TL; DR: Sold item on eBay, shipped it, sale cancelled as fraud by eBay, I took action to rescue package and report fraud, "buyer" contacts me saying it was a misunderstanding and eBay support told him to request another invoice. Could this still be a fraudulent fake buyer, or am I safe to complete delivery?
Full story:
Sold a $1300 item Thursday, my first use of eBay as a seller in years though I'm a regular buyer. Found that my payment was on hold for "up to" 21 days, annoying that I didn't know that policy earlier, but so it goes. Contacted eBay AND PayPal support just to be sure nothing sketchy was going on before I shipped and was encouraged to ship ASAP. A little slow getting it sent, but had it out Monday afternoon (within my handling time). Received an email from eBay the next day saying the transaction had been removed as the account owner hadn't authorized the transaction, recommending I not ship the item, but offering no other guidance, and no way to contact them or any case number or anything for following up in a useful way. Contacted both supports again and was assured I would be covered regardless, but requested a USPS "Package Intercept" all the same, as I hate to see fraudsters win. Even put in a police report in the delivery town. It was dumb of me to not notice the names didn't match, but only saw that afterward. Unfortunately eBay doesn't allow blocking 0-feedback buyers anymore, guess they'd rather PayPal foots the bill for fraud that miss a few sales.
SO, today, I get an email from the seller (purportedly) asking me what is up? He tells me the account was dormant and that triggered the canceling of the sale. Includes what he says is an email from his friend (purportedly), the recipient, which says he was contacted by the police and mentioned the package intercept (things he couldn't have known were happening unless that actually happened). So he wants me to send another invoice, though the original PayPal payment hasn't gone anywhere (yet, I've been expecting it to be contested/chargeback'ed). I contacted eBay's support and they said to send them the new invoice they asked for and resend the item (if the intercept is successful), without apparently even looking at my specific case, and wouldn't verify whether they'd been in contact with the buyer to assure they're not still hacked. Seems weird that the fraud email came 4 days after the sale, but immediately after I shipped, though I did send the buyer a message with the tracking information, which could have gotten their attention.
Is it possible that the third-party "friend" is the hacker and is contacting me (lives at the destination and still has access to the email and eBay account)? That seems like a terrible plan for a crime. Before today's email, I assumed it was a vacant house or somehow they would intercept the package and be gone without a trace. The name and address of the buyer is a residential address that matches an LLC, owned by a 55 year old, so they do or did exist. If they have cancelled the original payment and I re-invoice them, am I putting myself at more risk (e.g., am I still covered by seller protection?) Package Intercept cannot be cancelled, so it's likely coming back to me at my expense, though reviews say the intercepts sometimes fail. If it does return, I can either re-sell it or just send it back again and hopefully collect my money.
I suspect the heart of this story is that an itchy fraud-trigger-finger set this off, and eBay's opaque customer service is no better than the one-size-fits-all self-help in their support site, resulting in general cluelessness abounding. I'm reasonably confident I'm covered by seller protection if the original payment stays in place even if I have to resend the package. This nonsense is costing me >$100 in additional shipping whether it's returned and I re-send it, or re-sell it. Color me unimpressed all around.
