Refund the buyer without asking for the item back?

[CF1984]

I was busy with my exams in the last few weeks and an buyer opened a claim against me with a phone I sold on ebay. I had no time to look at paypal and didnt' send a respond thought I would just refund him after he send it back.

but big surprise! Paypal decided to give my 320 pounds phone away without asking the buyer to send the phone back and refunded the buyer! On the basis I haven't respond in time!! I mean seriously??

Funny thing is I don't even have time to call paypal until maybe this weekend, this is almost like robbing. 

I worked tirelessly with the buyer over the issue with the phone on ebay for the last few weeks, but just because I didn't respond in time  on paypal I have to give it to the buyer! we exchanged like 20 messages on ebay over the phone, I tried to help the buyer tirelessly even though I was taking exam the same time!

anyone else experienced this? what can I do from this point on? Item worth more than 300 pounds, should I report to the police?

Thank you

[debsj267]

Timeframes are all important on Paypal as they are on eBay.  They cannot be disregarded as you agreed to them under their terms and conditions when you sold the item and accepted payment using Paypal.  You are now left in a dilemma of your own making regardless of your reasons.  You could take the matter to a small claims court but will have to pay the costs yourself upfront and if you lose the case you will be unable to reclaim these costs and consequently could end up being even more out of pocket.  It's a risk that's probably not worth taking as you the one in the wrong.  There's no easy answer. Just look at it as a lesson learnt and if you don't have time to respond to disputes, then you should not be selling at all!

[CF1984]

That sounds as horrible as it could get. I will contact buyer myself first. Hopefully he will send it bk. If that doesn't work I will try my luck with the court. I will stop selling with PayPal for sure.