Can I get my money back after Ebay gave me incorrect advice?

My partner and I sold a Sony Vaio laptop computer on Ebay for £398 on 10 September. All communication was made through Ebay and the buyer paid using Paypal.

He turned up at our house to collect the PC so we contacted Ebay to ask if it was safe to do this. Ebay said it was, but about an hour after handing over the computer we received an email from Paypal reversing the transaction because they said it was fraudulent.

Ebay told us to contact Paypal, which told us we were not entitled to a refund. Ebay refused to compensate us and only apologised for the incorrect advice it gave.

Mark Gray

This is a nasty case of fraud but sadly unless the Grays decide to get the police involved there is little they can do. This is because they have no proof that the buyer turned up on their doorstep and they had handed over the laptop.

It was certainly wrong of the Ebay employee to say it was all right to do this, because both Paypal and Ebay make it clear that the seller needs to be able to prove the buyer received the goods. They do this by offering protection to sellers who have used a valid tracking service for items, such as Royal Mail's special delivery.

But we think there may be more to this case. Until we can get Ebay to investigate further, it is not clear how the ‘buyer' used Ebay and Paypal to carry out this fraud.

Mrs Gray said Ebay had told her the buyer shut down his account. This could mean he is setting accounts up to deliberately defraud people and the Grays may not be the only people who are, or will become, victims.

He could also have hijacked someone else's Paypal account or credit card to carry out the fraud.

By turning up in person to pick up the laptop this person hopes to leave no trail. This could also indicate someone local to the Grays or a crime ring.

There is also another puzzle: Mr Gray said Paypal contacted him within an hour of handing over the laptop to say the money from the sale had been reversed because it was a fraudulent transaction. This is unusually fast for a dispute between genuine buyers and sellers.

If buyers use their own accounts and have a dispute, they have to go through a rigid procedure to get their money back. This buyer should have proved to Paypal and Ebay that they had tried to contact the seller - in this case the Grays.

The Grays would then have been asked to respond and show proof to Ebay or Paypal that the goods had been sent and delivered. All of this can take up to 45 days and is not achieved within an hour.

We will now follow this up further but have asked the Grays to send us all the information they have and also to log a complaint with Ebay and the police.