Here is a new scam I have not seen before.

[dkeagostdavid]

Buyer purchases item. We require tracked postage.

Then buyer contacts Australia Post and has it redirected to a Post office for collection.

Reports that they have not received the item, and so want a refund. Claim they did not redirect it.

As it has not arrived at their designated address eBay gives a refund.

Buyer then collects item from the Post Office.

How did we know the buyer redirected it?  Easy. They must be doing this so many times that they lost track. They contacted us to ask if they could exchange the item as it was the wrong size. YES, SERIOUSLY!! 

They did it through eBay messages! There is an evidence trail. But, still no recourse once the refund has been made.

Another example of eBay enabling scammers, even stupid ones.

[jellybirddesigns]

I thought that only sellers could redirect packages, but could be wrong.

However, now that they have opened and won a case for non-delivery, they cannot open another one, so you can just ignore that request.

Actually I'm not sure why Ebay would just refund because the tracking would show it as sitting at the PO. I often send parcels where the postie doesn't leave it at the address on the parcel but delivers it instead to the nearest post office. The tracking will then say something like "item awaiting collection at xxx post office". That's still part of the delivery service and is not a refundable situation.

You could also contact CS on chat to and get them to look at the case and the messages from the buyer.

Also, you are covered by the Seller Guarantee which stares that as long as you sent the item tracked and within your handling time to the address on record, you will not be out of pocket.

[digital*ghost]

I would have accepted the exchange, told them to post it back to me, then just waited for my item back, lol.

Unfortunately, this is exactly why I will not put email addresses or phone  numbers on postage labels for orders made through eBay, as they have no policies that deal with packages that are redirected or if signature on delivery is overridden by the buyer and safedrop requested (the latter would be of most significance on orders of $750 or more, where eBay will actually require a copy of the signature obtained for seller protection). It's having this info on the label that allows buyers to redirect etc through a My Post account - if they're not on the label, they can't do it that way. 

Australia Post do now show that a redirection was requested in the tracking history (this is relatively new), but they don't show who requested it - it'd be nice if they just added the words "recipient requested" somewhere in there. Even nicer if eBay included something about this in their policies, the closest is the one about buyers not being eligible for the MBG if it gets on-sent to a new address, which is not quite the same as redirected during transit. 

Still, it's an odd situation, if the package was shown as awaiting collection near the buyer (near enough for them to be able to collect it with ease, I'm assuming) eBay should have either not refunded, or - if proof of postage to the correct address was available - only refunded out of their own pocket, as per the current seller protection policies.

[eol-products]

I have read about this before happening in the US where a parcel it redirected to a different address. 

[cezm]

If you have a MyPost account perhaps you can track it there and then present that to ebay CS.

If the parcel is redirected, it's very clear in the tracking

Spoiler

[cezm]

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@jellybirddesigns wrote:

I thought that only sellers could redirect packages, but could be wrong.

I am one of the culprits. I work away from home so I have a PO Box to avoid things sitting in the mailbox/on the front porch for days (or not  ☹️ )

If I buy something from a site that will only send to a street address and then find they have used AP/Startrack, I will always redirect through MyPost to my PO Box

[dkeagostdavid]

Hi cezm

The tracking is very clear, including collection after the refund date. Ebay asked me to prove it was the buyer who redirected it. The only ones with the tracking number were myself, the buyer and eBay. It was obvious to anyone (except Ebay) what was happening.

It is frustrating ... and you have to balance the value of your time in chasing these things agains the loss. I am sometimes inclined to think that eBay policy is partly reliant on ppl "giving up" for this very reason.

[imastawka]

I'm with Digi.

Agree to the exchange and keep the darn thing.

They can't open a case.

[dkeagostdavid]

For those asking why I do not report this?. Very simple, I reported it once before the refund was made.

Any subsequent attempt receives the below reply.

You already reported this. You can't report another issue for the same reason.

Wonderful.

[digital*ghost]

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@dkeagostdavid wrote:

Hi cezm

The tracking is very clear, including collection after the refund date. Ebay asked me to prove it was the buyer who redirected it.

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I'd ask Australia Post if they can provide written confirmation of who redirected it, it might be too late (with eBay) now, but the more Aus Post become aware of what their senders need the better - they're not fantastic at listening to their customers sometimes, but they are a lot better than ebay, especially if they get the same feedback from a good number of their customers (I basically complained to them ages ago that certain events like redirection weren't reflected in tracking history, and that these options compromise my seller protection and that's why I wouldn't include buyer's contact details on labels, which some staff members actually hassled me a little about leaving off - they said they'd pass my feedback on, and i was happily surprised when they (eventually) started showing the redirection in tracking, so I'm assuming a lot of other people had the same feedback for them).