eBay woes

[ubersonic]

Then other week I sold a CPU, Ram kit, HDD and a GFX card on eBay, they first three were no problem and ive received good feedback however the GFX card buyer has sent the following email to me

The package was totally ruined. The card can't work, the fan is broken. I want to be refund right now. I have paid 98,83 ? for this. Give me the money back within the next days and I will not open any litigation on eBay and I won't even give you a negative comment.

Excuse his English (and mine) he's French, Im suspicious of this for a number of reasons, He wants me to send money without any pictures or anything and I cant exactly claim the insurance of Royal Mail because "Mr Frenchie says it don't work". Also the card was sent in the original packing I received it in and it had no problem getting to me via Royal Mail.

In addition the card is a GTX260 and you know what the fan on those looks like, they are centrifugal so damaging it seems unlikely as the card was wrapped in antistatic and inside its box but even so why would he try and power on a card with a broken fan?

Does this sound like a scam to anyone else? Ive sold hundreds of items on eBay and sent them via Royal Mail and only ever had one complaint before.

 

[ubersonic]

How did you send it? What courier/postage? What level of cover did you pay for?

He's French, but is he in the UK or France? It'll get more complex if he's in France.

I sent it via Royal Mail and used a signed for service, I had it insured for the appropriate value, he lives in Paris

 

[ubersonic]

He has now sent me pictures of the damage to the box and card, and a video of the fan being all wobbly. I'm currently writing out the Royal Mail claim form but he has now raised a dispute on Paypal that I must answer by the 9th of October, will Paypal accept that Royal Mail are dealing with the claim and I cant refund him until they accept it and refund me? (can take up to 30 days) as I did abide by all of Paypals rules for seller protection. Also RM say I may have to send them the card what if he refuses to send it back to me?

Also here are a couple of pics of the damage, am I the only person who thinks it looks a little convenient given that the card was triple wrapped in a thick(ish) antistatic bag and inside the cardboard protective bit inside its box (Box looks wrecked at corners,I used the original packaging it was sent to me in)