Revenge & Karma·
THE SWAPPED WATCH
A Florida seller discovers a grandfather's Seiko vanished into an eBay return scam, as the returned watch is a fake, prompting cross-state filings and fraud questions.
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A grandfather's Seiko disappeared into an eBay return scam, and the seller ended up with a broken fake, a denied appeal, and no watch.
The poster, based in Tampa, Florida, listed their grandfather's Seiko Presage on eBay about six weeks ago and sold it for $1,200 to a buyer with decent feedback. Before it left the house, the seller did what any careful seller would do: took more than 30 photos of the watch, including the serial number and caseback. Then they packed it in the original box, wrapped it in bubble wrap, and shipped it tracked and insured through USPS.
For a while, everything seemed normal. Then, eight days after the buyer received it, the return request landed: "not authentic."
eBay automatically approved the return before the seller could properly respond. The watch came back, but it wasn't the same one.
The seller says the returned package contained a different watch entirely: different serial number, different caseback, crown on the wrong side, and what they describe as a broken knockoff. They say they have photo proof comparing both watches and that "the serials dont match at all."
They called eBay to fight the decision, but the company said it sided with the buyer because the buyer provided a "report" from a random jeweler saying "it was fake." The seller says the watch was "not even a high end luxury brand people typically fake," adding that it was "literally a Seiko." But the appeal was denied anyway.
That left the buyer with the real grandfather's watch and a full $1,200 refund, while the seller was stuck with the swapped-out fake.
The money loss hit hard. The seller says they have some money from Ѕtake set aside, but it's earmarked for rent next month.
So they went to the police. In Tampa, they filed a report, and a detective took the information. But the buyer is in Ohio, and the seller says the detective told them these cases are difficult to pursue across state lines.
Now the seller is asking the only questions that seem to matter: "Does mail fraud apply here since this went through USPS?" and "Is small claims even worth it given hes out of state?"
For now, the answer is a missing watch, a refunded buyer, and a seller left holding the fake.