HTC Vive sold on gumtree and paid via paypal. Thoughts?

[tigerax]

Hi all,

I just wondered what other people thought of my situation.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-video-games/htc-vive/1293118363

I sold my HTC vive on gumtree a few days ago. The person who bought (Muhammed Raza) it lives about 30 minutes drive away.

Private messaging me and text messaging about prices they must have said 7 or 8 times before turning up "Can we pay paypal so we covered".

It seemed over the top to me... They wanted me to send a request for the money before they drove to pick up the item.  I've sold loads on gumtree and always received cash and never had anybody complain about anything because I look after my stuff and generally sell things at a good price that people are happy with.  I took pictures of all the serial numbers in case they thought of returning a different broken item but didn't tell them this.

So, two men came to pick up the HTC vive. It was in immaculate condition and fully working. I've always been really careful with it. I showed them each item, took it out of the box and said this is how it works etc. And they paid me by paypal before they took it away. The guy who paid pretended like he didnt know what he was doing with paypal....it just didn't feel right. This was at about 3pm.

At midnight that night I got a text message saying it was all working but the cable was faulty... and it would cost £35 to replace the cable. I was polite in all my replies and said, I've never ever had any issues with this asked them to re-check things. He persisted saying it was an issue and mentioned £35 to get a new one.  I explained that rather than me just hand over £35 for an issue I hadn't seen I'd be happier if he returned the items in the same condition they left the house in and I'd give him a full refund and then I'd investigate the issue with the cable myself.  firstly he replied saying he wants to keep the item but if i can arrange a partial refund for the cable then we should be both happy. 

I said, I'd much rather just refund you in full once you return the item and I can check all the serial numbers of the items etc and that there is no visible damage. Because, if there is an issue there is no guarantee that £35 for a cable would sort the issue. His response was that it was too far to come back. 

The next morning I just got a text message with a link to the cable again. Followed up with another text saying Can I arrange for the item to be picked up if I'm not willing to send him £35. I explained that I'm not a business seller and it was a private sale. Since he bought the item from my house..it was his responsibility to return it to the same location.  He just responded saying he would go through paypal then to get a refund. 

I thought I knew it... from his over enthusiasm for paying by paypal... he's been starting a scam from the beginning...to at the very least get £35 off what he paid or now get a full refund...as well as keep the item.

I'm not being unreasonable am i? I don't want to hand over £35 for something which deep down I don't think is an issue. I truely believe he's either trying it on or... in the 9 hours he's had the item he's done something to it. But I'm really leaning to him trying to get money out of me.

I offered a refund if he would return it and he hasn't returned the item. So what chance does he have when raising a case with paypal. 

He's raised a case saying "Item faulty please refund"  That's it. 

I have then escalated it to paypal straight away rather than communicate with him any more. I explained in full to paypal what I have explained above and provided a PDF document with images of the HTC vive along with images of our full text conversation of me asking him to return it, and once I had confirmed the item was the same and in the same condition I'd give him a refund. 

What do people think... does it seem like a scam or is he just a bit stupid?

If I bought something from a currys store... and it didn't work...like a faulty cable, I'd be back there straight away asking for my money back or replacement. I wouldn't be asking them to come and pick the item up from my house even though I'd bought it in store. Absolute lunacy.

I'm that annoyed by it that I'm thinking now I was being too nice offering to take it back in the first place. Items on gumtree are sold as seen, it's a private sale and things don't come with a warranty.  I'd asked him if he wanted a full demo of it working and he declined.  I think they knew what they were doing from the start and have probably done it before.

My worry now is... is there a chance of paypal ruling in their favour? I'm not going to be happy if paypal either rule in their favour... or after all of it anyway they try to return it because I'm thinking if it is now broke... then they have broken it.

Sorry for the massive waffle.