I presume the photo has a ruler or similar beside it? Best for the ruler the same distance from the camera as the dimension you are disputing usually the ruler needs lifting to same level if photo from above. If so then they haven’t got a leg to stand on, so to speak, even though a plain photo like that is not solid evidence.
But in my experience eBay anyway doesn’t do any even basic investigation, simply accepting the buyer’s side of things in such disputes, so as others have said, just initiate a return on the basis not as described.
‘Proper trade’ via a mechanic friend, being an easy DIY fit. Ford cited £98 inc VAT, with a miserly discount to £95!
It was also a learning that many 'sites don’t cite the length of the struts, just that they’re supposed to fit a make/model. The prices at Europarts weren’t that far off Ford’s.
In cases like this, simply raise a dispute with eBay that the item does not match the description. A photo with a ruler next to the item should defeat any argument by the seller.
Even if you do not show a photo, eBay will usually ask the seller to respond and, in most cases, eBay refunds the buyer and retains the payment. It might take a couple of weeks, but once you initiate the claim process, just respond as requested and you will be refunded. Depending on the value of the item, you might have to print a return label provided by eBay and then send the item back. eBay tracks the parcel and triggers the refund when it knows that you have done your bit.
This may be true in the US, but in the UK the credit card companies do not regard a PayPal transaction as covered by the chargeback rules and will tell you that any dispute must be resolved with PayPal.
Best
I wouldn’t wait three days but raise it asap via the eBay channels on your profile. Let eBay deal with the communications etc - most sellers don’t want to risk bad feedback or being banned by eBay even if they’re nasty to or try to pull a fast one on individual sellers.
I got a trail camera from eBay in April. In July it went faulty and try as I may could not get a refund or replacement. The seller was in China and initially wanted to give me a discount off a new one.I said it should be under warranty but then didn’t correspond at all. eBay and PayPal say it was beyond 90 days so they can’t help.
I buy and sell on ebay. I can’t recall dealing with a fraudulent seller, but I’ve come across a few fraudulent buyers, and I’m only selling a few items. If your seller is selling a large number of items he will have come across quite a few buyers trying to rip him off.
Describing the item incorrectly was probably a genuine mistake. (there is no benefit in describing incorrectly). He probably thinks the item he sent you was as described.
As suggested leave it the hands of ebay, especially as he seems to have a bad attitude.
I’ve had a couple of purchases recently that were different from the description, materially insofar as my intended uses were concerned. In both cases the sellers were most apologetic and bent over backwards to resolve the problem, both readily accepting returns. One was certainly a simple error and I saw the new listing, which had been amended. But in BruceW’s case tge response of the seller is rather different…
I once had a buyer try it on with me - when I sold my XP5XS. He claimed it was badly scratched. I had more photos than used to list, so good evidence ot wasn’t scratched. That’s when I discovered eBay doesn’t actually investigate at all, simply recommending I accept a return. I didn’t want to as firstly the cost of carriage had been high (I sent insured, and from offshore), and I would have lose that and have to pay return carriage (and insurance), and no refund of Paypal fees: the overall cost to me would have been something over £100 -and I feared that the buyer out of spite would scratch it before returning it.
I was caught in a cleft stick, and offered partial refund to the buyer, but less than my postage costs. He accepted. I am sure that was the whole purpose of his false claim. It left me totally disillusioned with rBay’s claim to investigate - they simply weren’t the slightest bit interested.
A couple of years ago I sold a collectable video game for my daughter, for £150. The buyer claimed the disc was cracked around the hole and wanted to return it. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t cracked, but I only took low quality photos of it so had no way of proving it wasn’t cracked.
When I looked at the buyer’s feedback it was obvious he was a Nintendo Game dealer and had bought or sold the same game 4 or 5 times over the previous 12 months. He had 100% positive feedback as a buyer, but in a few cases the description of the feedback was very negative.
I suspect he already had a cracked disc, bought my daughters disc and claimed it was cracked.