To make a LONG story short, I sold an Iphone 4s on eBay on August 12th, 2012. I did not list an international shipping option (which I thought would keep international bids at bay, yeah I was stupid) anyway, a guy from the Ukraine bought the phone and messaged me wanting me to invoice him with the total using USPS Flat Rate or First Class International shipping. I checked the guys profile and had positive feedback, although most was in a different language so I thought I was safe. Which is where this story goes down hill, I went the next day to ship it out (I have never shipped anything international and was relying on the post office guy to assist me) and the Iphone would not fit in the flat rate box so he suggested using a padded envelope, he sent it out First Class International and pretty much said to track the package using the customs number and all would be fine (I also thought I was charged insurance which I wasn't bc apparently insurance does no good for First Class - it would have been fantastic if they would have mentioned this when I was shipping) I soon found out that tracking your package using your customs number will not work, and the guy who bought my phone messaged me Monday stating that he never received it and would like a refund. After contacting everyone from the post office to emailing a contact I found in regards to Ukrainian Customs (which emailed me back in their language and after using Google translate to read it, it said to call some number to speak to someone) I finally gave up and messaged the guy and said I would refund him ... At which last night I tried to do ... I had already transferred the funds to my bank account and was told I had to verify my bank account to have funds transferred to my PayPal. I then decided I would just send him the money via his email address on PayPal, and received a message stating that the Ukrainian account does not accept money transfers. I messaged the man and told him the issue I was having but that as soon as PayPal does what it has to do to verify my bank account I would refund his money. He then messages me and stated that he has had this issue before and that I need to send him the funds via WESTERN UNION and gave me all the info to do so. Alright so at first I was suspicious that I was getting scammed and the chances that the guy was probably sending me these messages on his new Iphone were high but what could I do other than count my losses, refund and never ship internationally again. But now I'm sure I was scammed and I'm trying to figure out what the best action to take is. I know PayPal and eBay will make me refund him via PayPal if a dispute is filed but is there anything I can do to show them that he is most likely a scammer and received my phone and is now wanting his money back via Western Union!?
