I think I am being scammed, please help.

[ibeyondwu]

I listed a watch on eBay for $1500, a buyer with 0 feedback tried to approach me for the purchase, after talking to him, I feel the buyer is reasonable and sold my watch to him. But I am quite careful when doing business with people with 0 feedback. The buyer is from the US, before the item arrived, I sent him a message asking him to check the delivery while the postman is there, if there is any issue get back to me straight away. Turns out he was not home while the postman was delivering the item, and he asked the postman to left the watch at reception.

I have just been contacted by the buyer told me the watch has issues that not been described in my advertisement, and the watch is not functioning. I have checked the watch before I post it out, I know and love watches if I am not in financial difficulty, I would not put it on sale. I am confident the watch is in great condition, without any issues.

So I feel like what I have been worried has come true, this buyer is trying to scam me. I never have this kind experience, but heard eBay always on the buyer side, some buyer even sent back empty box, papers for the refund, return with a different watch, or take the movement out of the watch, and return the case back. 

Please tell me what should I do, how should I handle this, I did purchase the insurance for the shipping if the buyer can prove the watch is damaged on arrival, can I claim the insurance?

Should I accept the return? If I do I will lose 200 for the postage, and I don't know what I will receive.

I can relay on eBay against this kind of scam from 0 feedback buyer?

[jellybirddesigns]

That's great news ibeyondwu.

Amazing how some buyers back down once confronted by the authorities with an official request for proof of their claim.

I can't say whether you should cancel the claim with AP, others will advise.

[brerrabbit585]

AP probably won't do anything more until they hear from the buyer so I'd leave it open for now. If the buyer knew you'd closed it they might just decide something else wasn't working properly.

[ibeyondwu]

That is what I am concerning, the buyer is contacting me outside of the eBay message system.

[xx3d_tvxx]

Just wanted to mention that in my case (sold brand new and sealed item but scammer returned a different broken item) eBay initially gave buyer a refund (stating return tracking number shows as delivered) but eBay re-opened the case after I rang them up earlier in the week and they sent me an email asking for a statutory declaration. I did that today as well as providing additional info, pics and original purchase receipt and within minutes they put the money back into my PayPal account. So I think if things do go wrong (hope it doesn't) you are probably better off getting all the evidence together and ringing them up. Online chat and emails got me no where except wasting time. Hopefully your buyer is not a scammer and every thing works out fine. All the best.