Buyer Abuse / Buyer Scam from Russia

[lsc1208]

In February, I sold an unopened item I bought for $1000 at around $500 on eBay. I do not use eBay for profit, only to get extra cash to pay for my child's medical expenses. The item sold through the eBay Global Shipping Program, which means I send it to a US address from a US address and they send it overseas. I do not know the buyer's address. I have not had any problems with this before in 16+ years of eBay.

Turned out the buyer received the item in Russia and claimed that the item was opened though it was unopened when I shipped it. How it got to be "opened" I don't know but when it leaves me I can't control customs or whatever from opening it on their side. They buyer did not claim it was damaged, just opened. I escalated the claim to PayPal and they told the buyer in Russia to return it to me in the USA.

They buyer did not provide a tracking number to me, but apparently did to PayPal who then gave it to me. On 3/09 it was said to be shipped but then it shows as "delivered" to the same Russian zip code it was shipped from. The buyer appears to have sent it to himself. So PayPal only sees "delivered" and refunded the buyer the full amount even though I have clearly not received the item returned to me, it hasn't even left Russia!!! I started an appeal with a supervisor but what else can I do? It's like PayPal is aiding this buyer in defrauding me because they won't even bother to look at the facts of the case.

[William9]

The first round is handled by robot which makes mistakes, but since you have appealed human employee should now take a look at it and make the right decision. I once ordered stuff via DHGate (chinese site) and similar thing happened, sellee shipped the item to himself and the system initially saw it as delivered, however, DHGate does not immediately give money away but instead asks me to confirm that all is OK, well it wasn't and after human employee looked it I got all my money back. If I recall correctly my order was valued severam hundred dollars so like you I was furious at first.

[Whac-A-Mole]

PAYPAL robot is programmed to look for delivery information,if it is a return from Russia to USA,then a delivery tracking to Russia is  not  acceptable  .

if he opens a case on PAypal AS ITEM NOT AS described,and Paypal asked him to return the item,and you used Ebay GSP,then it would be returned to Erlanger,Kentucky,USA.

It would help if you can find out what return address did Paypal give to your Russian buyer,is it ERLANGER,KENTUCky or your address?

Did he really return the item,what does his tracking say,in details?

GSP has customer service,they claim they are doing a better job with customer service,I Do not use GSP,but you may need to call Ebay and find out how to contact GSP?

Robot should not make this kind of mistake,it is programmed to take his tracking number and look it up on US carrier website.

what carrier did he use?, 

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GSP complicates return,they do repack the item so it could be open by them or Russian customs or Russian post office or the buyer yourself.

Theft is common as well.

but a return tracking should show either your or GSP address,not his address in Russia,something is wrong with Paypal robot!

[lsc1208]

He used some Russian carrier. The tracking info I will post here this is what PayPal gave me over the phone. Paypal was told to tell him to send to my own address, and told me he gave them a copy of a "receipt" that shows he used the correct address to send it to but it never left Russia. 

This is the tracking info PayPal gave me ove the phone:

http://www.17track.net/en/track?nums=EA447478488RU&fc=0

It was "delivered" to the same location it started from which is in Russia. They refunded this guy my money, so PayPal aided and abetted a theft. It never even left Russia. he sent it to himself defrauding me and PayPal and they are too incompetent to even see it.

[Whac-A-Mole]

You need to appeal and have a human being looked into it,RUSSIAN buyer returning the item to RUSSIA does not make sense.

what address did Paypal give him for returning the item?

It should be either GSP,Erlinger,Kentucky or your address.

[Whac-A-Mole]

Russia is troublesome,dont sell anything you cant afford to lose. 

[sharpiemarker]

http://scampal.weebly.com/submit-a-complaint.html

[lsc1208]

This is the response I got from PP:

"The seller has provided valid tracking information on the above case. As a result, your appeal can not be granted at this time. We encourage you to contact your seller for a resolution."

But I'M the seller!!! They aren't even bothering to listen to me!!!

[William9]

Sounds bad... while chinese sellers, companies etc. are often said to be unreliable on this kind of forums, atleast DHGate refunded everything in my case after they looked into it but American PayPal is very confused with similar case...

Maybe you will need to call PayPal and try to make them understand what has happened. Try to contact them on social media, take screenshot of these tracking history and edit the image pointing out the problem using big font size. I don't know if you can sue Paypal, suing the Russian is probably impossible but Paypal is the one who gave your money away.

[sharpiemarker]

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@lsc1208 wrote:

This is the response I got from PP:

"The seller has provided valid tracking information on the above case. As a result, your appeal can not be granted at this time. We encourage you to contact your seller for a resolution."

But I'M the seller!!! They aren't even bothering to listen to me!!!

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Was that a phone response or email?