I purchased a luxury watch a few months ago on eBay that I quickly found out to be a counterfeit. Rather than to send the watch to a third party for disposal, I was instructed by eBay to return the watch to the seller. The seller reluctantly agreed to a return so I sent the watch back abroad where the item has been held in customs for over two months. At first, I assumed that it was just an issue of slow customs processing, but after launching two separate investigations with two different postal agencies, it appears that the seller was contacted by customs quite a while ago and I have the documents to prove it. Yet, the seller keeps giving me conflicting stories (lies) about being contacted and needing to pay customs fees, and he is instead blaming myself and the customs office for the delay, despite evidence showing otherwise. In my mind, and as the documents show, the seller is refusing to pay for customs and is unwilling to provide a refund.
The timeframe for an eBay dispute has expired, so I am wondering how to best approach this through PayPal. I have the tracking number, documents proving that the local post office notified the seller twice, and a certificate of non-authenticity for the watch I purchased. Should I file a counterfeit claim the while watch is still in customs or should I order the watch back home so that it can be disposed when I file my claim? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
