Buyer who lies

[digupatin]

What can be done with a buyer who asks multiple questions about an item after he's won it, (which I replied to), and within a couple of days of winning the item opens a case withPaypal saying I didn't reply to his emails and he hasn't received the item he won?

I'm in Victoria and he's in WA. He won the auction Friday, I posted the item Tuesday morning, and he opened the case sometime on Tuesday.

Buyer stated he opened case to make sure he isn't scammed and will keep it open until he receives item and is happy with its condition.

Paypal has frozen his payment, I've phoned them twice and they are taking his side and tell me that until the item is delivered they'll hold it.

I do have tracking but I have a horrible feeling he'll next open an INAD case with ebay.

I've blocked buyer just in case but as I'm only a casual seller it won't affect him.

I won't be leaving him any feedback but that won't stop him leaving me whatever he likes.

[*tippy*toes*]

By the looks of this buyers bid history, he knows exactly what he's doing. Open a dispute, leave the item at the PO until the dispute is closed in his favour, then goes and picks it up. 99 bids on 38 items, most of them phones. How many mobile phones does one person need? Me personally, I wouldn't be waiting the 10 days, I'd be getting the parcel turned around now. It will save so much drama if he is scamming you.

[tazzieterror]

I sympathize with your situation - I recently had a similar scenario, where a buyer requested to cancel an order a couple of days after I'd posted it.

In my case they were at least honest, and after a lot of back and forth messaging I managed to negotiate a solution that didn't leave me out of pocket, and even got me a positive feedback from the buyer at the end.  But I know how it feels to have an order in limbo like this, not knowing whether a buyer is trying to pull a swift one or is just an idiot.

Apart from reporting the situaiton to ACORN and FOS as others have suggested, I wonder if it's also worth getting in touch with 'A Current Affair' and 'Today Tonight', and asking them if they're interested in a story about how PayPal is facilitating online fraud through eBay by disregarding their own T&Cs.  Might pressure PayPal to take a fairer look at the situation if they think ACA or TT are willing to make a story out of the situation.  No company wants bad publicity, so make a bit of noise and let PayPal know you're not going to shrink away from the situation.

Out of curiosity, what's the buyer's feedback score, and how long have they had their account open?

Can you PM me their usrname so I can add them to my block list, please! 😄

[kopenhagen5]

OP can add the buyer to their list of following, then everyone can invite him to the party.

[tazzieterror]

Oh yes...that's a good way of doing it....digupatin could you do this when you get a moment?

[digupatin]

I'm now following this buyer.

He's already on my block list though I doubt he'll try to scam me again.

Feel free to add him to yours.

[kopenhagen5]

Nothing in feedback to suggest they had done this before.

If so you would think some of the sellers had left false positives or something a little off.

[tazzieterror]

Yes I had a look earlier and thought the same thing. And being in WA, buyer could petentially be a FIFO worker which could explain the delay in collecting from the PO.

[bakeandfry]

I had a quick thought about your comment about paypal wanting a shiping label.
I could be wrong and dont really have the time to research it today, but i think the paypal rrp you spoke to is refering to usa paypal t&c's of proof of postage....

[digupatin]

I'll see what happens when PayPal find in favour of the buyer and closes the case.

If they run to the PO and collect the package it proves it's a scam and I'll start action. If the package is returned it proves he's a time waster.

[digupatin]

Just an update.

In spite of two more calls to Paypal, including 1 to a Manager, they still insist that the buyer will get his money refunded because he hasn't picked up the item from his LPO. Unbelievable.

I've contacted AP and as it's now 10 business days and the item hasn't been collected from the buyer's PO they will be returning it to me free of charge. It should arrive in a few days.

I've phoned eBay and the agent checked and advised me that I've done everything right and he couldn't understand why Paypal said otherwise.

The agent told me to contact eBay when the item is received by me and he believes that Billing will refund me all fees for the 'sale'. The agent also said that if the buyer leaves bad or negative feedback eBay will look into removing it.

I will then contact Paypal again and tell them they can refund the buyer 100%, if they haven't already done so by then.

It's taken a while but fingers crossed it should be resolved in a few more days. Thanks for suggestions everyone.