Buyer claims they sent a return, I've discovered some things about them

[swanbullion]

We sold an item and it was sent to a Parcel Locker in Victoria. The customer stated he believed the item was fake (it was from the Royal Australian Mint we're a dealer). So no issue as long as it's not damaged we'll accept the return. The customer issued a return on the 29th August it was "lodged" on this date.

The only scan is the lodgement, eBay let us know that the case was in our favour as it was not returned. The person then issued an appeal and won based on it being delivered (still last scanned as accepted). So I used to be involved in forensic digital investigations for another company. So I did a bit of digging and the person that operates the account works at the post office it was lodged at.

It's my belief that the person just randomly scanned a barcode and didn't actually lodge/post anything. Anyway we are out now XXX and the product. So my question is what would you do? Obviously we will get the money back but this person probably doesn't know what I know. Would you contact the LPO owner? Would you contact the police? The evidence I have documented would likely result in charges as stealing as a servant at the very least. 

[springyzone]

I'm not understanding something here.

You say you will get the money back.

I get that ebay initially decided in your favour as the item did not show as returned to you.

But after the appeal, the buyer won?

You say you are now out X number of dollars and the product but at this stage, has ebay said it will reimburse you? Or are you hoping that Australia Post insurance will cover it?

It does sound suss. In my own experience (I used to sell a long time ago), Australia Post is very reliable and if something is lodged, it might get delayed but it would eventually get through to you.

If it is an item from the mint, it is probably reasonably expensive or else a worker would not attempt such a scam in the first place.

I'd probably contact LPO owner, not in the sense of accusing but with a query about the person and barcode and could they look into it etc

If nothing else, it may put the wind up the worker to find himself being questioned and he won't be game to try it again too quickly.

[swanbullion]

Correct, the item was "lodged" at an AP outlet where the "buyer" works. We won as apart from the initial scan at the AP outlet no other scans appeared. The buyer appealed this stating that they provided tracking and "it should have been delivered by now"

We appealed because clearly nothing was sent the worker just scanned a random barcode (the benefits of working there) which was enough. Today that appeal was awarded in our favouri as we never received anything back.

The item amount was a considerable amount. To even become a distributor of The Perth Mint or the Royal Australian Mint you have to be a good standing company, criminal background checks and the like are conducted. If the person genuinely believed they received something fake (and it wasn't possible as the product was released maybe 1 week prior) I would 100% fully support them contacting Royal Australian Mint and querying it. We have our own accounts with AP (contract 10+ years as we send a lot through our own website eBay is less than 1% of our business).

The person has been selling large amount of items only available from AP directly and NOT distributed to end customers. It was actually the persons sale history which lead me onto the initial path, then the persons linked in where they described themselves in logistics working for XYZ which is a holding company (this person is employed by this holding company), that holding company was owned by a trust fund that owns and operates the LPO that the item was "lodged" at.

Thanks for your response, I guess I'll make some phonecalls tomorrow. 🙂

[springyzone]

I am glad you won your claim.

It is all very well for a person to lodge something but if tracking shows it has not been delivered, which it obviously wasn't in your case, then I don't see how a person could win.

It intrigues me that the person claimed fake too. I could be wrong, but I'd say the average person would not have a clue if a coin or coin pack is fake or not. And if they were an expert, they would look into who they were buying from.

I've bought a few coin packs on ebay in the past and I have just assumed they were genuine. Your information about distributorship was interesting.

[designers*n*more]

If you report it to the local PO for investigation, most POs these days have security cameras. Whilst they can’t show you videos, the PO could view footage by searching date and time of the “parcel” was supposedly scanned.

Rather than go through the LPO I would be inclined to lodge a complaint with AP and let them investigate. Definite smell a rat!