Paypal Claim / Genius scammer advice please

[SteveSutton]

hey guys and gals, i have a claim open at the moment and i fear the worst and don't know what to do.

i bought a preorder game that sold out everywhere, it is available on the 10th of november.  so to that nothing can be sent to me at the moment.

after i paid for this from an ebay seller and moderate contact. about 2 weeks after the money went through i messaged again, nothing came back. i got a little worried and i realised his feedback had become private with 9 negative in the past month. i got more suspicious as i looked into it, the addresses and names were different from his paypal and on the order screenshot he provided.

i asked him to return the money.. nothing back

i opened a dispute... nothing back.

i escalated to a claim, straight away he provided tracking number (for a item not yet released to anyone) 

the tracking number was for special delivery royal mail. which so happens doesnt state where it is going, it was delievered on the 15th.. but not to me

i rang up the post office and enquired but they would not give me the address but confirmed it wasnt delivered to number 2, she hinted it looked like he added a number. 

i did a little research and found the person who signed for it who had the same postcode.  

straight away this is wierd to me i thought he knew this would happen and royal mail would only provide paypal with a postcode and signature saying it was delivered.

(sorry for the rant here but i need to explain the full story)

i contacted this person who received the item, she was confused and admitted she was freaked out by receiving... an empty envelope. she has sent pictures, the tracking is the same as he provided ect

i contacted paypal with my findings and this is what i got.

i have to change my claim now from not recieved to not as described (marked me as receiving the item)...

the seller provided picture proof of the receipt after posting. that says

my address, weighing 2+KG, costing him £24+ 

the item was actually sent had the releant stickers 00.01kg and costing £6+ with HER NAME not mine and her address written by hand.

not only is this wierd he went through the trouble of finding someone who lives near me but finding there name aswell..? 

the impression i have got from paypal is that this picture proof the seller sent to them is legit, done with and thats the real deal i can't dispute.. but it is a blatant lie.. i expressed my disbelief and cant see how he could do this (paypal didnt seem to care for the conspiracy of it), the thought of him working for royal mail that gives him access to printing fake stuff out but that made me sound crazy 

overall im scared that they will side with the seller despite it being a blatant and complete scam, i can't afford to lose £140 and i would usually trust paypal. but this guy seemed to know exactly how to make them believe him, they are not PI's.

any help or advice in this is most appreciated, im sorry for the rant but i don't know who to ask. 

[kernowlass]

@SteveSutton

Have you PHONED customer services and explained it to them as you have done here?

OR have you put it all down and sent it to customer services personal pages on twitter or facebook??

Also have you reported him to ebay at all??

I would contact paypal first and if they are happy with the info the seller has provided then the only way around it is to change the dispute to one of SNAD and provide tracking to show you have returned it.........that should get you a refund.

BUT i would not do anything until you have spoken to customer services.

I would also email the seller and state that unless you have a full refund asap you will report to the police AND trading standards.......not that they may do anything but the threat may make him re-think.

If all fails then if you funded your paypal payment via a card then contact your card issuer and see if they will chargeback for you.

Good luck.

[SteveSutton]

thanks for the response, i did call them yeah, thats where i got some of the info, i explained the situation fully several times, but the woman i spoke to was just stuck on the fact he sent a receipt in and thats that. now its a claim of not as described, but again i techincally didn't receive the item someone down the road did who i just so happened to be able to track down.

the woman on the phone also said if i hadnt rang up the case would have been closed by what they see from the tracking, so he nearly got me right then. 

i have contacted the seller and said i would take it to the police if he doesnt stop fighting the refund but nothing came back from that either. it just frustrates me that paypal supposedly a safe way to purchase goods can't see what i see. 

i will try to contact them through facebook and send a picture of the envelope. but if i were them i wouldn't consider that proof as i could have put them stickers on? 

as for reporting to ebay. we bypassed ebay since he hadnt listed this item yet, but it was through the trade/goods option. he has had atleast 9 bad feedback in the last month, is it possible that paypal would see that even though this wasnt through ebay?