tell your buyer since it is in the middle of shipment that once he receives it at his home or the PO, just to either refuse the package or not collect it at all.

That way it should come back to you as unopened returned mail, and nobody has to worry about paying for return postage.

[purplemon18]

Even if you have already closed the case, I would still contact ebay US during their busienss hours and try to get it reversed as Countess suggested. Note that she gave you a link to ebay.com not ebay.com.au

I would also report the buyer here:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/report-issue-buyer?id=4084&st=12&pos=3&quer...

Once again there is no .au, but with an Australian buyer I would use .au

[brerrabbit585]

Should have also advised the buyer to sign up for paypal's free postage return.