Buyer is refusing to help sort shipping issue (Potential Scam?)

[henac]

I have sold a heavy pair of designer trainers for £400 using Paypal and the money is now on hold until the buyer receives the trainers. Im from the UK and the buyer is based in Poland. The address he asked me to ship to just very slightly differs from what's displayed on his Paypal profile. I heard of a scam that works through people asking for their items to be shipped to a different address so i insisted to ship to the address displayed on his account. Cost of shipping was £40 through DPD. The courier has contacted me saying there was an issue with the buyers address and that they would need the buyers contact details by 25th of july in order to solve this issue. The buyer is now refusing to reply to me, ignoring all my messages and i'm worried my item will either get stuck in Poland (and ill lose the value of the trainers) or will get shipped back to me (and i will lost the money i've spent shipping the item) and i also have no access to the funds as its currently on hold. Im also unable to open a dispute as ''I have to resolve my issue with the buyer'' who is not replying to me. What can i do in this situation as the buyer is refusing help resolve the issue and i don't want to lose money.

[TomTheHelper]

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear about this.

Usually, if you attempt to report a transaction (in this case the buyer probably not placing a false address and if he's declining to reply), there should be an option to escalate to Paypal.

I myself don't sell via Paypal anymore so I wouldn't know, however, if Paypal does at one point go and help you can notify them that the address where the product was shipped and the address on sellers account aren't the same and that it might a possible scam.

Paypal usually then deducts the shipping amount (if the item was not taken) from the buyers account (usually leaving them in a negative) or restricts the buyers account and gives you a refund as compensation.

Once again I hope this gets resolved soon.

Sincerely,

Tom.

[kernowlass]

@TomTheHelper 

Sellers can't open disputes only buyers.

@henac 

If the buyer raises a dispute for non receipt of item then the only way you are protected is if you can prove trackable proof of delivery to the buyers paypal registered address at the time of payment.

So if it does not arrive and tracking does not show delivery then you may well have to refund.

BUT you should get the item back again.

All you can do is contact the buyer and encourage him to assist you with shipping but you can't force him to do so unfortunately.

[henac]

I have proof of delivery as I’ve sent the item fully tracked using DPD. The tracking now says that the items been delivered to a local pick up spot, considering the buyer has been ignoring me all this time, I highly doubt he’s going to pick the item up at all. Considering the item has arrived now, and I’ve done everything on my part, can I now access my money that was on hold? I doubt he will mark the item as delivered but there’s clearly proof that it’s been left at pick up spot

[kernowlass]

@henac 

As long as the pick up spot is the paypal registered address of the buyer then yes you should win the dispute.

If the pick up spot is not the paypal registered address of the buyer then you 'may' lose.

[henac]

@kernowlass 

Update: I have been scammed!!!

The buyer ended up receiving the £400 trainers and then proceeded to claim an "item significantly not as described" claim. This was already surprising to me as the trainers were exactly in the condition i've described them and the buyer has also seen images of the trainers on Depop before purchasing. He's asked for a refund which i've refused as his claim was invalid. The claim goes on for weeks after which i had enough and decided to give the buyer a partial refund of £80 in order to settle the matter as my money has been on hold all this time and i started to worry that he would wear the trainers and send them back in an even worse condition. He declined my offer of a partial refund and chose the option to return the trainers to me. I received a tracking number, but when i viewed this tracking number online, the weight of the parcel was significantly more than the trainers i sent him which was extremely suspicious but i had to just wait until it arrives and see why is this the case. Today morning I received the parcel, i knew something wasn't right as the box was way too small to fit the trainers i've sent him so i decided to record me opening the parcel so i have visual evidence of what he sent me. The parcel contained some metal tool and not my trainers, so i've been scammed!  The buyer sent me a parcel with some metal junk and Paypal is currently still in the process of releasing the funds to him, while he also has my trainers! The scammer has also changed his Depop username now but i have record of all our conversation from before. I've already contacted Action Fraud, filed a police report on their website and now waiting to hear back from them, i tried to reach Paypal numerous times but they keep hanging up the phone before i could speak to an advisor (apparently no available staff due to covid19).

Please advise me on what i can do now to reach Paypal and ultimately receive my money or trainers.