So, here's the story:
I sold a mobile phone on eBay in January (over a month ago) to a buyer in Azerbaijan. My listing said "UK only" but somehow eBay doesn't prevent international sales even if you state that you wouldn't sell abroad.
I contacted the buyer to thank him for the purchase and say that I wasn't expecting international buyers due to my lack of experience with them hence can't take responsibility in case his item gets lost or damaged outside the UK - since I can only track it within the country, although will obviously do my best to ensure it all goes smoothly. He assured me that it's fine and he's used to buying things from the UK. I checked his feedback - the score was very low (about 23) but seemed OK. Then checked the postage options on the Royal Mail web site and emailed the prices to the buyer.
He then asked me to wait a couple of days since it was a weekend and he couldn't transfer funds onto his credit card. I agreed to wait as I couldn't post the item over the weekend anyway.
He paid on Monday evening and I posted the item on Tuesday morning - as soon as I possibly could. I sent him the tracking number straight away. A few days later I checked the progress on the Royal Mail web site and found out that the parcel reached Azerbaijan after 7 days.
Exactly one months after posting the item I received an email from PayPal saying that the buyer opened a dispute claiming that he never received the item. Only then I received a message from him saying the same thing. Straight after that he escalated the dispute to claim. PayPal asked me to provide the tracking number which I did straight away, together with the screen shot from the Royal Mail web site showing that the item arrived in Azerbaijan over 3 weeks ago. I also replied to the buyer's message with the same information.
A couple of days later I received another email from PayPal saying that they decided in favour of the buyer and issued a refund from my PayPal account. The message said: "Unfortunately, the information you supplied is insufficient. To be eligible for PayPal Seller Protection, you must obtain signature confirmation that is viewable online for transactions that total $250 or more" - I guess what they meant is that the buyer was supposed to sign for the item but as far as I remember I didn't have a "signed for" option when posting it - I think it wasn't available for Azerbaijan. And I'm not even claiming that he received it and not accusing him in lying, all I'm trying to say is that I don't understand how I can be responsible for what happened or didn't happen in Azerbaijan!
I appealed that decision referring to PayPal's User Agreement which I read very carefully several times to only find out that I didn't do anything wrong and had already provided all the information they asked me to provide. The case was re-opened and PayPal asked me to upload the scans of the Post Office receipt, which I did. The receipt contained some additional information such as the buyers address & date and time of postage etc. And the same tracking number of course.
A few hours later I received another email from PayPal saying that they cannot grant my appeal because "the tracking number doesn't’t show delivery to the postal address in the transaction details" - but isn't it only supposed to track the parcel inside the UK?! So, as soon as the item arrived in Azerbaijan (and the tracking number clearly states that it did after 7 days) the Royal Mail can't track it anymore and can't be responsible for any losses or damage outside the UK? That's what they told me at the post office and that's what I warned the buyer about as soon as he bought the item.
There can only be 2 case scenarios here:
1. The item got lost after arriving in Azerbaijan (since it definitely did arrive there) and the buyer never received it
2. The buyer received the item but claimed he didn't - by this very simple procedure he keeps the item and gets his money back, since he is not even required to prove anything
In both cases I can't be responsible for the outcome since there's no way I could control the situation from the UK.
So, the question is - if the whole thing is my fault what could I do to prevent this situation? And if I made a mistake - what did I do wrong? So far it seems like anyone from another country can buy something in the UK, claim they didn't receive it and get the money back. That's how the "seller protection" scheme works. And, buy the way, after all that eBay keeps the crazy seller's fee they charge you after you sell something. So by doing absolutely nothing wrong you lose you item plus the postage fee plus eBay fee. I feel completely robbed by eBay, PayPal and the guy in Azerbaijan...
