Ebay ruled a case in my favor (I am the seller) but refunded the buyer anyway after 5 days

[audiojunksales]

I sold a 9950x3D CPU, the buyer claimed it was defective (he said his PC wouldn't boot, although that could be due to many other reasons), his return case only showed a picture of his PC start up screen, no error screen, and no pictures of the CPU.

I asked him I'd be happy to accept the return if there are no damage to the CPU, at least outwardly, and no visible defects. He said, "nah looks perfect", and took a photo of the CPU himself, showing the CPU in basically new condition, no outer damage or defect

So I accepted the return, he returned it, but then I opened the box and found the CPU was smeared all over with thermal paste, so much thermal paste it was leaking to all 4 sides of the CPU and even squeezed under the lid. It was crazy, the guy clearly put too much thermal paste on the thing, he could've fried his PC doing it. The crazy thing is it was completely different to the picture he took during the return where he claimed "nah, looks perfect". He just dumped me a slob CPU after ruining it through user error and expected ebay to just give him back his money because they don't care.

If he did that at Scorptec or something, he wouldn't even get a refund, he voided the warranty of the CPU already

I called ebay, who backed me, told me to sign two declarations, including a statutory declaration with a witness, I did it with a lawyer friend. 2 days later, ebay ruled the case in my favor, said I wasn't responsible, I will have no defect recorded on me and I can expect a refund after 24-48 hours

Except the refund never came even after 5 days, I waited patiently because I thought it's just taking a while, until an automated email from ebay said they found the case in the BUYER'S favor and refunded him out of my pocket. 

I was flabbergasted, I have no idea why and how they reversed the decision, I chat to an agent and apparently a secondary supervisor overruled it because "the buyer returned the item, showed it as delivered and it was returned in the same condition as it was received", which was BS, by the buyer's own words he didn't return it in the same state.

I have appealed it and uploaded all the evidence, photos and all, but I'm really afraid ebay will stiff me out of a lot of money because they blindly back any lying buyer who misuse the return process. What should I do? Should I go to the police or get a small claims court if ebay rule against me? I still have the slob CPU with all the photo evidence.

[springyzone]

I don't know how you'll go.

I would think that with all your evidence, stat dec and also a record of ebay's previous decision, you should be in with a chance.

If ebay does reverse it, they will be up for the cost out of their own coffers though, so there will be some resistance, although other people have won in the past so don't give up yet.

From all I have read, ebay does tend to side with buyers. You mention scorptec. I am sure you are right in that if a buyer tried to return a damaged product (to scorptec or any other business) they would find the item was put under scrutiny and a refund would be rejected. I think the problem with ebay is it is just a 3rd party and doesn't get to actually see the item and doesn't know who has done the damage so tends to side with the buyer, just in case.

Please let us know how you go though. Good luck.

[gutterpunkz05]

Unfortunately you can provide all the pics you like, there is no proof that the item was returned as pictured, just as there is no proof the item was delivered to the buyer in working order.

Best of luck. ebay might give you a goodwill payment if your lucky, but the buyers refund will stand.