I am a bit lost as to what to do in this situation. A buyer with relatively low feedback from France ordered a booster box from me so I declared the full value of the box to protect myself and I made it clear I would not be paying anyones VAT or under-declaring this item due to its value and the risk that would impose on me.
So what happened was basically:
The buyer never got the item. He sent me threatening messages on eBay saying things like “I have paid enough. If they ask me for any tax I will open a case with Paypal and get the item sent back to you.” He also sent another, this time in French, that said “They are asking for additional money. This is absurd. I need you to send me an adjusted invoice for $100.”
THEN the buyer opened a case against me on eBay stating that the tracking number was wrong- after all of this customs hullabaloo! He stated that I gave him a false tracking number and that the post office could not find it.
eBay closed the case in my favor and said I do not owe the buyer a refund because he did not fulfill his duty of picking up the package.
The box is now on its way back to me after customs was unable to clear it.
This buyer has another feedback left on his profile saying that he attempted to open a case to get a refund on another item (and I know from that seller’s page that they were selling booster boxes as well…)
So my question is- what do I do now? The buyer hasn’t reached back out… and yeah. I’m a bit annoyed at this whole situation. Thanks in advance for anyone with any experience in a similar situation.
I’m scared because it is a high value item. I would be a lot less concerned if the item were say, $50, but this is thousands of dollars out of the buyer’s pocket so I’m wondering if I need to be concerned. Like could he initiate a chargeback through Paypal or something? Again no experience with something of this magnitude. I do not feel right taking money like this, but I also do not appreciate being threatened at the cost of my seller protection haha.
Sorry just to be clear… I still have the buyer’s money. I was not required to issue a refund because the buyer has no buyer protection when they refused delivery and especially not when threatening the seller. That is why I am concerned.
I do agree that I should refund him the purchase price, but I also am wary because I’m not sure if he can still open a Paypal claim against me for item not received even IF I send some of the money back. I do not want any freezes or anything of the like (an automatic hold for the purchase price was of course enacted when he opened an eBay case) so I don’t want to end up double refunding or something if he pulls a fast one on me.
Just sit and wait, I wouldn’t go manually refunding him as that could lead to a double refund if he somehow successfully appeals the verdict, I know I wouldn’t feel right pocketing his money either, but you need to protect yourself
I remember I manually refunded someone who said they didn’t receive an item. I thought I was being proactive to avoid negative feedback. However the situation felt suspicious, so I monitored their listings.
Sure enough, they later listed the exact card with the same serial number. I called eBay/Paypal, and their response was, “because you manually did the refund, we can’t reverse it”.
You should definitely wait until you are completely out of the potential window.
I don’t know the exact wording of the policy, but if a buyer internationally or domestic refuses the delivery of a package or does not pick it up it is not your fault and ebay will side with you.
I Would wait and see what happens and see if you get the box back before you do anything.
Wait until you have the box returned to you and in hand.
Refund and block the buyer.
Optional.
A. Add GSP to your items to prevent this nonsense.
If the item does not return to you then do not refund them. I have no idea how a case would play out in this situation if they opened an item not received. I mean yeah it wasn’t received because it was refused… I’m also not sure how insurance would play out on this but I imagine you could recover insurance value from the shipper if it never makes it back to you and is just lost forever.
I’m pretty sure that eBay would side with the seller as it is viewed that the seller completed their end of the agreement. I’ve had a few cases opened against me when an item was not received due to the buyer not providing the correct shipping address. Each time eBay sided with me. Would not worry about eBay siding with the buyer as they can clearly see that the buyer refused and can all correspondence between buyer/seller. Always wait until the item has returned to you before taking any further action. If negative feedback is left by the buyer, eBay will most likely have it removed if you ask them given the circumstances of the situation.
I will take everyone’s advice and wait until I am in a clear window before initiating any refunds. The buyer messaged me to say he has waited too long and he will talk to Paypal, so if he actually does that and they give me trouble or if an INR case is opened… I’ll explain the situation.
Yup, I’m having quite the ride in my Pokémon journey. @smpratte was right, I can’t catch a break haha!
edit: Also sorry- I meant to answer. The buyer purchased a green wing Base Set box from me.
Buyer opened a case on eBay for “wrong tracking information” or something like that. It was in French so I might be wrong. He lost the case, and the French representative who called me noted and saw all of the messages from the buyer asking for an adjusted invoice and all of that fun stuff. Cool.
However- he opened a case on Paypal for INR. Paypal closed the case in his favor and refunded him, making my balance a negative one to the tune of… the box’s price, which is not cheap.
Here’s the stupid part- the box hasn’t come back to me (and who knows what the heck this tracking is even doing).
I was on the phone with Paypal earlier and all they said was “it is on its way back to you and it was not delivered to the buyer, so it is in the hands of the shipping company now.” Was never able to reach a supervisor after being on hold for 1.5 hours. I have to go to work now haha. But… yeah. What the actual…
