A buyer has completely scammed me. What do I do to get reimbursed?

[railinaberm]

I sold an item. The monies were received and I sen the parcel. Before the item could be delivered she claimed she no longer wanted it. She was extremely crafty and did not report any problems to myself or e-bay but went directly to paypal. Paypal placed  a hold on the funds. Once the item was delivered paypal released the funds to me which clearly made the buyer irate. She then reported to paypal that the item was not as described in an attempt to have the funds reversed and given to her. Even though the item was refused, therefor never opened (how could she know it was not as described???) Paypal awarded her the funds and now I am left with the cost of shipping and the ebay feesas well as a bad name with paypal. Ebay apparently does not get involved with "these type situations" and paypal could care less as long as someone has the item and the other person has the funds.

Does anyone out there have any advice as to what I can do?

Is there any "seller safety"? 

I got totally scammed and the organizations that I used to sell and be paid have zero interest in rectifying the situation. 

Is it only the buyer that anyone cares about? They are protected up down left right and center!!

HELP!!

[femmefan1946]

Even though the item was refused, therefor never opened

Has the item been returned? Is it on its way? (This can take weeks, especially during the holiday rush).

Were you charged extra postage on return?

Calm down.

Put the buyer on your Blocked Bidder List.

Yes, you are out the cost of shipping, but you have (or will have) the item back and can resell it.

It's business. Businesses get returns. They are an expense and an annoyance but not the end of the world.

When you are pricing your product, allow enough markup to pay for this kind of problem. Our local Zeller's had a sign on their door "shoplifting costs everybody" . This is a similar situation.

[rose-dee]

Although I realize you're not selling frequently, 'femmefan'is right -- try to look at this as a transaction and not a personal loss. 

The problem is that buyers do sometimes change their minds after the fact (buyer remorse), but Paypal/eBay have no proper mechanism to deal with those situations.  You may have been dealing with a buyer who spent her money unwisely, or realized she couldn't afford the item after all, and panicked (hence the call to Paypal). 

You're right that Paypal in this case bent over backwards to appease the buyer, and the buyer was likely knowledgeable enough about Paypal's policies to know how to work the system. 

I'm wondering what your response to her was when she first contacted you to say she didn't want the item.  She was wrong of course to want to back out of the transaction, but I think that request would have set off alarm bells for me.  I likely would have been very careful to politely and cheerfully explain that I'd be happy to refund her money upon receipt back of the parcel.  There is a chance that if you put that (nicely) in writing, via eBay messaging that you may then have had something to work with in dealing with Paypal. 

Still, buyer remorse and similarly false INAD or INR claims sadly fall into a big gap in eBay/Paypal policy that I maintain needs to be closed, and soon. 

All you can do in the meantime is wait for the item to come back to you and attempt to sell it again.  Don't forget to block this buyer!  Hopefully you weren't shipping to Australia or some other outrageously expensive place.