URGENTLY NEED HELP! Buyer falsely filed "Not As Described" claims

[caprose]

I sold a luxury bag in a Facebook Group, listing all descriptions with photos showing all possible angles of the bag. I have been a seller there for a year and have made several successful transactions. However, upon receiving the bag, the buyer requested for a refund because she thinks that the bag is a fake. I had politely requested her to send it for professional authentication service because I am certain my bag is authentic. She proceeded to publicly post in the same Facebook Group, tagging me and questioning the authenticity of the bag. She has posted several photos of herself bending the bag to reveal the serial number that is located inside of the bag, which will severely damage the bag. While majority empathise with her one-sided story, a few noticed that the way she bent the bag is very damaging to the bag. She deleted the post shortly after before i could see it (because of time difference). One of the members had actually reached out to me to send me some screenshots of her post, which the buyer has since deleted to help me support my case because she thinks what she did was unfair to me. She mentioned that the buyer has also commented that she feels that she may have paid more for the bag, and then she went to complained about the cigarette smell and condition of the bag. She went from believing it was fake to then having a problem with the smell and condition when initially it was the authenticity that concerned her. I have photos of the condition of the bag right before i packed it for shipping and the condition is as what i had described in my sale listing and it has no foul odour at all. She went ahead to raise a PayPal dispute which escalated to a claim and PayPal has actually asked her to send the bag back to me. While PayPal was still investigating the case and was requesting for more information from her, she went ahead and posted on the Facebook Group twice to further mislead the public. But this time, she didn't mention about the smell and she had omitted the photos showing her damaging the bag. Some of those who read her listings have actually hunted me down and demanded that i give a reply to her right away. With PayPal's decision, the bag is currently on the way back to my country but I find that it is really unfair to me. Any other day i would have accepted a return but i wouldn't on this occasion purely because she has damaged it herself and attempted to publicly humiliate me. This will significantly affect my future sales in the group. Moreover, I do not know how damaged is the condition of the bag right now after how she has abused it. I have included in my listing to "check out all photos and PM me for questions. Final sale and no return". This is obviously a buyer's remorse and PayPal still asked her to send the item back to me. There is no operators working in my country right now so i have no one to ask for guidance. There is only one button "i have accept the return package" in the Resolution Centre. Please advise what i should do.

[kernowlass]

@caprose 

In the event of an item received but not as described dispute it is always one persons word against anothers.

Paypal never sees the item in question so makes a judgement call.

If they find in favour of the buyer then the buyer has to return the item (trackable at their own expense) before you have to refund.

If you refuse a refund then paypal will pay the buyer under their buyer protection policy and then limit your account and chase you to pay them back again.

Personally I tend to not get into debates, if a buyer is not happy with what they bought i just tell them to return it for a refund....you win some you lose some.

[caprose]

The full sum that she has paid is now on hold by PayPal. What i am worried about is the condition of the bag after she has abused it the way she did and she still gets her full refund. I may not be able to resell it after that and it is approximately USD 5000. Not a small sum of money to me 😞 Do you think i will be able to file an appeal if the item received is not in the condition as when i sent it? But there is no operator to speak to and there is no button to select for this option. This is my first dispute so i am really clueless.

[kernowlass]

@caprose 

You can of course appeal but do so asap after you receive the bag back. Not sure on your chances of winning though.

Submit as much evidence as you can when you get it back and hope c.s. have the phones back up and running to advise you.

Click help / contact bottom left of Paypal pages for options available for your country.
Or have you considered contacting Customer Service via Facebook or Twitter?
You can send them a personal message from their facebook or twitter pages.
It's: https://www.facebook.com/PayPal and @AskPayPal for Twitter.

You would have had the option of legal action but that's not an option if the sale was international.

Personally i don't send high cost items internationally, too risky.