Do eBay protect sellers from buyers who buy sealed boxes

[thewild3]

I got a buyer who bought a 2018 topps series 2 hobby box from me. A week after it was delivered to him he reaches out to me and says the the silver pack was already opened and it didn't contained the "guarantee" autograph card. I'm like what are you talking about. No where does it say there is a guarantee autograph card in the silver pack. He says it was already open.
If he files a claim would eBay side with him and I would expect to refund him and get back an open box of cards?

[jbriskin05]

if he's just reached out and hasn't filed the claim, he's more than likely fishing for a partial refund...DO NOT GIVE HIM A PARTIAL REFUND...if he received the item more than 3 days ago it will not matter how he files for a refund, eBay should side with you as it is outside the return timeframe...

[Cactuspies]

this answer is, it all depends. plenty of stories where ebay sides with the seller because it's no longer in the condition sent, but plenty of us have been screwed when ebay doesn't care, even the human when you get one. You can ignore since it's probably fishing as mentioned. wait for the case to open as SNAD if they decide to do that, and you will have to roll the dice and take back/pay return shipping and hope for the best and refund afterwards/refund and let them keep it all, or can partially refund/or just outright refuse, which then it will probably get escalated.

[DynaEtch]

I think in your case since it’s been a week and after the 3 days you should be fine from any INAD claim. A determined dishonest and scamming buyer probably then resorts to a chargeback, which is a joke, but the good news is ebay should have you protected if it does come to that and they probably pay it off for you.

If this was within the 3 day window…it would be a lot more interesting (unfortunately). Always a risk buyer pulls this stuff selling wax on eBay, especially high end wax. This comes up with bricked boxes from the 90s also. The buyer probably can just return it like anything else when claiming INAD (unless ebay changed that for the wax category or something). If you did get it back, and opened…you could claim it’s open/damaged and not in the state it was sent and ebay can deduct up to like 50% of the refund, so you’re not out it all. I do think more and more with ebay these days, they probably take into consideration your account (is it in great standing, you don’t have a record of returns, defects, courtesy refunds, etc), and if it’s a one time thing I wonder if they even cover it from their slush funds…but certainly no guarantee. The buyers actions here seem shady to say the least.

[daverat]

In a nutshell

If you accept returns your screwed!

As Dynatech referenced it's been a week + since the dispute, so a no return policy is your friend in this situation