Buyer claimed item not as described & ret'd different items. I sent gold, he returned FOOLS GOLD

[ed612beck]

I sold over 27 grams of scrap gold to auroinc.  He paid nearly $800 for it.  A week after he received it, he emailed me and said it was not real gold and that he would "gladly return it as soon as the refund posted".  I told him I wasn't a fool and that he had to return the items first.  He filed a claim and the $$$ is on hold until the item was returned and I signed for it.  The package arrived today, I signed for it and when I opened it I found that he had sent me FAKE gold very similar to the items I sent to him.  I know that he swapped them out because there were two markings on my items that are not on the items he returned.  It appears that all he buys is gold and I noticed that just yesterday he posted feedback saying that he had received refunds.  So I called PayPal to see what protection I have since I am out almost $800 and this guy gets a huge refund AND has my real gold.  Anyone else have something like this happen?  What did PayPal do to help you as a seller?  Just wondering because this has never happened to me. 

[pegdal]

I sold to this guy auroinc also. I had the jeweler check all the items before I listed them on ebay. He claimed 450.00 out of 600.00 were not gold and demanded the partial refund or he would return the 14k gold lot he purchased as well. I asked he return both lots for a full refund and then he said he would only return after I refunded him...yea right. I called customer support ebay and they said there was a "possibility" I would not recv back what I originally sold him and that in the end if that is what happened I would have to file a police report. If that had happened I would have gone to the police, no problem. Luckily for me all the items were really odd ball, different stuff, not easily duplicated or swapped. Everything I sold him were properly marked and verified and the gram weight was correct. He kept the 14k gold lot (even though he said he was returning it) and then left me neutral after full refund.

I filed claims with ebay so that what he is doing, is at least on record. I had a feeling he has been doing this to other sellers, claiming items were not gold, asking for a huge partial refund without returning anything. My only recourse was to block him. Paypal does not get involved with creeps like this. Since he buys so much gold.... but I would love to know how many times he gets a partial refund by claiming the gold is not real but funny thing ....he'll keep it with the refund.I had never had this happen to me before and I have been on ebay over 10 years.

[pegdal]

one more thing.....he also said he would be happy to return the non gold items to me after partial refund so he must have had a few things that he "could" have swapped out. I ran out of room to say I am so sorry you had the same problem with this guy. If I were you I would at least file a police report for the fake items he sent back. I would also call ebay customer support so they will have the fraud on record. I'm not sure if paypal will help you much.

[ed612beck]

I knew this guy was a con man.  I spent countless hours on the phone with paypal "customer support", what a joke that was.  They would do nothing to help me in this situation even after I pointed out to them how many times this guy had left feedback specifically saying he had gotten a partial refund.  I blocked him from my bidders/buyers list but our local law enforcement said they would not get invovled because they didn't know enough about paypal and ebay to know where to start.  Gotta love smalltown USA.  Anyway, I was out the nearly $800 plus the real gold.  I found out something interesting too while trying to get some help from paypal.  They say they have corporate offices in San Jose, California but every phone listing leads back to the same old 888 customer service number.  I talked to something like 20 different service agents and supervisors and talked until my cordless phone batteries died.  I tried to be calm, I tried sreaming and yelling and I told them if I heard one of them say "I understand your frustration" one more time blood would shoot out of my eyes.  Needless to say, nothing was done for me and this lying, cheating and coniving auroinc is probably still out there doing the same thing to other unsuspecting sellers.  Thanks for sharing your story with us.  I'm still **bleep** but have had to realize that I have to cut my losses and move on.  Best wishes to you and hope you have enough success on eBay to overcome the loss this loser caused you.

[pegdal]

yes, a con man. It just irks me that he allowed to do this to sellers just often enough for them to let it slide. I spent alot of hours on the phone also but mine was with ebay support not paypal.

I got the "I understand your frustration" too but they did say they were going to turn the report over to thier fraud dept (but that could be a way to try to calm you down....... who knows?, you cannot find out)

I know, my family keeps saying, just forget it and move on but it is sooooo frustrating that he can do that to people.

Thank you for sharing also. I have friends that also sell on ebay and believe me----ALL have heard about this.

I hope things go better for you too.

99 percent of the people I sell to are great to deal with, purchase from me again and love what they purchase.

all the best.