Item arrived after refund

[EncyclopediaOfNought]

I was sent an item, it seemed to be lost in the post. Nearly 5 weeks later, after I’ve been refunded, it arrived.

Obviously I’m happy to pay- but I wanted to check this won’t cause me issues. The seller has asked me to pay his friends PayPal the cash. He won’t then be able to go to eBay and reserve the refund if I do this? Are there any risks? Is there a way to any him through eBay?

Not sure if there's a way to reverse the refund but I would pay using the goods and services option on PayPal if you're going to for extra protection

If you pay this way it would be seen as a private sale and ebay would not step in if there was a problem. If there was any chance it might go wrong I might ask ebay support for help.

The item is fine.
My only concern is this ‘friend’ doesn’t transfer the money, or it’s claimed to have not arrived or something, then the seller still tried to claim the money.

Looking at the articles on eBay the seller has 30 days to appeal a decision for a refund. They could potentially appeal after I pay separately.
I can’t reverse the refund from my end

How much are we talking? How annoying!

I would message eBay for advice then you will have a paper trail.

Keep the paper trail of messages where he's told you to pay his friend. Pay his friend through PayPal as requested and that also stores it electronically.

What his friend chooses to do with the money is no longer your business. You've fulfilled your own part of the sale and request from the seller and you have evidence to prove it.

Ring Paypal and explain the item has arrived, and ask that they reverse the refund.

If you're not happy to PayPal (this will be what eBay advise) ask the seller to relist the item. You can buy it and pay, he then needs to mark it as dispatched but not send it.

Ebay chat will help you sort it :)

Just tell the guy to relist it (it'll be still in his sold listings), let you know when he's done so and you just buy it again straight away. It's all above board then.

Oopsy :) cross posted with pp above

Doesn't eBay sort out payment itself now, rather than taking them via PayPal? So the refund would have come from eBay rather than PayPal, yes?

I'm presuming this seller has a PayPal account of their own: why can't you just pay them? All they need to do is send you their details.

Paying their friends seems a little convoluted.

It’s £90, that’s why I’m being cautious.

He says he doesn’t have his own PayPal account. The PayPal at my end just says ‘eBay commerce’, I believe eBay now pays directly to bank accounts.

I contacted eBay chat. They simply said the case is closed and nothing to do with them… here’s the transcript:

0:18:09 UTC k
I understand that the seller has already issued you a refund.As a result, this case is now closed.
10:18:48 UTC K
If you wish to pay for the item please ask seller via eBay messages and they will provide you payment address.
10:19:09 UTC mr
They have asked me to pay a friends PayPal account
10:19:31 UTC me
I just want to check if there is a problem if they can seek to appeal or reverse the refund. I can see sellers can ask for the refund to be appealed within a 30 day window.
10:19:45 UTC me
if they claim the friend doesn’t pass it on or something
10:21:45 UTC Ka
We have closed the case here. So we can not intervene .
10:22:14 UTC K
From eBay end you don't need to do anything.

That is as expected; Amazon is similar. There's nothing more they can do as the issue raised has been resolved.

The seller cannot appeal the refund if you have proof of payment to his friend as he requested. It would not go in his favour even if he did.